Life Coach- Excel Center Marion Co.

The Coach promotes continued student engagement in the Excel Center and serves as a student advocate. Each coach carries a caseload of 65-80 students.  The Coach guides student learning and productivity by coaches building relationships with students and providing resources to remove barriers from their educational progress.  Coaches triage their caseloads by managing their core duties while also being reactive to student crises as they arise.  The position works with all academic teams and the College and Career Readiness Specialist in meeting educational goals and adhering to the Indiana Academic Standards.

Example Duties and Activities

• Meets with students one-on-one to set goals, creates action plans, connects to resources, and ensures all is met within a provided timeline.  Utilizes coaching strategies to build rapport with students to influence decision-making.
• Makes modifications to academic, personal, and employability goals by assessing student performance, availability, and life challenges to help students reach their full potential.  Partners with students and staff to identify specific action steps to reduce academic barriers preventing optimal student performance.
• Builds and maintains networks with key community partners including Goodwill staff (community agencies, educational institutions, financial liaisons, and employers) to connect students to wrap-around services.
• Works with the College and Career Readiness Specialist to connect students to post-secondary opportunities.
• Identifies and tracks relevant student/school data to set improvement and/or achievement goals and to drive future evaluation and feedback.
• Evaluates data to inform decision-making, drive outcomes and develop interventions for students.
• Develops personal professional/performance goals and action plans to reach goals.  Reflects on prior goals and makes adjustments to professional practice and goals.
• Contributes to the overall achievement of school-wide goals around graduation outcomes, enrollment needs, student achievement, retention, etc.
• Sets and maintains a high-performance culture for staff and students.
• Participates in student recruitment, enrollment, and outreach efforts.

Required Competencies

• Degree and Credential Requirements – Bachelor’s degree in psychology, human relations, social work, rehabilitation counseling, education, or related fields.
• Communication Skills – Articulates thoughts and expresses ideas effectively using oral, written, visual, and non-verbal communication skills, as well as listening skills to comprehend others’ needs. Delivers information in person, in writing, and in a digital world.
• Meeting Facilitation – Adept at scheduling, coordinating, and managing productive meetings of large and small groups; professionally manages conflict and commitment; ensures follow-through of participants.
• Student Engagement – Takes a strengths-based, student-centered approach to developing relationships at all levels while establishing appropriate boundaries.  Adept at delivering feedback that is constructive and unbiased. Creates and maintains a safe environment for open discussions.
• Diversity Awareness – Works with diverse populations including people who have experienced barriers to their education.
• Building Collaborative Relationships – Develops, maintains, and strengthens partnerships with others inside or outside the organization who can provide information, assistance, and support.
• Technical Knowledge – Has working knowledge of G Suite and MS Office, as well as student information systems.
• Adaptability – Maintains effectiveness when experiencing shifts in priorities; adjusts effectively while maintaining a positive learning environment.
• Informed Decision-Making – Identifies and comprehends issues, problems, and opportunities; compares data from different sources to draw conclusions; uses effective approaches for choosing a course of action or developing appropriate solutions; takes action that is consistent with available facts, constraints, and probable consequences.
• Organizational Aptitude – Plans and attends to details and pursues quality in accomplishing multiple tasks in an organized and timely fashion. Exhibits careful attention to detail and follow-through.

Preferred Competencies 

• Industry Standards – Displays a working knowledge of the Indiana Academic Standards, Common Core State Standards, and 21st Century Skills and knowledge of disciplinary literacy.
• Counseling Expertise – Provides academic, career, college/certification access, and social-emotional mentoring, counseling, or advising ideally to high school-age students in a nontraditional, and/or in an adult education setting.
• Established Contacts – Maintains and grows a professional network of community resources, health care providers, employers, and others as appropriate to the organization.

Other Requirements

• Is willing to travel to participants’ homes, workplaces, community centers, and other venues at times that are convenient to individuals being served.
• Background Screening – All candidates must pass a pre-employment background check.  Must have a valid driver’s license, up-to-date auto insurance, and a good driving record.

Benefits: Full-time employees may participate in a comprehensive benefits program that includes:

• Continuing education and leadership development as well as tuition reimbursement
• Comprehensive health plan
• Paid time off (PTO) and paid holidays
• Life, dental and vision insurance
• Short- and long-term disability plans
• Parental and sabbatical leaves
• Nationally recognized preventive health and wellness program
• Section 125 pretax health spending account, dependent care spending account, and premiums
• Retirement plan with generous match or contribution into Teachers’ Retirement Fund for eligible employees
• Eligible for the Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program

Goodwill Education Initiatives

Goodwill strongly believes it is essential to raise education attainment levels in Indiana. Not only are the lifetime earnings of high school graduates significantly higher than those of dropouts, children of high school graduates are 50% less likely to drop out of high school than the children of dropouts are. Goodwill provides opportunities for adults (The Excel Center) and youth (Indianapolis Metropolitan High School).

The Excel Center Model

The Excel Center® is operated by Goodwill Education Initiatives, Inc., a not-for-profit organization formed by Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana.

Recognizing that nearly a half million working-age Hoosiers lack a high school diploma, Goodwill opened The Excel Center for adults in 2010. The Excel Center is a tuition-free public high school for adults offering an Indiana Core 40 high school diploma.