Director of Admissions

Summary

The Director of Admissions leads VIF’s efforts to (1) advise and influence the senior education policymakers across 10+ states in the creation of educational policies and initiatives that promote international teacher exchange, (2) develop targeted screening methodologies for the selection of international teachers, (3) direct the selection of qualified teachers from the pool of international applicants,  and (4) ensure all VIF teachers meet certification standards and receive teaching licenses.
                                  
The selection of qualified teachers drives teacher success rates, teacher satisfaction, and school district and principal satisfaction with the VIF Program.  As a result, this executive plays a key role in achieving Program impact, growth, and financing.  Overall Program success also depends on supportive state policy environments related to international teaching.

The Director of Admissions reports to the Chief Operations Officer and currently manages a team of more than 10 employees in the US and Latin America including admissions process managers/administrators, certification and acceptance specialists, and interview specialist(s). 

Essential Functions

• Serve in a governmental relations capacity influencing and achieving multi-state/multi-district policy changes friendly to international education.  Promote changes to state certification and licensure policies that will embrace international exchange teaching and recognize the range of international teaching experiences and training. 
• Secure the endorsement of all state education agencies in the states where VIF operates or plans to expand, including recognition as a designated certifying agency.
• Serve as international education expert and resource with clients (districts, superintendents and principals), strategic partners and education agencies in positioning VIF as the leading authority on international teacher standards and selection;
• Define certification policies for international teachers based on an understanding and interpretations of national and multi-state certification policies as they relate to the education and experience of teachers from 50+ foreign countries and education systems, and multi-language documents.  Direct certification review processes within the certification policies of 10+ states.  Maintain and enhance VIF’s Highly Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation (HOUSSE) rubric;
• Develop and implement admission standards and state-of-the-art processes for the selection of highly-qualified international teachers. Define international applicant information requirements, interviewing procedures, reference checking processes, and all other aspects of candidate review.  Train/coach VIF staff and consultants to achieve standards consistently;
• Manage the Admissions team day-to-day operations to ensure high quality and timely review of candidates, including initial application screening, document collection/management, in-person interview trips, credentials review, certification, and licensure.  Evaluate teacher experience for salary determination, and ensure all teachers are licensed in the subject(s) that they teach;
• Strengthen the Admissions team to achieve desired performance results. Train, coach, supervise, communicate, and serve as a change agent.  Recruit new employees as needed.  Define standards, processes, measures, budgets, and organizational enhancements to meet departmental and VIF goals; and,
• Participate with senior VIF leaders in setting new strategies and priorities.  Collaborate closely with other VIF departments to ensure alignment of goals, initiatives, processes and resources.  Collaborate with IT to leverage technology to support business requirements.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Manages the Admissions Manager

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to educate and influence key state and education officials in the area of international education and VIF’s leading position in this area
• Ability to interpret national and multi-state education licensure policies to make sound judgments
• Ideally, knowledge of the practices, policies and organization of the Department of Education at 10+ or more states
• Excellent team development and people management skills
• Proven leadership and influence ability
• Strong interpersonal and teamwork skills, communications skills and integrity
• Familiarity with university level programs of academic study and foreign teaching credentials

Educational and Experience Requirements

• 8+ years of management/leadership experience preferably in an education environment
• Considerable experience working in a US public school system or international school setting, ideally in Human Resources or related areas
• BA/BS in education, or a related discipline. Ideally, an advanced degree in education or related field
• 12+ years of combined professional experience
• Bi-lingual (Spanish) preferred
• International education experience is a plus

Key Competencies

• Proven capacity for innovation and creativity

Key Measures

• Teacher success rates and renewal rates, which directly influences repeat participation by teachers, school districts, and principals
• Strategic review and development of policies and practices that reflect proposed and new federal and multi-state policies and regulations
• Expansion of network with key governmental, education leaders and other decision makers
• Success on key initiatives (for example, state education policy change)
• Licensure success rate
• Efficient and effective candidate interviews/reviews (process management)
• Budget and cost management
• Employee satisfaction, development, and performance.

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