NEW MEDIA SPECIALIST

LOCATION:   Chicago, IL 

EMPLOYMENT TYPE: One year Fellowship- Full Time 

COMPENSATION: Salary is commensurate with experience

PURPOSE OF POSITION: To design and implement a digital engagement campaign to inform the public about the Common Core State Standards and their likely impact in Illinois.

ADVANCE ILLINOIS (www.advanceillinois.org) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded to be an independent voice for education reform. The mission of Advance Illinois is to advocate for a public education system that prepares all students to be ready for work, college, and democratic citizenship. We provide objective research and data about the state of education in Illinois, solicit education stakeholder input and develop and forward a comprehensive education policy agenda.

One of the most important ways to ensure that we are preparing our kids to graduate from high school ready for college or career is to set clear, high standards for what they must learn. That is why Advance Illinois is planning a communications campaign to support the introduction of the Common Core standards to our classrooms.

The Common Core standards (www.corestandards.org) were developed by chief education officials from states around the country to do just that. Voluntarily adopted by 45 states, these standards will create a consistent learning framework for schools in math and language arts (standards are being developed in other subjects). Rigorous enough to meet the requirements of a 21st century education, they will also make it possible to compare how students are performing across states as children will have uniform standards to meet.

Yet, it will not be an easy transition. While critical to long-term success, there will be a ramp up period as students, parents and educators adjust to the new higher standards.

The goals of the communications campaign are to:

  • Educate policymakers, educators, stakeholders, media and communities about the Common Core in an effort to;
  • Solicit their concerns and ideas about the standards;
  • Create buy-in and encourage robust implementation.

PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Collaborate with the Communications Director to develop a digital engagement strategy for the Common Core campaign and ongoing Advance Illinois communications
  • Develop and support technical aspects of the campaign
  • Draft or locate content for the selected communications vehicles
  • Manage online communications calendar and make strategic decisions about
    the type and frequency of communications
  • Identify opportunities to expand the scope of social media campaigns and engagement
  • Monitor online metrics to determine audience demographic trends, preferred content and to identify opportunities for further engagement
  • Review campaign reports and provide analysis on results
  • Participate in communications planning meetings
  • Maintain content (text, images, video, calendar of events, etc.)
  • Update all Advance Illinois content as requested by internal departments.
  • Initiate ways for the Advance Illinois sites to interact with other communication vehicles (social media tools, ecommunity, etc.)
  • Work with vendors and contractors as necessary to complete projects.
  • Maintain site security, including controlling user access
  • Maintain all company domain names and hosting accounts.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Required: Two to three years creating and implementing successful digital
engagement campaigns

Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.

  • Two to three years of experience creating and implementing successful digital 
  • engagement campaigns
  • Proficiency in email and social media marketing best practices and experience contributing 
  • to collaborative learning environment
  • Strong writing and content development skills, especially the capacity to develop concise, persuasive email and social media copy and content
  • The ability to analyze response data and make recommendations to improve results
  • Experience with website Content Management Systems database management, and list segmentation.
  • Enthusiasm for emerging technologies as tools for social change
  • Ability to manage multiple projects and stay on task

Strongly preferred:

Knowledge of education reform or other experience in education

Basic understanding in HTML and/or CSS

Additional skills in online advertising, design, video, basic programming, analytics, or mobile technologies are a plus.

To apply: Submit a resume and cover letter to: fellowship@advanceillinois.org. All submissions will be acknowledged and you will be contacted if you are selected for an interview.

Advance Illinois is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to engaging the skills and leadership of people of color, low-income persons, LGBT persons, differently-abled people, and other people from diverse backgrounds. People from these and other historically marginalized backgrounds and communities are strongly encouraged to apply.