Middle School Director of Academics
About the Opportunity
The Academic Team is part of Democracy Prep's Charter Management Organization and works directly with school leaders and the Academics Team to drive scholar growth and proficiency and ensure that all schools achieve their end-of-year academic goals. The role of the Middle School Director is to support school leaders across the network and members of the CMO Team so that academic instruction and the overall academic experience is excellent in all middle school classrooms across Democracy Prep. The director works to analyze data across the network to identify key levers that drive excellent academic outcomes and partners with school leaders,curriculum specialists and other key CMO leaders to enact those levers. They work to set the vision and improve outcomes for the middle school program across the network.
Who You Are:
- An educator with an unwavering commitment to the Democracy Prep mission of college success and authentic civic engagement for our scholars.
- An organized leader with strong time management and follow-up skills and a demonstrated ability to take initiative, inspire, motivate and coach others and handle multiple projects concurrently.
- A self-reflective and self-aware teammate who is dedicated to aligning their work with Democracy Prep's commitment to antiracism and who is eager to use these skills to contribute to a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- An excellent communicator, with demonstrated ability to speak and write clearly and persuasively to a variety of stakeholders.
- A strategic and data-driven problem-solver, who thinks critically and plans accordingly.
- An experienced middle school educator who understands deeply the nuances of instruction at the middle school level. Experience with Illustrative Math and KIPP Wheatley or Wit and Wisdom is preferred.
- A strong coach who has a track-record of success growing and developing a team to advance academic achievement for students.
- A constant learner who wants to continually grow in their understanding of academic pedagogy, standards and instruction
- An innovative thinker who is solutions-oriented and creative. A person who will think outside of the box for innovative solutions to support academic excellence for all scholars.
- An academic expert who is fluent with all parts of academic pedagogy, including standards, assessments, lesson design and execution
- A graduate of a Bachelor's degree program (required).
What You'll Do
- Work in collaboration with the Academic Team Leadership to set a vision for the team, and then share that vision with a variety of stakeholders at the CMO and at our schools.
- Drive outcomes by tracking data toward high level KPIs about overall middle school performance.
- Work with middle school leaders across the network to build investment in our strategic plan and vision for Academics. Partner closely with the Middle School Managing Director and Regional Superintendents to support middle school leaders across the network.
- Coach members of the Academic Team to support school leaders and academic excellence.
- Manage strategic plan initiatives related to middle school curriculum and instructional systems.
- Support effective instructional systems such as grading, lesson internalization, assessment and data analysis across Democracy Prep elementary schools.
- Plan and execute professional development for school leaders and teachers across the network tied to the initiatives outlined in the strategic plan.
- Ensure tutoring at the middle school level is strong and is aligned to high priority standards with rigorous instructional materials.
- Meet regularly with school leaders, curriculum specialists and the Academic and Schools team to identify and enact instructional priorities at each of the network's middle schools, and determine network-wide priorities and initiatives.
- Identify and work to overcome stumbling blocks to high quality instruction in middle school classrooms across the DPPS network.
- Collaborate with the rest of the Academic team to enhance the entire team's knowledge of best practices in terms of instruction for elementary education.
- Support curriculum specialists in the creation, sourcing and editing of high quality of assessments and curricular materials.
- Ensure middle school students across the DPPS network have appropriate at-bats with state exam material throughout the school year.
- Set plans for the implementation of high quality curricula with the Academics Team. Work with school leaders and the schools team to ensure the curriculum is executed with fidelity in service of scholars.
- Consistently analyze data across middle school academics to ensure bright spots are identified and replicated, and that areas of concern are identified and addressed.
- Ensure, in partnership with the rest of the Academics team, that sufficient progress is being made in student's academic achievement levels tied to network-wide KPIs.
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