The Fordham Foundation has created the new role of Chief Learning Officer (CLO) to strengthen its capacity for sophisticated instructional leadership in support of the schools it authorizes and its approach to sponsorship while building on Fordham’s strong reputation as a high-quality authorizer. Fordham seeks a dynamic, systems-minded, and results-driven leader to help shape and define this role from the ground up.
The CLO is Fordham’s lead architect for instructional clarity, authorizer capacity, school-facing feedback, professional learning strategy, and renewal/application alignment. The role should help Fordham define what strong instruction, knowledge-rich curricula, and high-quality professional learning look like, train its own staff to see and evaluate those practices, give schools clear and actionable feedback, connect schools with outside exemplars, and ensure that the IEF (see below) becomes part of site visits, application review, renewal decisions, and accountability—not a separate instructional initiative.
Central to this work is Fordham’s Instructional Excellence Framework (IEF). The IEF sits within Fordham’s broader authorizing model, including HQIM, citizenship, academic excellence, governance, and financial sustainability. It defines rigorous, cognitively demanding instruction and aims to ensure that student growth translates into consistent, grade-level mastery.
The CLO will integrate the IEF into core authorizing functions, including site visits, application review, renewal decisions, and accountability systems, while working closely with school and network leaders to set clear expectations, provide evidence-based feedback, facilitate shared learning, and connect schools to external expertise.
As a senior member of the Sponsorship Team, the CLO will report to the Vice President for Sponsorship and lead an internal team responsible for school quality at Fordham. The CLO will build the leadership capacity of their team and school leaders by ensuring academic expectations are rigorous, transparent, and aligned to Fordham’s mission, and by reinforcing a clear instructional vision: grade-level, cognitively demanding instruction; strong classroom culture with high expectations; high-quality curriculum implemented with fidelity; data-informed teaching supported by frequent assessment and feedback; and professional learning systems that build instructional expertise over time.
View the full job description and apply here.