About Ascend Ascend is a network of high-performing charter schools serving students across Brooklyn. Our mission is to ensure that all students have access to an education that empowers them to unlock their full potential, achieve academic excellence, and pursue a future of boundless opportunity. We cultivate rigorous learning environments where students develop critical thinking skills, confidence, and a lifelong love of learning. At Ascend, educational equity is a driving force. We are committed to closing the achievement gap by delivering high-quality instruction, fostering a culture of high expectations, and equipping every student with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in college and beyond. Through this unwavering commitment, we prepare students not only to succeed academically but to seize every opportunity that lies ahead. About the Role The Associate Director of STEM is a detail-oriented, academic expert responsible for managing Ascend's daily curricular materials and resources for STEM in grades K-12. Reporting to the Network Director of Math, the Associate Director of STEM will oversee the selection, pacing, and management daily curricular materials, including pacing guides, curricular access, assessment implementation, related educational technology, platform creation, and daily data collection to ensure that we as a network are implementing the strongest possible STEM program for our students. The Associate Director of STEM will play a key role in shaping our academic strategy in STEM, maintaining strong curricular oversight, and implementing best practices in materials management and data collection. They will work closely with members of the Teaching and Learning team and partner with members of the Schools and School Leadership teams on implementing the strongest possible curriculum. Competencies Instructional Expert
- Demonstrated excellence in STEM instruction across multiple academic levels, using established pedagogical frameworks.
- Proven track record of moving students from all performance bands to mastery within STEM classrooms.
- Skilled at creating and sustaining academically rigorous and joyful classroom environments that accelerate student growth while effectively accommodating diverse learning needs.
Strategic Curricular Design
- A content expert with a passionate dedication to advancing STEM instruction.
- Strong capability to comprehend the trajectory of STEM curriculum, including how content progresses across grade levels and educational frameworks to build upon prior knowledge.
- A deep understanding of evaluating, assessing, and responding to student, class, grade, and school-level mastery of Humanities skills and objectives.
Data Driven Leadership
- Proficiency in utilizing questions, question taxonomy and objective-aligned data to identify areas of strength and opportunity across student, classroom, grade and school-wide contexts. .
- Mastery of the design of data response plans to close academic gaps in STEM
- Ability to use data to inform/invest leaders and teachers in specific decision-making and response plans.
Strategic Thinking & Meticulous Detail-Oriented Creation
- Ability to juggle multiple tasks of varying complexity and problem-solve in a fast-paced environment.
- Exceptional organizational capabilities, meticulous attention to detail, and outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
- Experience with managing projects, working with cross-functional teams and executing on daily tasks.
Purpose-Driven & Committed to Impact
- Deeply invested in the mission, vision, core values, and value proposition of Ascend, and grounds all curricular decisions in these values.
- Builds trusted relationships with teachers and school leaders, ensuring that curricular decisions support learning at all Ascend schools.
- Effectively translates complex academic concepts into accessible language for stakeholders, enabling network-wide decision-making aligned with established instructional design principles.
Responsibilities, including, but not limited to:
- Support the design of curricular selection, pacing, and implementation across the K-12 STEM program.
- Produce excellent targeted curriculum materials, including pacing guides, assessments, implementation guides, response plans, and Up (test prep) lesson materials across the K-12 STEM program.
- Support the design and implementation of best-in-class STEM professional development for our teachers and leaders.
- Work closely with the STEM team to establish the vision, scope and goals for all Ascend STEM materials and their implementation.
- Support the research of best practices in STEM curriculum and instructional design.
- In collaboration with the Manager roles, support the design and implementation of our STEM curriculum onto our online testing platforms (Pear and Illuminate)
- In collaboration with the Schools Team, build positive and efficient working relations with the Ascend central schools team, the Ascend Learning team, and with the leadership teams of each school.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree preferred
- 4+ years experience as a STEM (Math and/or Science) teacher with demonstrated results of moving students to outcomes.
- 1+ years experience coaching STEM teachers to demonstrated results preferred, but not required
- Past experience managing curriculum preferred, but not required.
- Past experience working with online assessment and LMS, such as Illuminate and Pear, preferred, but not required