Instructional Systems Specialist (Elementary Instruction)

Full Job Description

About the Position: This position falls under the DoDEA HQ Education Directorate of Elementary Education Division - located at the Mark Center Building in Alexandria, VA.

This position is not covered by a bargaining unit. Who May Apply: Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job.

You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected.

See Proof of Eligibility for an extensive list of document requirements for all employment authorities.

Current Competitive Service Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Civilian Employee In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience requirements described below.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social).

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application.

Basic requirement for an Instructional System Specialist: Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) that included or was supplemented by at least 24 semester hours appropriate to the work of the position to be filled.

The course work must have included study in at least four of the following five areas: (1) Learning theory, psychology of learning, educational psychology: Study of learning theories as they relate to the systematic design, development, and validation of instructional material.

(2) Instructional design practices: Study of the principles and techniques used in designing training programs, developing design strategy and models, and applying design methods to the improvement of instructional effectiveness.

(3) Educational evaluation: Study of the techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of instructional/educational programs, including developing written and performance tests and survey instruments, and determining reliability and validity of evaluation instruments.

(4) Instructional product development: Study of the techniques appropriate for developing training materials, including identifying learner characteristics, specifying objectives, applying training strategy, validating training materials, and evaluating training.

OR (5) Computers in education and training: Study of the application of computers in education and training, including selecting appropriate computer software.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service which includes: Developing long-range strategic plans which establish district-wide priorities for elementary education; researching educational deficiencies to implement improvement procedures; designing PK-5 instructional programs and/or resources; developing elementary education policies or technical guidance; coaching facilitators to deliver professional learning to PK-5 teachers, instructional support specialists, or other school leaders; and providing structured guidance to subject matter experts in the planning and development of PK-5 professional learning curriculum.

All qualifying experience must have been gained while serving full time in a PK-5 above school level role (e.g., district, state, central office).

This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade level (GS-13).

Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify.

For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted.

Time in Grade Requirement: Applicants who have held a General Schedule (GS) position within the last 52 weeks must have 52 weeks of Federal service at the next lower grade or equivalent (GS-13).

Major Duties:

• Lead development and implementation of PK–5 professional learning and contractor produced resources aligned to College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS), and high-quality elementary instructional practices.
• Design and deliver enterprise professional learning for ISS teams and leaders to support coherent PK–5 program implementation.
• Analyze data and field feedback to refine PK–5 instructional initiatives and inform agency decision-making.
• Perform full Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) responsibilities, including monitoring contractor performance, validating deliverables, and ensuring fiscal and regulatory compliance.
• Manage multi-year planning cycles and global release schedules for PK–5 resources, professional learning, and implementation milestones.
• Coordinate cross-division collaboration to ensure alignment of PK–5 instructional tools, guidance, and systemwide messaging.
• Oversee PK–5 instructional digital platforms to ensure accurate, accessible, and up-to-date resources for educators.
• Provide technical assistance to ISS teams, leaders, and educators on PK–5 curriculum, reporting, and implementation issues.
• Design and facilitate worldwide Communities of Practice to support calibration, capacity-building, and consistent PK–5 instructional implementation.