Priority Area: Strategy and Planning

At all levels of education’s complex environment, sound strategy is key to driving successful growth and transformational impact on behalf of students and families.

Education organizations need leaders who have deep experience in strategy and planning to meet their goals.

The Work You'll Do

Our Pioneers bring deep strategic expertise to lead growth and expansion, community engagement, marketing, human capital, technology, and much more.

The work that Fellows can do builds on their previous experience in:

Growth and investment strategy

Organizational planning

Change management

Team strategy development and implementation

ORGANIZATION	ROLE	RESPONSIBILITIES
Venture Philanthropy Firm	Business Development Strategist	Aggregate market information to refine the firm’s investment strategy for education-related organizations Develop impact metrics that align investment with student outcomes to ensure maximum impact of investment
Charter School Operator	Strategic Expansion Manager	Identify and evaluate opportunities for school site expansion in new neighborhoods and new cities Support school year planning at new and existing schools Train new school operations directors on systems and procedures to ensure strategic and operational alignment across all schools
Education Nonprofit	Strategy Fellow	Lead cross-functional development of two-year strategic plan to make progress towards organization’s mission Align program team capacity and planning with strategic investment areas Develop external communications materials tailored to families, donors, and other stakeholders

Pioneer Spotlights

STACEY WANG

EP Alumna, 2010

FELLOWSHIP LOCATION: San Francisco Bay Area

PROJECT: As a Fellow with Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), Stacey supported new strategic efforts to develop quality community schools. She collaborated with district offices on a multi-pronged approach to better understand the decision-making needs of schools, researched best practices, and engaged with key education leaders to provide optimal conditions for individual schools. At the end of her project, Stacey delivered an assessment of Oakland schools’ needs for site-based decision making and recommended scalable models for OUSD to implement to support student success.

ASHLEY RICHARDSON

EP Alumna, 2012

FELLOWSHIP LOCATION: Chicago

PROJECT: As a Regional Portfolio Manager at Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Ashley was squarely in the middle of figuring out where money could be cut from physical facilities and put directly into resources that would drive student achievement, like learning programs, textbooks, and more teachers. Her work resulted in 49 school consolidations, 10 co-locations, and six school turnarounds.

Education Sector Needs Your Skills

LESSONS LEARNED FROM A STRATEGY CONSULTANT

CHOOSE TO WORK STRATEGICALLY

"This summer, I have had the privilege of working with the Memphis Music Initiative and leading strategic consultation for nonprofits to ensure that the city’s youth have access to high quality music programming and instruction."

--- Four Lessons I’ve Learned as a Strategy Consultant that Every Education Leader Should Know

“Strategic people create connections between ideas, plans, and people that others fail to see.”

--- Stop Talking about Strategy and Start Working More Strategically

Other Priority Areas
EP focuses on recruiting and placing Fellows in four key priority experience areas: data and analysis, strategy and planning, operations, and program and project management. Our Partners have particularly high need for expertise in these areas, which have high potential for impact with students, teachers, and families. While EP does match Fellows with select roles in human resources, finance, marketing and communications, and other functions, we focus our efforts on our priority areas.

Data and Analysis	Strategy and Planning	Operations	Program and Project Management