Director, AP Program Access and Learning

Director, AP Program Access and Learning  

College Board – Advanced Placement & Instruction (AP&I) 

Location: This is a fully remote role. Candidates who live near CB offices have the option of being fully remote or hybrid (Tuesday and Wednesday in office). 

About the Team  

The Advanced Placement (AP) Program Access department focuses on availability, relevance, confidence, and engagement in the AP Program. Within this department, our team focuses on (1) designing and implementing learning plans for Pre-AP, AP courses in development (e.g., AP Business Principles), and courses with innovative components (e.g., AP courses with project based learning); (2) collaborating with our policy and field teams to make data-informed decisions based on administrative reports and other data; and (3) conducting data collection and analyses designed to more deeply understand teacher and student confidence, sharing these results to enhance how AP and Pre-AP teachers are trained, supported, and retained. Our expertise is in applied research and analysis. We understand that the policy environment, district context, and school climate influence how teachers enact and students experience their AP and Pre-AP courses. We develop tools, protocols, and instruments for innovative data collection efforts that support learning and reflection across the school year. We utilize a mixed methods approach to investigate data from surveys, focus groups, classroom observations, student work samples, administrative data sets, and a rich repository of course documents. We craft analysis summaries that are practitioner-oriented and focused on synthesizing what we’ve learned, with an eye towards program implementation. Ultimately, we are oriented towards understanding how Pre-AP and AP courses are implemented, and creating opportunities to serve the broader Pre-AP and AP communities based on new insights.   

About the Opportunity   

As a Director in the AP Program Access department, you play a key role in developing and implementing learning plans, data collection tools, and stepback protocols to meet the needs of Pre-AP, AP, Policy, and State & District Partnerships (SDP) teams. You will be expected to create and maintain detailed project workplans and associated project deliverables. You will also be responsible for flexibly responding to issues and risks in the field, and ensuring that they are resolved effectively. You are passionate about understanding stakeholders and leveraging data to support their needs. Your ability to understand data and the conclusions and narratives from the data allow you to support conversations about program decision making. You relish the opportunity to bridge the gap between knowledge gained through analytics and its application in policy and practice. 

In this role, you will focus on:  

Instrument Design, Data Collection, and Mixed Methods Analysis (40%)  

• Design surveys and focus group/interview protocols, adapting and adjusting protocols as projects evolve 

• Collaborate with internal teams to schedule and conduct surveys, focus groups and interviews of teachers, students and other stakeholders 

• Develop analysis plans to utilize classroom data (e.g., observations and student artifacts) in conjunction with large scale datasets (e.g., teacher professional learning engagement and student participation in AP course taking) to answer learning questions 

• Utilize qualitative and quantitative methods to conduct exploratory analyses and raise new questions that drive the collection of new data 

• Provide analytics that support monitoring progress towards goals 

• Create insights and synthesize themes from both original data and existing administrative data.  

Project Management (30%) 

• Develop and execute project timelines and work plans, managing deadlines and workflow across multiple teams and projects including: AP Access, Instructional Pilots, Pre-AP instructional analytics, and state accountability data reporting 

• Communicate proactively across multiple teams about prioritization and emerging project needs 

• Generate new ideas and create new approaches to projects to creatively solve problems 

Communications & Stakeholder Engagement (30%)  

• Serve as a thought partner; engage in team problem-solving; and share knowledge and insights on emerging trends and research impacting Pre-AP and AP courses 

• Facilitate meetings and communicate formally and informally with internal and external stakeholders 

• Collaborate with stakeholders to develop insights and recommendations in response to real-world questions from internal clients and/or challenges facing the broader field 

• Clearly communic