Manager, Psychology

Position Overview

The mission of the Office of School Improvement and Supports (OSIS) is to ensure we support our schools and our students to succeed and to meet the Goals of our Strategic Plan. The Office works to dramatically accelerate the number of excellent schools through school transformation, including design, partnerships, Connected Schools, and Comprehensive School Planning (CSP). The Office develops, aligns, and delivers high-quality supports to ensure students, particularly students furthest away from opportunity, are in school, able to engage in rigorous learning, and have a joyous educational environment. The Office ensures our schools have excellent leaders, educators, and staff who are prepared to meet the diverse needs of the young people we serve.

Divisions/Teams

School Improvement

• School Performance: Promotes data-driven decision-making through a cycle of continuous improvement to develop, implement, and monitor the comprehensive school plan designed to move schools toward a consistent standard of excellence.
• Design: Designs innovative school models that transform learning for our students furthest from opportunity and supports District workstreams to be more grounded in community voice by anchoring in data, community engagement and understanding, and elevating and integrating student voice.
• Connected Schools: Supports schools in implementing the DCPS Connected Schools Model. Connected Schools take a whole child, whole school, whole community approach by making schools spaces that support not only a student’s academic development, but also the student and family’s overall wellbeing through access to resources related to health, employment, housing, and more.
• Equity Strategy and Programing: Supports DCPS’ equity priority by ensuring systemically underserved students are provided with opportunities, skills, and engagements that support their success, and that DCPS staff and stakeholders are centering equity as a central lens and practice.

Student Supports

• School Mental Health: Ensures that students' behavioral and social-emotional needs are met to increase access to the curriculum.
• Student Placement: Ensures that schools have the necessary supports to address the needs of the whole child and create the conditions where all students are ready to learn.
• Student Health Services: Ensures that all students are healthy and are supported with the appropriate services and accommodations to support their wellness and continued learning.

Learning and Development Sciences

• The Learning and Development Sciences Division(LDS) is charged with supporting the district’s transformation to becoming a whole child-centered, anti-racist school system—DCPS Becoming. Grounded in science and powered by lived experiences, the district’s approach is a long-term vision that counts on each district and school staff member knowing the science of learning and development and applying this research to their own work. Charged with building the capacity of district and school staff, as well as integrating a whole-child and anti-racist lens into the district’s key priorities, the LDS Division will leverage the experiences of school leaders and staff to translate the research into systems, tools, and practices.
• SEL and School Culture: Ensures that schools have the resources to provide a safe and supportive learning environment where all students are able to thrive academically and socially

IMPACT : IMPACT is DCPS’ Evaluation and Feedback System for School-Based Personnel.

• IMPACT Operations : Supports the daily implementation of both Staff and School Leader IMPACT. The team ensures IMPACT policy is followed with fidelity, manages a helpline where staff can reach out with questions, handles IMPACT appeals, and fulfills all IMPACT data analysis requests.
• IMPACT Align : Ensures all evaluators have the tools they need to accurately and consistently apply the DCPS classroom observation rubric (the Essential Practices) when evaluating teacher practice. Provides tools for teachers to support excellent performance with respect to the Essential Practices.
• IMPACT Design : Gathers and responds to feedback from DCPS leadership and staff and uses this feedback to consider possible IMPACT design changes for the future. The team also liaises with other states, districts, education groups, and researchers to learn from the best practices and lessons learned in the field of staff and school leader evaluation.

The Student Supports division is comprised of the following:

• School Mental Health: Ensures that students' behavioral and social-emotional needs are met to increase access to the curriculum.
• SEL and School Culture: Ensures that schools have the resources to provide a safe and supportive learning environment where all students are able to thrive academically and socially.
• Student Placement: Ensures that schools have the necessary supports to address the needs of the whole child and create the conditions where all students are ready to learn.
• Student Health Services: Ensures that all students are healthy and are supported with the appropriate services and accommodations to support their wellness and continued learning.

The Manager, Psychology will be a member of a team with shared responsibility of managing and supervising DCPS school psychologists and other related duties, including providing clinical supervision to interns, externs and fellows. The Manager will coordinate appropriate training to build the capacity of school psychologists, oversee whole child programming across schools, and ensure provider compliance with assessment timeliness, service delivery, and specialized instruction mandates, as appropriate. The Manager is also involved in other program development and department collaborations.

This position is a safety-sensitive position. As a result, throughout employment this position will be subject to the Employee Mandatory Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy.

The Manager, Psychology will report to the Director, School Mental Health.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The below statements are intended to describe the general nature and scope of work being performed by this position. This is not a complete listing of all responsibilities, duties, and/or skills required. Other duties may be assigned.

• Develops overall program strategy and clear, specific, and ambitious performance measures for multiple projects and operational priorities; and translates targets into individual work goals and deliverables for other team members.

• Leads the implementation of program strategy; assesses and tracks project progress regularly using various computer programs and tools; and drives project completion holding others accountable for responsibilities and deadlines.

• Assigns, directs, and evaluates the work of direct reports; guides and supports the professional development and training of reports; and helps implement team's HR needs, such as hiring, performance evaluation, and team structure.

• Helps manage the analysis and presentation of data and progress of data-driven initiatives for the senior management team and external audiences; communicates progress to key stakeholder groups; and incorporates their input.

• Builds relationships and liaises with various internal departments to drive collaboration and project success; and interacts with and responds effectively to urgent requests from multiple internal and external DCPS stakeholders.

• Identifies and systematizes successful operational and project management methods across the department; and develops and strengthens resources for program evaluation and support.

• Completes full cycle of DCPS’s IMPACT evaluations in accordance with DCPS policy, determining quality and timeliness of services administered by school psychologists to determine areas of proficiency and development in meeting job responsibilities and expectations.

• Supports schools in the development of systems of care and coordination, providing consult in a variety of organizational and student-centered supports.

• Develops and oversees the clinical internship program and externship opportunities with regional universities’ school psychology programs.

• Provides professional development activities and trainings for schools.

• Develops positive work relationships with school personnel of constituent districts and communities.

• Creates an approved assessment list and ensures the use of tests that are reliable and valid to the District’s population.

• Builds relationships and liaises with various internal departments to drive collaboration and project success, and interacts with and responds effectively to urgent requests from multiple internal and external DCPS stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in School Psychology with four to six year of related work experience, including a minimum of four years of supervisory experience.
• Doctorate in Psychology from an accredited university preferred.
• Previous exposure to or experience in the education sector a plus.
• Previous experience implementing a multi-tiered system of supports.
• Minimum of five years of supervisory experience.
• Active instructional license as a School Psychologist by the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE).
• Clinical Licensure preferred.

DCPS Values

• STUDENTS FIRST : We recognize students as whole children and put their needs first in everything we do.
• COURAGE : We have the audacity to learn from our successes and failures, to try new things, and to lead the nation as a proof point of PK-12 success.
• EQUITY : We work proactively to eliminate opportunity gaps by interrupting institutional bias and investing in effective strategies to ensure every student succeeds.
• EXCELLENCE : We work with integrity and hold ourselves accountable for exemplary outcomes, service, and interactions.
• TEAMWORK : We recognize that our greatest asset is our collective vision and ability to work collaboratively and authentically.
• JOY : We enjoy our collective work and will enthusiastically celebrate our success and each other.