Director of Admissions at the Mastery School of Hawken

Hawken School is a preschool-12 co-ed independent day school with four campuses spanning the greater Cleveland, Ohio area. Founded by James A. Hawken, a John Dewey-inspired progressive educator, more than 100 years ago, we have deep roots in the realm of experiential education. Over the last 10 years, we’ve established ourselves as an industry leader in progressive education, starting our three-week intensive program and founding the Mastery Transcript Consortium, a national organization aimed at reinventing how students prepare for college, careers, and life.  Now we’re ready to take our ambitions to scale.  

The Opportunity

In the fall of 2020, Hawken School launched a new high school in the University Circle neighborhood in the city of Cleveland, built entirely around mastery -- the audacious notion that learning should be deep, enduring, creative, and transferable.  We’re designing The Mastery School of Hawken around three core principles:
-Courses and programs organized around real-world problem-solving.
- A mentorship model of instruction, allowing for more project-based and personalized learning.
-Mastery-based crediting, a feedback and assessment model that defines and credits enduring, deep, and transferable learning.
Committed to strengthening our relationship with the community, we are building this school for greater socioeconomic access by offering 25% of our seats to full-need students from the city of Cleveland. 
        
The Skillset

About You: 
Excited about working in an innovative, fast-paced, and collaborative 9-12 environment
Experience in independent school or college admissions 
Exceptional communicator with outstanding organizational, analytical, and interpersonal skills 
Eager to initiate projects independently while also working with  the  team on the Mastery School campus and the admissions team across four campuses
Committed to active and ongoing development of cultural competence 
Philosophically aligned with the mission of the school 
Willing to roll up your sleeves and jump in to do what the team needs  

The Team 

As the director of admission at a high school in its third year of existence, you’ll join the core design team who makes decisions about every part of how the school is set up in its initial year. We’ll design curriculum, culture, partnerships, and space, and work together to launch this groundbreaking program. In future years, you’ll help onboard and mentor new colleagues.  This high school provides a new model for education, and you will have the opportunity to be a lead storyteller for this new model. 

The Journey

Within one month, you’ll: 

Learn how our project-based model works by participating in synchronous + asynchronous training through the Korda Institute for Teaching 
Give feedback on initial marketing materials and help create new ones as our school grows  
Meet and learn from students and families who have been on the journey of founding the school for the last few years 

Within three months, you’ll: 
    
Organize Mastery School admission events, including open houses and information sessions 
Recruit, support and manage student and parent volunteers for these events
Collaborate with the Assistant Head of School for Enrollment Management and the Director of Strategic Marketing on the viewbook, parent ambassador, open house and visit day programs, as well as other marketing materials  
Participate in ongoing Admissions and Communications team work on telling the story of the Mastery School

Within six months, you’ll: 

Collaborate with the Assistant Head of School for Enrollment Management and the middle school directors on the retention process, and activities for middle school families on the Lyndhurst and Birchwood campuses 
Interview prospective students and families  
Develop and sustain professional relationships with feeder schools and organizations
Chair the admission committee for the Mastery School and conduct thorough evaluation of applicant files
Participate in the ongoing build of the Mastery School,  especially as it relates to space, neighborhood, and location and student life and community culture 
Collaborate in larger school-wide strategic design and implementation of the plans to attract, admit, yield, and retain qualified students for Hawken

By the end of the 2023 school year, you’ll: 

Enroll the fourth class of students for this new high school 
Strengthen the Mastery School Admission Team     
Build connections with key constituencies (faculty, current and prospective students and families, feeder schools, and community partners, etc.) 
Collaborate with the Director of Partnerships + External Programs on recruitment opportunities including summer programs for middle school students 
Maintain accurate admission and enrollment statistics for the Mastery School 

This position reports to the Assistant Head of School for Enrollment Management and begins July 1, 2022. 

INTERESTED? 

Please send a resume, references, and a cover letter to: hawkenemployment@hawken.edu .
  
Hawken School is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to promoting all forms of diversity in the workplace and in our student body. We strongly urge all qualified individuals to apply.