State Implementation Specialist - Detroit, MI

Position Title: State Implementation Specialist - Detroit Area (3 roles) * State Implementation Specialist - Metro Detroit Area (3 roles) * (Ideal to have at least 1 in Detroit and at least 1 grand rapids/traverse city, but if we end up with all of them in Detroit that's ok)
Location: Detroit, MI , We've said 50% travel (down from 75% last year), but we're not expecting as much travel as last year. And we really only think we'll need the possibility of 50% travel in specific weeks during the contract.
Duration: temporary assignment beginning early Dec through April 2024

Profile: 3-5 year experienced educational administration professional with strong communication skills and service-solution oriented mindset; someone that is great at analyzing scenarios and problem solving with attention to detail.

About the Team: Client's Operations division aims to be a world class digital assessment delivery and customer engagement organization that supports millions of students and thousands of test centers, annually. The State Contract Program Management (SCPM) team is a close knit, high performing team of 8 people dedicated to providing a high level of implementation support to our state accountability customers. The SCPM team works collaboratively to solve problems and enact change, leveraging each team member's strengths. This team works closely with external stakeholders including assessment departments in state departments of education, district assessment coordinators, and school test coordinators. Internally, this team partners closely with other assessment operations team members as well as state and district partnership colleagues.

Must Have Skills:

• Customer Service
• K-12 educational technology, assessment industry, and/or K-12 school/state/central office experience
• Solutions Oriented
• Strong verbal and written communication skills

About the Opportunity:
As a term State Implementation specialist on the SCPM team for [Colorado, Michigan] you are responsible for supporting the state's SAT and PSAT assessment implementation with the state Department of Education (State Board of Education). You will be an escalation point of contact for the DOE, district test coordinators, and school test coordinators as they implement the assessment for their federal accountability test in spring 2024. The term State Implementation Specialist will work closely with the SCPM team and key client's Operations business partners to ensure a successful test administration at every eligible school in the state. This will include managing escalations in a timely manner and within the specified guidelines and policies of various internal departments .

You will be most successful in this role if you are a hands-on, flexible implementation manager who is willing to go above and beyond to support customers and find resolutions to issues.

Responsibilities:
Implementation Support:

• Serve as business contact between the schools and districts and internal client teams to address and resolve processing exceptions and/or escalated cases.
• Establish a strong relationship with the SCPM team, other stakeholders, and external state partners.
• Facilitate meetings and communicate formally and informally with internal and external stakeholders.
• Act as SAT and PSAT subject matter expert to provide guidance to DOE, district test coordinators, and school test coordinators.
• Conduct proactive readiness outreach to prepare schools and districts for administering digital tests.
• Act as a voice of the customer during policy, process, and solutioning discussions.
• Lead training sessions and remote office hours as needed with customers.
• Respond to district and school inquiries via email and phone, providing implementation and technical on-site support as needed. Escalate issues to the state's Implementation Manager as appropriate.
• Work within aggressive timelines and with extremely sensitive test administration-impacting cases.
• Conduct manual processes to implement exceptions workarounds.
• When necessary, provide manual support for data entry and exceptions.
• Directly support the state's Implementation Manager in creating and presenting customer-facing reports tracking implementation activities.
• Work closely and collaboratively with the SCPM team's [Colorado, Michigan,] Implementation Manager and Project Manager to meet project schedule.
• Assist SCPM team's [Colorado, Michigan,] Implementation Manager and Project Manager with risk and issue management.
• Coordinate interactions with Tech Support and Services for Students with Disabilities.

Communication, Process Development and Continuous Improvement:

• Communicate formally and informally about the project and its status to people within and outside the project team, including across DOE bureaus.
• Respond to district and school inquiries via email and phone, providing implementation and technical on-site support as needed. Escalate issues to the Implementation Manager as appropriate.
• Contribute to process recommendations and assist in implementing for future implementations.
• Perform ad-hoc duties or tasks as assigned or required.

Required Skills:

• 3-5 years of related work experience in K-12 educational technology, assessment industry, and/or K-12 school/state/central office experience highly desired.
• Demonstrated communication skills, including effective oral communication and direct, concise writing skills. Experience communicating with customers and educators about key elements of program management highly desired.
• Experience developing and leading training workshops and webinars.
• Ability to take initiative and contribute to building a stronger program.
• Experience with a wide variety of tools, including Microsoft Office applications, Salesforce, and Smartsheet, with the flexibility to leverage the best tool for each problem/opportunity.
• A strong desire to learn & improve, leveraging feedback to course correct.
• The ability to effectively coordinate multiple responsibilities simultaneously, with fast, flexible, cooperative work style and the ability to reprioritize as warranted.
• Comfort working in undefined situations and evidence of creating clarity and path forward.
• The ability to travel up to 50% of your time to school/district locations.

EEO:
"Mindlance is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of - Minority/Gender/Disability/Religion/LGBTQI/Age/Veterans."

Location: Dearborn, MI, US

Posted Date: 11/25/2024