Supervisor, Quality Authorizing- Non-Classified

This position is not part of the classified personnel system; applications will be accepted from Residents and Non-Residents of Colorado.

Incumbent will be required to live in and complete work for CDE within Colorado.

Colorado Department of Education – What We Do The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) provides leadership, resources, support, and accountability to the state's 184 school districts, 1,886 schools, over 53,000 teachers, and over 3,200 administrators to help them build capacity to meet the needs of the state's approximately 905,000 public school students. In addition, CDE provides structural and administrative support to the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind and the Charter School Institute.

As the administrative arm of the State Board of Education, CDE is responsible for implementing state and federal education laws, disbursing state and federal funds, holding schools and districts accountable for performance, licensing all educators, and providing public transparency of performance and financial data.

CDE is a values-based agency that serves students, parents, and the general public by protecting public trust through ensuring adherence to laws, strong stewardship of public funds, and accountability for student performance.

CDE strives to incorporate five core values that we uphold in our work internally and externally. If you come to CDE, be prepared to incorporate Integrity, Equity, Accountability, Trust, and commitment to Service in what you do.

Why Work For CDE The work we do is rewarding and impacts the students, families, educators, and communities across Colorado. Our leadership also promotes a culture that puts families and self-care as a priority. Along with meaningful work and an environment that puts employees first, the state also offers rich benefits that intend to make us an Employer of Choice! The following is a summary of the benefits we offer:• Flexible work schedules and flexible workplace options that may include flexible working hours, working from home, working in the office, and/or a hybrid working environment.

• Premier medical, dental, vision, and dependent life insurance options. All with a generous employer contribution keeping employee costs as low as possible.
• Employer-paid short-term disability and life insurance.
• Up to 160 hours of Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML).
• 11 paid holidays per year.
• Competitive vacation and sick leave accruals.
• Retirement through the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) www.copera.org.
• Employer-paid RTD Eco Pass (certain restrictions may apply).
• Paid professional development opportunities.

A wide salary range is posted for this position, and any job offer is based upon a salary analysis to comply with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. The salary analysis considers relevant experience, education, certifications, and state seniority relative to others performing substantially similar work. While most salary offers are made within the posted range, occasionally an offer is made below or above the posted range based upon this salary analysis.

The State of Colorado strives to create a Colorado for All by building and maintaining workplaces that value and respect all Coloradans through a commitment to equal opportunity and hiring based on merit and fitness. The State is resolute in non-discriminatory practices in everything we do, including hiring, employment, and advancement opportunities.Work Environment:This position is full-time, state-funded (funding is contingent upon availability and may end at any time), and is eligible for a hybrid work environment.

• Extended hours during the evening or the weekend may be required by business needs.

• 30% of travel is required within the State of Colorado for meetings, trainings, and consultations.

• Overnight travel is required for the position.

• Out-of-state travel may be required for conferences out of state.

• Driving Required (Please see description under Conditions of Employment).

• A Remote (Home) office is required.

• Commuting to the CDE buildings is required.

• Required to report to the work location per business needs.

• Essential Functions (ADAAA)• LIGHT/Office environment: • Required to sit, view a computer screen, and utilize a keyboard and mouse for extended periods of time.

• May be required to lift and move up to 10 lbs of force frequently or 20 lbs occasionally.

• Required lifting, bending, stooping, pushing, walking, etc.

• Light work usually requires walking or standing to a significant degree.

• Colorado DL Required: Required to safely operate a motor vehicle (OR State of Colorado Fleet motor vehicle/Colorado DL required) to complete travel requirements.

Position Summary: The Senior Advisor, Quality Authorizing serves as a strategic leader within the Improvement & Innovation Unit and is responsible for advancing Colorado's statewide strategy to strengthen local education agencies' capacity to strategically authorize, govern, evaluate, and continuously improve diverse public school options.

Unlike positions responsible for administering or supporting a single school model or program, this position has cross-model responsibility for establishing coherent quality-authorizing approaches across charter schools, online schools, alternative education campuses, part-time programming, innovation schools, and emerging public school models. The position integrates authorizing, governance, accountability, improvement, and implementation considerations into statewide frameworks and district-facing supports.

The Senior Advisor is a member of the Improvement & Innovation leadership team and serves as CDE's lead subject matter expert on authorizing quality and district governance related to diverse and emerging public school models. The position works with the Charter Office, Office of Online and Blended Learning, staff responsible for innovation schools, alternative education campuses and part-time programming, other CDE offices, and external partners to align district and school supports around the division's theory of action and the LEA's role as quality authorizer.

The position has direct accountability for developing statewide authorizing frameworks, quality standards, implementation guidance, and technical assistance; leading cross-unit implementation of significant statutory and policy changes within the assigned portfolio; advising executive district leaders on consequential authorizing and governance decisions; and resolving cross-program implementation issues that require integration of policy, accountability, governance, finance, and school improvement considerations.

The final salary is anticipated to fall within the posted salary range, however could be higher or lower depending on the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other qualifications of the preferred candidate while considering internal equity.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership and Statewide Accountability for Quality Authorizing

• Own the development, maintenance, and implementation of CDE's statewide quality-authorizing framework across diverse public school models, in partnership with the Executive Director of Improvement & Innovation.
• Establish common principles, standards, decision tools, and implementation expectations that enable LEAs to evaluate school quality, governance, performance, and continued authorization across multiple school models.
• Work with Improvement & Innovation and SQS executive leadership regarding statewide authorizing strategy, policy implementation, technical assistance priorities, and changes needed to address systemic implementation barriers. Facilitate positive interactions and communications between units. Build strong relationships with CDE staff.
• Determine when cross-office issues can be resolved through existing policy and guidance and when issues require escalation for legal interpretation, executive decision, State Board action, or legislative consideration.
• Guide the evolution of SQS work from model-specific supports toward coherent district-level strategies while ensuring statutory and program-specific requirements remain appropriately addressed.
• Identify emerging risks, trends, and gaps in Colorado's authorizing environment and recommend statewide responses.

Executive Leadership and District Governance• Serve as a senior advisor to superintendents, boards of education, charter authorizers, and district executive leadership teams on authorizing, governance, portfolio strategy, and implementation of innovative school models.

• Lead strategic engagements involving consequential district decisions such as authorization or renewal approaches, governance redesign, portfolio changes, enrollment shifts, implementation of new school models, or significant organizational change.
• Provide expert consultation when issues span multiple regulatory or program areas and require reconciliation of governance, accountability, finance, policy, and school-quality considerations.
• Build district leadership capacity to use objective quality standards, performance information, community priorities, and statutory requirements in authorizing and portfolio decisions.
• Maintain trusted executive-level relationships while preserving CDE's responsibility to provide consistent, legally and programmatically sound statewide guidance.

Policy Development, Legislative Implementation, and Innovation• Lead development of statewide policies, guidance, quality standards, decision frameworks, and implementation resources within the quality-authorizing portfolio.

• Serve as a designated implementation lead for significant legislation and State Board policy affecting school choice, authorizing, online education, part-time programming, innovation, and emerging public school models, as assigned by the Executive Director.
• Work across the department on legislative matters, including analyzing proposed legislation, drafting summaries, and completing fiscal notes.
• Translate new statutory and regulatory requirements into operational expectations for School Quality and Support teams and LEAs, identifying implementation dependencies, decision points, risks, and areas requiring additional interpretation.
• Convene and direct cross-unit implementation teams and resolve implementation issues within delegated authority.
• Develop recommendations for executive leadership when implementation choices have statewide policy, fiscal, accountability, governance, or stakeholder implications.
• Monitor national authorizing, governance, and educational-model developments and assess their applicability to Colorado's statutory and policy context.

Cross-Divisional Systems Design• Lead cross-divisional work with Accountability, School & District Transformation, Federal Programs, School Finance, Legal Services, Data Services, Field Services, and other relevant offices to align CDE expectations and supports affecting innovative school models.

• Design processes that clarify roles, decision rights, handoffs, and escalation pathways across CDE offices when an authorizing or school-model issue crosses organizational boundaries.
• Identify and eliminate conflicting or duplicative guidance, monitoring, and technical assistance within the assigned portfolio.
• Ensure statewide frameworks and district-facing resources appropriately connect authorizing decisions to school performance, accountability, improvement, governance, and fiscal considerations.
• Lead research and identification of promising authorizing and governance practices and determine how those practices should inform CDE frameworks and supports.

Supervision and Organizational Management The duties and responsibilities for employees that supervise staff include, but are not limited to, the following: Models and ensures consistency with organizational values and policies.• Clearly communicates expectations and standards to staff.

• Conducts timely performance management of staff, including formal evaluations, on-going and routine feedback, and holding staff accountable.
• Awareness and approval of employee time worked and work schedules. This includes approval of time worked for payroll and monitoring and approval of all work schedules, including remote work and flex schedules, based upon CDE's policies.
• Provides the applicable tools and resources staff require to perform their job
• Supervise professional staff assigned to the quality-authorizing portfolio, with specific roles to be determined in Spring 2027.
• Establish work priorities, performance expectations, and accountability for assigned staff consistent with statewide strategy and unit priorities.
• Conduct performance management, provide coaching and professional learning, and develop staff capacity and succession pathways.
• Approve employee time and work schedules and ensure staff have the tools and resources necessary to perform their responsibilities.
• Model and ensure consistency with CDE organizational values, policies, and expectations.

Decision- Making and Accountability The Senior Advisor exercises independent professional judgment within established statutory, regulatory, legal, and departmental parameters. The position is expected to:• Make operational and implementation decisions for the statewide quality-authorizing portfolio within delegated authority.

• Establish recommended statewide frameworks, standards, tools, and technical-assistance approaches used by CDE staff and LEAs.
• Resolve cross-unit implementation conflicts where existing law, rule, policy, or executive direction provides sufficient parameters.
• Determine when an issue presents material legal, fiscal, policy, State Board, or legislative implications requiring escalation.
• Provide formal recommendations to executive leadership on policy and implementation choices that affect multiple school models or LEAs.
• Be accountable for the coherence, accuracy, usability, and timely implementation of statewide quality-authorizing guidance and supports.
• Be accountable for consistent implementation across the assigned portfolio, rather than for delivery of a single program or school-model initiative.

MINIMUM EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: • Minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in K-12 educational leadership, including experience with district governance, school authorization, school portfolio management, charter or alternative school oversight, online or innovative school models, or a closely related area.

AND• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in education, educational leadership, public administration, public policy, business administration, organizational leadership, or a closely related field.

QUALIFICATIONS AND CONDITIONS: Qualifications for Success in the Position:

• Minimum ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in K-12 educational leadership, including experience with district governance, school authorization, school portfolio management, charter or alternative school oversight, online or innovative school models, or a closely related area.
• Executive-level leadership experience in a Colorado school district, charter school organization, authorizing organization, educational service agency, or state education agency, with responsibility for decisions or recommendations affecting multiple schools, programs, or organizational units.
• Demonstrated experience directly leading or materially informing consequential authorizing, governance, school portfolio, renewal, accountability, or school-quality decisions.
• Demonstrated experience interpreting education statutes, regulations, board policy, or state guidance and translating those requirements into operational policies, standards, procedures, or implementation guidance.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing a framework, system, or set of standards used across multiple schools, districts, programs, or organizational units—not solely managing an individual program.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional initiatives in which the incumbent was accountable for resolving competing requirements across at least two of the following areas: governance, accountability, school improvement, finance, legal/policy, data, or program implementation.
• Demonstrated experience advising or facilitating executive-level decision-making with superintendents, boards of education, senior district leaders, authorizers, or comparable governing bodies.
• Demonstrated experience supervising professional staff, including setting performance expectations, providing feedback, and holding staff accountable for results.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex policy and governance requirements to executive and public audiences and to produce clear written guidance for implementation.

Preferred Qualifications (Preferred/Not Required):• Master's degree in educational leadership, educational administration, public administration, organizational leadership, public policy, or a related field.

• Direct experience as a superintendent, assistant superintendent, chief officer, executive director, authorizer leader, or comparable role with responsibility for district governance or a portfolio of public schools.
• Direct experience with Colorado's charter school, online school, innovation school, alternative education campus, or part-time programming statutes, rules, accountability requirements, or authorizing practices.
• Experience leading implementation of state legislation or State Board rules affecting LEAs or public school governance.
• Experience developing authorizer quality standards, performance frameworks, renewal or evaluation processes, portfolio-management systems, or comparable district governance tools.
• Experience navigating high-conflict or high-stakes authorizing or governance matters involving governing boards, district executives, school leaders, families, community stakeholders, or public officials.

CORE COMPETENCIES Quality Authorizing and Governance Expertise• Advanced knowledge of effective authorizing, governance, school-quality evaluation, organizational performance, and public school accountability.

• Ability to distinguish statutory requirements from recommended practice and translate both into practical LEA decision frameworks.
• Ability to evaluate implications of policy or implementation choices across multiple public school models.

Strategic Systems Leadership• Ability to integrate policy, governance, finance, accountability, data, and school improvement considerations into coherent statewide strategy.

• Demonstrated ability to establish decision rights, implementation structures, and accountability mechanisms across organizational boundaries.
• Ability to identify systemic implementation risks and develop actionable solutions within delegated authority.

Executive Consultation and Influence• Ability to build credibility with superintendents, boards, executive leaders, state policymakers, and internal subject matter experts.

• Exceptional facilitation, negotiation, communication, and conflict-resolution skills, including the ability to move ambiguous or high-conflict situations toward legally sound, student-centered solutions.
• Ability to influence across organizations without direct authority while clearly identifying decisions that require executive escalation.

Organizational Leadership• Strong project and portfolio management skills.

• Ability to supervise professional staff and build high-performing teams.
• Commitment to continuous improvement, organizational coherence, innovation, and service to Colorado students, families, schools, and districts

Conditions of Employment (Required):• Must be willing and able to submit to the pre-screening process and pass a background check.

• Ability and willingness to independently determine, obtain means, and complete required travel (percentage 30%)

• Work extended schedule per business needs

• Report to work location per business needs

• Valid Colorado Driver's License Required: Required to safely operate a State of Colorado Fleet Motor vehicle to complete travel requirements.

• Sign the acknowledgment form that this position is funded through state funds and is subject to availability.

• Driving Required: To ensure the safety and efficiency of CDE operations, certain positions are designated as "Driving Required." These positions are required to safely operate a motor vehicle or a State of Colorado Fleet motor vehicle to complete the travel requirements. These positions are subject to a Motor Vehicle Records (MVR) check and a valid driver’s license requirement if it meets the following criteria:• Travel Threshold: The position requires business-related travel at least 30% or more of standard working hours; AND

• Operational Necessity: The travel requirements cannot be reasonably or efficiently met by alternative transportation (e.g., public transit, ride-sharing, or rail) due to:• Significant travel distances or out-of-state requirements.

• A high frequency of stops at multiple locations throughout the workday.

• The need to transport equipment or travel to areas where public transportation is unavailable or impractical.

Notes:Only completed applications received by the deadline will be considered for review. Following the close of the posting, all applications will be reviewed, and selected candidates will be contacted to participate in the interview process. HR does not use AI to scan for MQs. Complete Applications must include:• Completed Online Application: Required - Submitted through our ATS.

• Cover Letter: Required - Attached as a separate document.
• Resume: Required - Attached as a separate document.
• Transcript: Required if using education to meet MQs - Attached to the online application and meeting requirements as described under "College Transcripts".

College Transcripts: If you are using education to qualify, a legible copy of your official or unofficial college transcript(s) or a foreign credential evaluation report must be submitted with your application. Transcripts must show the name of the school and that a degree was conferred. Transcripts from colleges or universities outside of the United States must be assessed for U.S. equivalency by a NACES educational credential evaluation service. Failure to provide a transcript or foreign credential evaluation report may result in your application being rejected and you will not be able to continue in the selection process for this position.

**Failure to submit a complete application as defined above by the announcement close may result in your application being removed from consideration. **

Transcript Note: You may redact information that identifies your age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation from any application materials, such as transcripts or certificates, submitted with your application

** Resumes and Cover Letters WILL NOT be reviewed for minimum qualification screening.

FOR CURRENT OR FORMER EMPLOYEES OF THE STATE OF COLORADO: Per the requirements of the Step Pay Program implemented on July 1, 2024, any State employee must be paid a rate that is equal to or greater than the appropriate step pay rate within their classification’s pay range based on completed years in their current class series as of June 30. All current and former State employees must ensure that your entire work history within the State Classified System, including at Institutions of Higher Education, is indicated in your application so that your time-in-series can be calculated accurately.

Email Address: All correspondence regarding your status in the selection/examination process will be conducted via email. Include a working email address on your application; one that is checked often as time-sensitive correspondence such as exam information or notification will take place via email. Please set up your e-mail to accept messages from "state.co.us" and "[email protected]" addresses. It is your responsibility to ensure that your email will accept these notices and/or review your junk mail and spam-filtered email.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and Equal Employment Opportunity The State of Colorado believes that equity, diversity, and inclusion drive our success, and we encourage candidates from all identities, backgrounds, and abilities to apply. The State of Colorado is an equal opportunity employer committed to building inclusive, innovative work environments with employees who reflect our communities and enthusiastically serve them. Therefore, in all aspects of the employment process, we provide employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, a medical condition related to pregnancy, creed, ancestry, national origin, marital status, genetic information, or military status (with preference given to military veterans), or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law.

The Colorado Department of Education is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, our agency will assist individuals who have a disability with any reasonable accommodation requests related to employment, including completing the application process, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, participating in the employee selection process, and/or performing essential job functions where the requested accommodation does not impose an undue hardship. If you have a disability and require reasonable accommodation to ensure you have a positive experience applying or interviewing for this position, please direct your inquiries to [email protected].