Academic Counselor - IDEA Achieve (20-21)
Description
Position at IDEA Public Schools
About IDEA Public Schools
At IDEA Public Schools, we believe in college for ALL and we are committed to ensuring that all our students graduate from college. IDEA Public Schools has grown from a small school to the fastest-growing network of tuition-free Pre-K-12 public charter schools in the United States sending 100% of our students to college. 50% of our students graduate from college in 6 years – that’s 8 times the national rate for students in our communities!
IDEA was founded in 2000 as a single school with 150 students in the Rio Grande Valley. When interest exceeded building capacity, to meet the demands, IDEA’s co-founders committed to serving more students in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and beyond. We now serve nearly 53,000 students across Texas and Louisiana. By 2022, IDEA will serve 100,000 students. Be on the lookout for IDEA schools opening near you—with continued growth in our current regions and new launches in Houston (2020), Permian Basin (2020), and Tampa Bay (2021)!
When you choose to work at IDEA, you are part of our IDEA Team and Family. You will work alongside team members who set and reach ambitious goals every day, are excited to continue to grow with IDEA, and work relentlessly to make college for all a reality.
To learn more about IDEA, check out this video .
About Tarrant County
Tarrant County has long proved a magnet for families and young professionals looking to plant roots and create a home. Dallas-Fort Worth is ranked as #18 on the Best Places to Live list from U.S. News & World Report.
This fast-growing region has experienced a larger jump in its student population than any other North Texas County. Tarrant County is now home to nearly 400,000 school aged children, and growth is expected to continue for years to come. IDEA Achieve and IDEA Rise first opened their doors in August of 2019 to support the educational landscape in closing the gap for college matriculation.
Only 10% of Tarrant County students attend and complete college while IDEA alumni have a record of 41% matriculation. Changing this statistic is part of the promise IDEA makes to current and incoming students.
Role Mission: IDEA Academic Counselors (ACs) support three main work streams: Testing, Family Engagement and Social Emotional Support. IDEA Academic Counselors are shared by the Academy (PK-2) and College Prep (6th grade) in Year 1 of a school opening. After the first year of a school’s operation, the Academic Counselor moves to one of the schools (Academy or College Prep), and a second Academic Counselor is hired for the other school (Academy or College Prep).
Responsibilities:
- Collaborate with school leaders and teachers to reach school goals
- Coordinate all standardized testing and district-wide assessments
- Empowering students to build emotional intelligence
- Identify and proactively work with truant and other at-risk students
- Identify students at risk of leaving IDEA and lead prevention strategies
- Facilitate family involvement
Accountabilities
- 90% student persistence
- Lead the work on campus to engage families and students to ensure students stay at IDEA.
- Create and monitor systems to support teachers and staff, ensuring that we are doing Whatever it Takes to keep our kids.
- Implement IDEA’s Family Engagement Plan
- Utilize IDEA’s operating Recapture log
- Follow the campus communication flow chart to resolve issues in a timely manner
- Participate in and lead family engagement event planning
- Track and respond to student persistent data
- 24-hour turn around for scanning of assessments
- Campus Testing Coordinators on most campuses
- Create a campus testing plan
- Train school staff on test security and use of test systems
- Ensure all deadlines are met and all students are given the appropriate assessments
- Student Social Emotional Support
- AC’s provide solutions-focused counseling, support student culture and connect students and families to outside resources when needed.
We look for Team and Family who embody the following values and characteristics:
- Believes and is committed to our mission and being an agent of change: that all students are capable of getting to and through college
- Has demonstrated effective outcomes and results, and wants to be held accountable for them
- Has a propensity for action, willing to make mistakes by doing in order to learn and improve quickly
- Works with urgency and purpose to drive student outcomes
- Thrives in an entrepreneurial, high-growth environment; is comfortable with ambiguity and change
- Seeks and responds well to feedback, which is shared often and freely across all levels of the organization
- Works through silos and forges strong cross-departmental relationships in order to achieve outcomes
- We believe in education as a profession and hold ourselves to high level of conduct, professionalism and behaviors as models for our colleagues and students.
Qualifications:
- Education: Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree in guidance counseling preferred
- Experience: Teaching experience preferred
- Licenses or Certifications: Valid Texas Counseling certificate preferred
Knowledge and Skills:
- Proven track record of success
- Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills
- Ability to manage student behavior
- Belief in and alignment with IDEA’s mission and values is non- negotiable
- Ability to adjust and adapt to a multitude of situations in the school environment
Compensation:
Salaries for this role typically fall between $54,233 and $67,003, commensurate with relevant experience and qualifications. This role is also eligible for a performance bonus based on individual and organizational performance and goal attainment.
IDEA Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sex or disability, in admission or access to, or treatment of employment in its programs and activities. Any person having inquiries concerning the organization's compliance with the regulations implementing Title VI of Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), or Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), may contact IDEA Human Resources at (956) 377-8000.