Elementary and Middle School Principal

Organization Description

The Head of School/Principal role represents a unique opportunity to lead a new public charter school proposed to open in for the 2025-2026 school year, initially serving approximately 400 students in K-7, and adding a new grade level each subsequent year until reaches grade 12. The Board of Directors is seeking a proven, dynamic leader with passion for education and strong curriculum and instructional experience to serve as the school’s inaugural Head of School. The school’s Head of School will be charged with defining the path forward in line with the school mission, by galvanizing the school community and leveraging leadership team to bring about the vision of the school that implements the EL Education school model. The Head of School will be expected to embody, promote, and clarify the mission, vision, and goals of the school and shape the school’s first chapter.

Our school’s mission is to bring about the best of our young learner’s talents and character to enable them to become leaders of their own learning, prosper and make a valuable contribution to the communities around them.

Our school has partnered with EL Education which is a national nonprofit organization that partners with K-12 educators to transform public schools and districts into hubs of opportunity for all students. Tue school model has its roots from Outward Bound USA and born out of a collaboration with The Harvard Graduate School of Education. Guided by a vision of education equity, EL Education offers research-proven resources and practices, including curriculum development, Core Practices, and aligned professional learning. Founded in 1991, EL Education currently serves 1.1 million students in diverse communities across 40 states. It will be 41 states when we open, as we are the first school in the State of Louisiana to be selected to partner with EL Education; hence, it will take a proven educational leader to ensure the implementation of this school model is successful. To learn more about EL Education please visit eleducation.org.

Opportunity

The Head of School is responsible for the overall instructional, organizational and operations of the school. The Head of School will work collaboratively with staff to manage approximately $5 to 8 million annual operating budget and hire qualified and highly effective staff. In the inaugural year, the Head of School will guide and respond to the needs of the school community made of approximately 60 educators and staff, 400 students, and their families. In the first year, the Head of School directly supervises four deans who form part of the the leadership team and a group of designated program coordinators. The Head of School's primary job is to cultivate an academically excellent school for our students. We expect our Head of School to focus 75% of their time on instructional leadership, specifically all of the activities involved in leading and developing teachers to improve their instruction and drive student achievement.

Initially this is a part-time/consultancy, remote role this summer and possibly into the fall as the primary responsibility will carry out pre-opening activities to prepare the school to open. No earlier than September 2024 and no later than July 2025 this will transform to be a full-time role for a Head of School subject to Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) approval.

Job Description

Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Vision and Goal Setting:

• Set ambitious school-wide vision and goals, aligned with EL Education school model, that promotes educational equity and lead students on a path to be prepared for college or to enter workforce upon graduation
• Plan and prioritize time and resources to achieve annual goals with an emphasis on academic goals
• Model expectations for leaders, teachers, and students on school-wide practices for a positive learning culture
• Develop systems and structures to cultivate, develop, and retain diverse, highly-effective staff
• Key contributor to establishing schoolwide policy.

Coaching/Support:

• Build own and school staff’s knowledge and expertise in effective instructional design and academic standards
• Develop teachers’ conceptual understanding of what students must know and be able to do and what instructional methods drive student mastery
• Develop knowledge of how standards map to curriculum and assessment
• Lead analysis of and develop teachers’ ability to analyze student data to identify strategies that will move students toward mastery
• Regularly observe and coach instructional coaches to ensure they are providing high-impact, actionable and bite sized feedback to teachers on a weekly basis
• Ensure teachers can collaborate, analyze their practice and their student data, and adjust instruction in content teams
• Lead whole-school professional development workshops and content/department meetings that drive highest-impact improvements in teacher practice
• Lead, coach, develop and manage a team of leaders (assistant school leaders and deans) in support of schoolwide goals and initiatives.
• Analyze assessment data for action planning.

Positive School Culture

• Plan and lead school-wide events, celebrations, and gatherings.
• Lead the development of student behavior systems.
• Embrace educational equity.
• Lead teachers and students so that in all ways, we leave places, people and ideas better than we found them.

Strategic Project Initiatives

• Ensure alignment of school practices to school-wide priorities.
• Support day-to-day operations of the school, including regular data monitoring and progress towards goals.
• Model, promote, and coach others toward effective communication with families, cultivating engagement in their child’s success and the school's mission.
• Lead projects related to a specific content area or aspect of their school.
• Lead school-wide working groups to solve problems.
• Represent the school at external events and/or meetings.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s degree preferred
• Minimum of three years of successful, full-time, lead teaching experience
• Minimum of three years of successful experience leading and/or coaching teachers, including but not limited to, roles such as Assistant School Leader, Dean, Instructional Coach, Assistant Principal, Master Teacher etc
• Strong track record of academic results and leadership in a school setting
• Experience in analyzing student data and using data to inform instruction
• Belief that outstanding school leaders, staff, and teachers can achieve excellent outcomes for all students
• Ability to persevere with a sense of optimism, strong problem solving skills, and desire to learn and grow in a collaborative professional learning community
• Willingness, and commitment, to go above and beyond to prove the possible with students
• Ability to multi-task and work within an ambiguous, fast-moving, start-up environment, while driving toward clarity and solutions
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Extreme flexibility, with a strong work ethic and an entrepreneurial spirit to accommodate high levels of responsibility and multiple priorities
• Model the Habits of Character of our school (respect, initiative, compassion, collaboration, persevere, responsibility, and integrity).
• Administrative/Principal (EDL in Louisiana) certification is strongly preferred
• Emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, social management)

More details to be shared with qualified applicants.