Rabbi Careers

Overview

Anshe Emet Synagogue, an urban Conservative synagogue of 1200 families in Chicago, is seeking a full-time Director of Educational Innovation.

Anshe Emet has been involved in a process of exploration and testing to create a 21st-century vision of youth education. That two-year process, conducted by a professional consultant and a team of 24 lay leaders (The LaAtid Task Force), has culminated in a dynamic vision for the future. The LaAtid vision crafts a system of youth and family education which inculcates robust and meaningful knowledge honors the diversity of very different learners and families, offers flexibility in time and space, and serves to cement lasting relationships between students, families, and the larger community.  We are now searching for a leader to help us realize our dream.

The Director of Educational Innovation will be a key leadership role for our congregation. This is a preeminent Jewish education position, and we are seeking applications from experienced professionals who are passionate about Judaism and Jewish learning.

 

Responsibilities

The Director of Educational Innovation will collaborate with clergy, Anshe Emet’s professional education team, and lay leaders with an eye towards implementing the vision of the LaAtid Task Force.  In 2018-2019, the Director of Educational Innovation will help to implement prototypes and pilots for substantive change, assess the success of these ventures, experiment with new ideas which honor the vision of the Task Force and design an implementation plan for the fully realized vision of LaAtid to be implemented in subsequent years.

In addition, job responsibilities include the following:

• Take leading role in strategic implementation of the LaAtid school vision for the future
• Hire, train and manage faculty and staff
• Coach faculty to implement best practices and the curriculum
• Align teaching, procedures and educational materials to achieve the goals of the new vision
• Strengthen family educational experiences for religious school and day school families
• Communicate effectively with faculty, students, parents, clergy, staff and lay leadership
• Benchmark the school and stay abreast of best practices for youth and family education
• Assess changes and outcomes: Evaluate Year 1 pilots and prototypes and adjust the rollout of experiments and implementations in subsequent years
• Manage the development and execution of the budget for the school
• Develop a culture of inclusion that uses best practices to include differently-abled students in the school to the maximum extent feasible
• Position the school to achieve growth in enrollment and successful outcomes

Qualifications

• Excited by our vision and principles
• Collaborative team member and leader
• Captivating communicator with an audacious mindset
• A positive contributor who forms meaningful relationships with our children, families, and community members.
• Extremely organized and has strong computer skills
• Jewishly knowledgeable and cherishes Jewish life and living, both personally and professionally
• Familiarity with Responsive Classroom, the Reggio Emilia approach, online language learning, inclusion of diverse learners, and experiential and arts-based approaches to core content learning

Minimum educational/experience requirement: 

• Master’s Degree in Education
• Minimum of five years of educational leadership experience