Job Description

Job Title

Position Title: Program Supervisor, ESE Systems & Analytics

Location: Fisher Building, 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI 48202

Salary: $88,506 - $109,630

Reports to: Senior Director of ESE Systems & Analytics

Bargaining Unit: OSAS

Benefits Eligible: Yes

Telecommuting Eligibility: Eligible for telecommuting up to 20% (one day per week)

Position Summary:

The Program Supervisor, ESE Systems & Analytics is the lead technical administrator on the ESE Systems & Analytics team within the Student Data & Accountability division. The team owns the administration, integration, reporting, and end-user support of PowerSchool Special Programs (PSSP) and the district's multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) platform and serves as the data quality and systems bridge between the ESE division and the Student Information Services team. PSSP is the district's primary platform for special education data management, supporting every student from birth through age 26 across initial evaluations, IEP development, service delivery documentation, and state compliance reporting.

Reporting to the Senior Director, the Program Supervisor serves as the lead administrator for the district's ESE systems, administering both PSSP and the MTSS platform: system configuration, user access and role structures, integrations, release management, and report development. The Program Supervisor designs and maintains the PSSP Workflows that carry special education processes end to end, using what those workflows reveal about bottlenecks and stalled cases to propose operational improvements. The role also leads proactive data quality monitoring ahead of count windows, manages project timelines and deliverables, and serves as a key operational point of contact for ESE division partners. Success in this role requires strong organizational and systems management skills, the ability to coordinate work across technical functions, and clear communication with both technical and non-technical staff. The ideal candidate has experience working with large-scale student information systems, a working understanding of special education data, and a demonstrated ability to keep complex, compliance-driven processes running smoothly and ahead of deadline.

Minimum Qualifications:

Education

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution with a focus in computer science, information systems, business administration, education administration, public administration, or a related field.
• Master's degree preferred

Essential Experiences and Competencies

• Minimum of three (3) years of experience administering a business or student data system, including configuration, user access management, and troubleshooting, preferably within a K-12 school district or public sector organization
• Experience working with or supporting a large-scale student information or case management platform (familiarity with PowerSchool products or equivalent systems strongly preferred)
• Working knowledge of special education operations, compliance timelines, or IEP processes, or demonstrated ability to develop this knowledge quickly
• Ability to manage competing priorities and meet deadlines in a compliance-driven environment
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to translate between technical staff and the educators who use these systems
• Experience building and validating reports or data extracts from a system of record, and translating end-user questions into reporting requirements
• Demonstrated process-improvement orientation: experience mapping how work moves through a system, building or configuring workflows to match it, and using process data to find where cases stall
• Experience supervising, mentoring, or directing the work of staff, including task assignment and quality review
• Ability to identify operational problems, triage issues effectively, and escalate appropriately to the Senior Director

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with special education state reporting systems and compliance platforms, including Catamaran or similar systems
• Experience with PowerSchool Special Programs (PSSP) or similar special education data platforms, particularly workflow or business process configuration within such a platform
• Knowledge of Michigan special education law, state reporting requirements, and pupil accounting processes
• Experience administering or supporting an MTSS, early warning, or tiered intervention platform, and familiarity with tiered intervention data practices

Essential Functions:

Systems Management & Configuration

• Administer PSSP and the district's MTSS platform day to day: Workflow design and configuration, form functionality, document sequencing, compliance prompts, program settings, user roles, and end-of-year rollover
• Test all configuration changes before production release, working within the standards and approval gates the Senior Director sets, and escalate any change carrying compliance or state reporting risk. Move vendor releases and platform upgrades through the same path, assessing the impact on district configuration and briefing end users ahead of deployment
• Serve as first point of contact for system issues, resolving what the team can and escalating the rest to the vendor. Read PSSP Workflow data for bottlenecks, stalled steps, and manual workarounds, and bring the findings to the Senior Director as candidate improvements for the system roadmap
• Administer user accounts, roles, and permissions across ESE systems, including provisioning, deprovisioning, and periodic access reviews, and safeguard student data under FERPA, IDEA confidentiality requirements, and district data governance policy
• Administer the integrations linking PSSP, the MTSS platform, and the student information system, resolving sync errors with the Student Information Services team

Team Coordination & Supervision

• Coordinate work across the team's four functional areas: system administration, integration, training and support, and reporting and compliance
• Oversee end-user training and the support queue for PSSP and MTSS, keeping training materials current as functionality changes
• May provide direct supervision of Program Associate 1 positions, including task delegation, workload management, and professional development support
• Maintain team project trackers, meeting cadences, and documentation system; support onboarding of new team members

Data Quality & Pupil Accounting Coordination

• Lead proactive data quality monitoring ahead of each count window, maintaining the team's count calendar and data quality checklist so review points catch issues well before state submissions
• Build and validate the reports and state reporting extracts the ESE division relies on, including caseload, compliance timeline, and count files

ESE Division Liaison

• Serve as the day-to-day point of contact for ESE division partners, fielding system questions and following through on commitments, and hold standing meetings with Ancillary Services, Enrollment & Placement, and ESE Compliance to communicate system changes and new functionality
• Coordinate with the Student Information Services team and Data Services on data quality, state reporting file preparation, and data accessibility
• Develop and maintain documentation for the team's recurring processes, including configuration procedures, integration protocols, training procedures, and reporting calendars
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Senior Director of ESE Systems & Analytics

Security Clearance:

Internal Applicants

If you are a current Detroit Public Schools Community District employee, you do not have to submit to a new security clearance, unless your new role requires a different type of criminal background check.

External Applicants

In alignment with Michigan law, if you are hired to fill a position, you will be required to submit to a Detroit Public Schools Community District criminal background check. Information regarding required background checks will be shared at point of hire.

Method of Application:

Applicants must apply through the online application system. Only applications submitted through the online application system will be considered for any posted position and all applications require a resume to be considered.

Successful candidates are required to submit official transcript(s) at point of offer to hire. Teaching service outside of the Detroit Public Schools Community District must be verified by the applicant's prior employer(s) prior to hire. It is the applicant's responsibility to provide all documentation (including copies) as requested.

Applicants requesting assistance during the application process should contact the Office of Human Resources via email at [email protected] or phone at (313) 873-6897.