Now Hiring: Education Strategies Manager

By Tom Miller

In the 19th century agricultural production was a key to wealth creation and success. In the 20th century it was industrial production. In the 21st century our greatest resource is knowledge.

For Portland to prosper in this emerging century our children must be educated. People with knowledge hold the reins to the global economy and those with strong education will outcompete those without. Portland is well positioned to succeed in the 21st century but we won't reach our potential without dramatically improving our performance in the classroom.

Today just 57% of our ninth graders are likely to graduate from high school in four years. Those who don't finish on time are much less likely to go on to college or acquire skills training necessary for individual and family prosperity.

Portland Mayor-Elect Sam Adams has identified high school success as his number one priority. He seeks an experienced, can-do Education Strategies Manager to guide a team of three additional professionals into partnership with the city's school districts, educational foundations, advocacy groups, business leaders, and other community resources to improve the high school experience for our youth and consequently, the graduation success rate.

Salary: Maximum $75,000 (DOE) + generous benefits package

Starting Date: January 1, 2009

1. Qualifications:

· Bachelor's degree required/Master's degree preferred in a relevant field

· Minimum three years of experience in fundraising and education communication

· Experience managing employees in a collaborative team setting

2. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

· Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of barriers to students' completion of their public K-12 education

· Familiarity with best practices for drop-out prevention

· Demonstrated skills and experience in management, strategic planning and design

3. Responsibilities:

· Lead strategic planning and design of comprehensive effort

· Lead fund and resource raising efforts

· Communicate plans and efforts to wide array of audiences

· Facilitate large meetings

· Provide coordinating support to project team

· Monitor effort's progress and provide briefings to leadership

To apply: Send one-page cover letter, resume, one writing sample of no more than three pages, and three professional references to:

Tom Miller, Chief of Staff

Re: Education Strategies Manager

Office of Commissioner Sam Adams

1221 SW Fourth Avenue, Room 220

Portland, Oregon 97204

Sorry no phone or email inquiries, please. The review of materials will begin immediately and the position will remain open until filled. Mayor-Elect Adams is an equal opportunity employer and encourages women and minorities to apply.

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Posted Tue, 10/21/2008 - 8:45am.

[[ Categories: Education ]]

Portland's mission creep

Submitted by jim karlock on Sat, 10/25/2008 - 11:39pm.

1. Since when is education a function of the City government? We have other elected bodies, with their own tax bases, that do this function, including the Portland Public Schools, Reynolds School District and David Douglass.

If you are so concerned about them, why not quit letting PDC steal MILLIONS of property tax dollars, each year, from the schools, to spend on urban renewal showcases for millionaires (Pearl & SoWhat).

2. Knowledge is indeed important, bit it is worthless unless we can turn it into useful products. Yet many Portland policies drive out our few remaining manufacturers.

For instance the East Side Streetcar will add housing to the Eastside Industrial district, adding traffic congestion from all the new residents (few of which will really use the streetcar because it is so slow and probably doesn't go where they need to go) and the sure to increase rents and taxes, both of which drive out more businesses, including manufacturing. Additionally the mad rush to light rail will drive out many more businesses. If I recall correctly, the planners admit that over 1000 jobs will be affected,. Sure the planners claim that they will just move to a nearby location. Planners, as usual overlook the obvious: once forced to put up with the hassle of moving, what sane business would remain in Portland with its hostile atmosphere ranging from the petty inspectors that some report seeing after criticizing politicians to the excessive taxes.

Why not concentrate on just running the city services a economically a possible?

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My most favorite Karlockism

Submitted by Ron on Sat, 11/29/2008 - 10:54pm.

My most favorite Karlockism ever! "Knowledge is indeed important, bit (sic) it is worthless unless we can turn it into useful products." Classic.

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Edu-ma-cation

Submitted by Thomas Charest on Wed, 12/10/2008 - 3:17pm.

Knowing you, you already have. If not, check out the 'Annals of Education' article in the latest New Yorker. Interesting perspective on predicting teacher success.

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City Priorities

Submitted by Jeff B. on Sun, 12/14/2008 - 1:09pm.

Once the streets are paved, the parks are safe and the police act intelligently, then you can work on education. Please level out the property tax problems that were created with measure 5 that allows property increased in value using PDC money to be assessed at the old real estate values. If you use PDC money it should be a requirement that the new assessed values be placed on property the taxpayers helped increase in value. If you solve that problem, you'll have alot more money to work with, paid evenly and fairly by ALL of us.

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