POSITION OVERVIEW
Working from the company’s headquarters in Hunt Valley MD, just north of Baltimore, and reporting to the CEO, the Chief Learning Officer will lead the development and production of K-12 online curriculum, including core, elective, and enrichment courses, and will direct academic efficacy testing, analysis, reporting, improvement, teacher training, and sales support for these courses. An important aspect of this role is its inclusion of the company’s special education curriculum.
THE COMPANY
Calvert Education Services began providing courses for home study in 1906 and has long had a reputation for high-quality curriculum development and support. In addition to its core home schooling products serving the pre-K through 8th grade market, CES offers distance learning programs to public, private and international schools. Through its joint venture with the Jemicy School, CES offers Verticy Learning, a complete curriculum for students who may have language based learning difficulties such as dyslexia, or who struggle to read for a variety of other reasons.
Calvert educates students in all 50 states and in over 60 countries, using a time-tested, accredited curriculum aligned to national standards and correlated to state standards. A pioneer in distance learning – in the late 1800s a student in Africa explained her lessons were late because the roaring of lions had distracted her – Calvert Education continually updates, refines, expands, and improves its curriculum based on the latest research and results.
The Calvert Curriculum provides—
• A balance of subject matter that includes cultural literacy
• Integration and application across content areas
• Content mastery with balance of new and review
• Strong foundation of basic skills and application of higher-order thinking
• Oral and written expression
• Clear expectations for highest quality
• Development of character, curiosity and commitment
• Specialized curriculum for students with dyslexia or other LLDs
A key strategic emphasis at Calvert is on providing everything a district school needs to run its own virtual school within a school (except for teachers and special education services).
PROGRAMS
→ The Calvert Homeschool Curriculum is the fundamental platform that supports homeschooling and serves as the educational foundation of Calvert Education. For over one hundred years, Calvert has helped families guide their children toward excellence and achievement through an integrated, classical homeschool curriculum developed by the company’s expert Curriculum staff and proven in class use.
The Calvert Pre-Kindergarten through Eighth Grade homeschool curriculum is built on a rich foundation of reading, writing, and arithmetic. That foundation is then layered with history, science, music, geography, and the arts to ensure no gaps in instruction.
Homeschool Curriculum Development Specialists, all former classroom teachers, work on behalf of parents to find the finest curriculum material for children. They research textbook offerings from major educational publishers to find material that is most effective for homeschooling parents. If they do not find material that meets the company’s high standards, they develop their own.
Each course combines the best classroom-tested materials, teacher-created Lesson Manuals, and proven educational methodologies all in one complete, meticulously planned curriculum that guides users through each day of homeschooling with easy-to-use lesson plans.
→ The Calvert Virtual Academy (CVA), a dynamic program for Sixth through Eighth Grades, uses the latest instructional tools to provide an online environment that prepares students for high school. This program offers flexibility and many tiers of instructional support. The child can work at his or her own pace accommodating both the family’s schedule and the child’s learning style.
Students’ academic success is achieved through unparalleled support and a diversity of online resources. In the Calvert Virtual Academy, children receive the dedicated support and oversight of the Homeroom Teacher and Online Instructors, who each remain with the child all year long. They assist parents and students by reviewing checkpoints, assessment grades, and overall pacing.
→ For children who are dyslexic or who struggle with reading, writing or spelling, Verticy Learning is the solution. Verticy offers a comprehensive academic program in the home or classroom designed for struggling readers.
Verticy has two educational options: The first is a complete homeschool curriculum that includes all subjects. Don’t need a full curriculum? Verticy also offers intervention programs (supplemental curriculum) for reading, writing or math. Verticy improves academic confidence in children and rekindles a love of learning.
Calvert’s curriculum is based on both national and state’s standards, to better align with in-school programs.
Calvert Education Services is accredited by the Middle States Association Commission on Elementary and Secondary School.
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VIRTUAL SCHOOL SOLUTIONS
Besides textbooks, workbooks and other printed materials, Calvert partners with school districts, as well as homeschooling parents, to provide a wide variety of online resources to engage students, provide research and remedial support, and deliver a more rigorous, more effective, more immersive educational experience for students.
Calvert’s support programs cover everyone involved in the educational process:
• For administrators, CES offers a full suite of administrative reporting, management and scheduling tools, along with technical and program support
• For teachers, CES offers string professional development to help teachers develop 21st Century skills, along with technical support during the school day and beyond
• For parents, CES offers educational counselors, all experienced teachers, to support both the curriculum and technology
• For students, CES also offer educational counselors, all experienced teachers, to support the curriculum, as well as technical support
More than 160 schools, including brick and mortar, cyber, private and international schools, use the Calvert Education solution. Calvert’s flexible, time tested program offers schools and students a curriculum custom tailored to each student, backed by outstanding support.
The Calvert program also includes, as needed, the Verticy Learning program. Because the curriculum is modular, with multiple levels available in many subjects for most grades, each student can received a personalized curriculum.
ABOUT CAMDEN PARTNERS
CES was purchased by Camden Partners, a Baltimore-based private equity firm, in 2012.
Founded in 1995, Camden Partners is a firm that specializes in growing lower to middle market companies in the targeted sectors of education, healthcare, and technology-enabled business services. Its investment team collectively has more than 100 years of experience investing and operating in these three industry sectors, which enables Camden Partners to identify superior growth opportunities and partner with exceptional management teams to create significant shareholder value.
THE POSITION
Reporting to the CEO, the Chief Learning Officer will manage and support the design and development of new curriculum, alignment of curriculum development to state and national standards, development of formative and summative curricular assessments, integration of third party content and resources, and review and evaluation of existing curricula and scope and sequence models at all grade levels and in all subject areas. The management and close integration of the company’s LMS into Calvert curriculum will be critical.
In addition, the CLO will provide leadership to instructional staff, focused on implementation of K-12 online curriculum, effective online teaching and instructional strategies, and student achievement.
The CLO will continuously work on the design and refinement of the Calvert curriculum according to achievement data, instructional best practices, state and federal compliance requirements, and research of national trends and successful online curricular design models. S/he will work collaboratively with others on the curriculum team, as well as coordinate with various cross-departmental teams, school leaders, and third party content and course providers.
An important area of focus will be developing Verticy 2.0--overhauling the current in-home instruction-oriented design in order to tailor the product to the needs of bricks and mortar teachers.
Specifically, the CLO will—
• Assume responsibly for the design, development, and production of an evolving online K -12 curriculum model, in accordance with Calvert’s educational philosophy, a project management model, and national trends and research;
• Provide leadership to the curriculum team focused on effective curricular development, backward design principles, a scope and sequence of essential skills and concepts that address state and national standards, online instructional strategies, student achievement, and systematic review and analysis;
• Oversee the development of curriculum based formative, benchmark, and summative assessments to monitor student academic progress guide and guide instruction;
• Apply research and data to the content, sequence, and outcomes of curriculum development and to guide instructional practices for enhanced student achievement;
• Direct the process by which curriculum change and innovation are put into effect for new course development and curriculum maintenance;
• Oversee the development and delivering of training and professional development related to effective instructional practices, teacher effectiveness, and improved student achievement;
• Manage curriculum development and implementation to the curriculum and instruction budget and ensure the timely development of high-quality, cost effective programs;
• Liaison with the Academic Board of Governors, chaired by former Maryland Secretary of Education Nancy Grasmick, around accreditation and policy issues affecting the company;
• Work collaboratively with others in the organization to establish and manage third party relationships;
• Keep abreast of new instructional materials and products, and manage the evaluation of these materials in terms of their effectiveness as instructional tools and resources for the educational program;
• Establish mechanisms for communication related to curriculum and educational standards to school staff, students, and families;
• Serve as a consultant to principals and other staff on matters pertaining to curriculum and instruction;
• Attend professional meetings, conferences, institutes etc. to keep abreast of current trends and practices in online curriculum development and instructional methods.
THE CAREER OPPORTUNITY
For a skilled and ambitious editorial director in the K-12 online curriculum space, this position offers the following career benefits—
• The chance to work for an industry leader in a key strategic role
• The chance to drive instructional design and course development for the company
• The chance to have a seat at the table—to be part of Calvert’s senior leadership team
• The chance to work with an experienced CEO and investor in K-12 education
• The chance to own stock options in the company
• The chance to live and work in the attractive Greater Baltimore area
THE IDEAL CANDIDATE
The ideal candidate currently manages a product team in charge of developing online curriculum/courses for the K-12 school marketplace. This might be for any of the following: another virtual school or homeschooling company (eg, Florida Virtual, Advanced Academics); a developer of online courses, AP or other (eg, Apex, Plato, Aventa); a charter school or other site-based EMO (eg, Edison Learning, Rocketship Education), a supplemental service provider (eg, Educate, Kaplan, Princeton Review); a day care/early childhood company (Bright Horizons, KinderCare); a development house that serves K-12 publishers; or a textbook or supplemental publisher, especially in the intervention products market (eg, Cambium Learning, National Geographic, Scholastic).
Specifically, this individual has the following—
• An advanced degree in Education or related field, with additional coursework specific to curriculum development, instructional practices, online learning, and professional development
• Minimum of five years of successful K-12 curriculum development, including online course development, and five years of successful administrative experience
• Demonstrated knowledge of instructional design, curriculum development, backwards design curricular models, and online teaching and learning processes
• Strong experience with online teaching and curriculum development and web-based systems, with strong knowledge of online instructional strategies and 21st century skills
• Demonstrated knowledge of project management principles and approach to curriculum development
• High degree of comfort with the integration of curriculum into a platform LMS
• Knowledge of state and national standards and effective alignment practices
• Ability to identify and evaluate instructional content, resources and products
• Ability to manage and evaluate online professional development
• Knowledge of formative and summative assessment systems, including high stakes external summative assessments
• Strong analytical skills and ability to disaggregate data to analyze and problem solve to evaluate student performance and guide curriculum development and instructional practices for enhanced student achievement
• Prior experience working with and managing the varied and ongoing priorities of multiple stakeholders, including third party content providers
• Knowledge of current literature, trends, and development in the field of curriculum, assessment, and student learning
• Strong background in team management and participation--someone who is really engaged in the team, able to express themselves easily, comfortable with handling debate;
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a customer focused, fast paced environment
• Ability to analyze and problem solve to accomplish objectives
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; ability to facilitate teams; ability to work well with administrators, teachers, students, parents, and third party partners
• Some experience with special education curriculum a plus
• Strong technology skills (especially with Microsoft Office products)
The CLO will be working long hours to drive the success of the company. This involves a range of personal attributes-- flexibility and adaptability; a great work ethic; strong leadership skills; an ability to analyze and evaluate one’s own (and other’s) performance and to develop plans to improve performance; excellent presentation skills; willingness to take responsibility for both success and failure; a thick skin; self-confidence; a positive attitude about self, company, marketplace; and a strong desire for success.
COMPENSATION
Compensation will include salary and performance bonus commensurate with the individual’s experience.
TRAVEL
Travel minimally will be 20%.
CONTACT
Resume and cover letter should be sent as Word documents to Ralph Protsik (ralph@bsgtv.com) and Barb Piercecchi (barb@bsgtv.com), and also posted on the BSG website, www.bsgtv.com. No phone calls please.
