We are excited to announce that the Catalyst:Ed Summer selection cycle 2018 will open on Tuesday, May 29, 2018.

Catalyst:Ed was founded on the premise that we can catalyze impact and improve outcomes for all young people by leveraging the best education expertise to solve the most pressing challenges. A year and a half later, we have had the privilege of getting to know over 470 outstanding education leaders and subject matter experts who form our expert network. Each of them brings deep expertise vital to the effectiveness and dynamism of our education ecosystem and a strong desire to live a life of purpose and impact. We’ve watched in awe as they’ve rolled up their sleeves and helped schools, schools systems, nonprofits and grantmakers complete critical projects and address major challenges. And we’ve deepened our resolve to identify the best and most diverse talent in education and amplify their impact so we can together help our educators, families and kids. Learn more about our model and impact here.

Applications for this cycle close on June 28, so if you think you (or someone you know) might be a good fit, here’s more.

Who we’re looking for

As we build out our network further, we’re looking for diverse education leaders with:

• A strong commitment to working in education and serving all students, especially students from low-income families.
• Deep domain expertise in one or more areas relevant to K-12 education (here is a non-exhaustive list of project areas where clients reach out to us for support) as demonstrated by a track record of impact.
• Project-based work experience, serving internal or external client teams.
• Alignment with our values.

Our experts include school leaders, educators, strategy consultants, design thinkers, researchers, project managers, evaluators, curriculum specialists, data scientists, technologists and many more. While some work as independent consultants, others work with small and large firms. Still others have full-time roles, but are open to small, yet high-impact project-based opportunities.

Our commitment to diversity: We believe that diversity leads to better – more creative and more robust – solutions and are committed to building a network of experts that is reflective of the diversity of our nation and the students we serve. Our expert network is steadily becoming more diverse – 50% of the experts who joined our network in our last two selection cycles were people of color and 60% were women.

How we define expertise

Here are some questions to help interested applicants reflect on their experiences and identify areas where they have developed domain expertise:

• Experience: Have I worked on this domain area for a significant length of time (we look for at least two years of experience in the area) and ideally in multiple contexts?
• Growth: Have I made my mistakes and learned from them? Am I driven to continuously learn and improve in this area?
• Impact: Can I point to evidence of the impact that I’ve had through my work in this area?
• Applicability of learnings: Will I be able to apply my learnings from one context to another context?
• Comfort: Am I confident in my knowledge and expertise so that I can guide others, ask questions and encourage calculated risk-taking?

Here’s a thumb-rule: For any given area, a “yes” to all or most of these questions indicates that you’ve identified an area of core expertise. If you’ve answered “yes” to at least two of the questions, you’ve likely identified an area of emerging expertise.

Applications open on May 29 and close on June 28.

If you think you’re a good fit, we encourage you to apply. Application instructions and the timeline will be available on our website. Interested applicants can also learn more about our selection process and our program model during our live informational webinar on June 6.

Know someone who might be a good fit? We would deeply appreciate your help in getting the word out. Refer an expert

Thank you so much for your support. We hope the education leaders who answer this call will emerge as catalysts in the sector, bringing the extra insight, tools and capacity needed to build a stronger education ecosystem and ensure that all kids succeed.