24-25 Transformational Principal
Job Description
Position Overview:
Every student in our classrooms is brilliant, but our efforts over the past several years have not successfully harnessed that collective brainpower to get exceptional results on the state’s PSSA exams, the benchmarks that ensure they are on track towards being academically prepared to lead the choice-filled lives they envision for themselves.
The Transformational Leader at KNPA will set a clear, ambitious and focused vision for the school and relentlessly drive towards that vision. This leader will set clear expectations for students and staff and hold them accountable AND provide support to meet those expectations. The transformational leader at KNPA will address challenges head on and keep staff and students centered on our goals - radically improving school outcomes.
We are seeking either 1 K-7 principal or 2 academy principals [1 overseeing K-4 and 1 overseeing 5-7] to lead this charge. The principal(s) we are seeking to transform KIPP North will be able to inspire students and staff, have difficult conversations, and make decisions that ensure students have an excellent experience at KIPP North. The principal will operate with an openness to feedback balanced with a clarity of vision to ensure that the school is set up for success.
At KPPS, we also expect our Principals to invest in their school’s talent, building a lasting and sustainable impact by developing a thriving adult culture and a pipeline of future teachers, teacher leaders, and Assistant Principals. However, we don’t expect our Principals to do this alone! Joining the KIPP Philadelphia Team not only brings regional support, but also insight into nation-wide research best practices to set you up for success.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
School Vision
Establish, communicate, and build investment in an ambitious school-wide vision aligned to the KIPP Philadelphia region-wide vision for learning, school experience, and culture that sets the stage for both children and staff to grow and thrive
Create a welcoming, inclusive school environment, and operate with a mindset of families as authentic partners in children’s school experience
Operate with strong knowledge of the core academic and social-emotional skills, knowledge, and mindsets that are essential for children’s development and success across middle school, ensuring that all students are challenged with rigorous, grade appropriate content
Ensure that school programming effectively serves all students, monitoring and enhancing special education, intervention, and student support services as needed, ensuring compliance with state law
Set a vision for student culture that ensures all children are affirmed, valued and challenged on a daily basis, and ensure that all student culture approaches, systems, and strategies are grounded in equity, are clear, effectively communicated, and are implemented by all staff
Plan and prioritize time and resources to achieve annual goals and the broader vision of the school, analyzing and acting on data on a regular basis to identify, plan for, and drive the success of key initiatives and improvements in practice
Staff Culture
Cultivate a positive, cohesive leadership team culture grounded in mutual trust by developing and upholding shared norms regarding communication, collaboration, decision-making, use of systems, and more, and creating opportunities for authentic relationship-building and coordination across workstreams
Set a vision for adult culture rooted in our core values, building a community bound by mutual trust and a shared purpose and pride in the school’s vision
Create and refine systems for communication and collaboration across school staff at large, ensuring opportunities for authentic discourse and clarity
Build relationships with every staff member, child and family, and create opportunities to understand and respond to staff, leader, student and family needs and perspectives
Staff Development & Coaching
Directly coach, develop and manage members of the leadership team via 1-1 check ins, observation, walkthroughs, feedback, real time feedback, practice, data analysis, co-planning, and other direct supports
Create a culture of feedback, continuous improvement, and safety in trying new approaches
Ensure teachers have the data, development, and consistent support needed to provide rigorous, affirming, high quality instruction
Sharpen and norm with APs on classroom analysis and classroom bar via walkthroughs
Regularly observe and coach instructional coaches (Assistant Principals) to support them in 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 that drive high-impact improvements in teacher practice
Cultivate a diverse, high-potential school leadership pipeline (from teacher leader to AP to successor)
Effectively interview, select, and onboard new staff members
Operate with an intentional strategy regarding staff and teacher retention, cultivating a desire for the team to make KNPA their long-term home
Student Experience & Family Engagement
Create and model a warm, inclusive school environment for students and families with diverse needs and experiences; proactively and positively engage with families throughout the school year and when there are specific student behavioral concerns.
Be highly present and visible, relentlessly ensuring the school has a strong school culture and serving as a model for engaging with students, families and staff
Ensure families are treated as true partners and are effectively engaged in and aware of school systems, practices, and student programming
Refine the vision for positive student culture, leveraging school context, lessons learned, and staff feedback to clarify the following:
The student experience KNPA is striving for, and how this vision ensures students are valued, affirmed, and challenged everyday
The core mindsets adults in the building share about students, families, and culture work
The core mindsets staff are collectively working to foster among students
The concrete, proactive, and reactive practices and systems staff leverage in their work with students to restore trust, repair harm, build relationships, create accountability, communicate with all stakeholders (including staff and families) effectively, and design and monitor interventions or supports
Ensure all practices, systems, and protocols are clearly and consistently codified, communicated, and executed.
Support the Dean team, Social Worker, and Learning Extension Program Manager in –
Ensuring that all KNPA students experience a scope and sequence of meaningful school traditions and milestones that foster community, joy and collective identity
Ensuring KNPA students have access to a wide variety of meaningful after-school activities, clubs, and groups that align with their interests, social needs, and aspirations
Ensuring the disciplinary process is effectively executed, including incident follow up/investigation, team determination of next steps, informal/formal hearing protocols, and AEDY referral
Developing individual behavior plans and other supports for students with significant behavior needs (in conjunction with the Assistant Principal of Student Support), and ensure all student culture responses appropriately account for students with individual education plans
Ensuring all student safety and movement systems and procedures are fully operationalized, communicated and codified, including student arrival, dismissal, and transitions
Tracking and monitoring key school culture data, coordinating collaboration with stakeholders and implementing responsive plans as needed
Effectively managing behavioral and emotional supports through the school’s MTSS structure, ensuring that students with demonstrated needs have access to evidence-based mental health supports
Amplifying KNPA’s existing tutoring program, ensuring the most critical academic needs are being addressed through tutoring and that the impact of tutoring supports is effectively monitored
Ensuring that students and their families or caretakers are connected to community resources and services
Qualifications
Who You Are:
* Experience leading transformational change and driving school improvement initiatives.
* Demonstrated evidence in successfully leading turnaround efforts in a school setting, resulting in significant academic gains.
* Proven track record of setting and achieving rigorous academic standards aligned with school and district goals.
* Ability to exercise excellent judgment in decision-making in light of complex and high stakes situations
* Ability to recruit, hire, lead, and develop a team of exceptional educators to become future leaders as teacher leaders and school leaders.
* The ability to envision, set and drive a positive, collaborative, results-oriented staff culture
* Proof of concretely improving performance of teachers and leaders in a school
* Operate with a management approach that centers staff members’ humanity, operating with both high expectations and a high degree of care
* You have the ability to set direction and aligned expectations across an entire school and motivate others to action
* You have demonstrated resilience and focus on student outcomes
* Ability to articulate a vision for and operationalize the development of a safe, healthy and joyful student culture.
* Constantly models expectations for leaders, teachers, and students on school-wide practices for a positive learning culture, including modeling our KPPS core values (Children First, Community, Cultural Competence, Ownership)
* You love and see the high potential of all children, possessing the belief that all students can and will succeed.
* You operate with cultural competence and a commitment to inclusion, anti-racism, and the eradication of anti-Blackness
* You believe in parents and families as authentic partners in students’ school experience; ability to forge strong relationships with families
* You’re adept at data analysis; ability to extract meaningful insights across school-wide data
* You possess expertise in what the school-wide academic standards and state assessments require of students’ knowledge and skills to demonstrate mastery; able to translate student mastery requirements into instructional plans and strategies
* You have a deep understanding of appropriate application and differentiation of high-leverage instructional strategies based on comprehension of child development and pedagogy.
* You have experience in implementing best practices for students with IEPS, 504 plans and those who qualify for MTSS intervention.
* Equity is Everything: Principals approach all of their work with an equity lens. Principals recognize and take responsibility for naming and tackling school and region-wide barriers to inclusiveness.
* Change Management: Principals lead change fully, supporting staff, children and families in embracing a new way. Principals drive the investment, collective ownership, and operational systems needed for change to take root.
* Make the Weather: Principals recognize and leverage daily opportunities to set the tone for the school and shape staff norms, beliefs, reactions, and values.
* Talent Mindset: Principals demonstrate a deep belief that people are a school’s most precious resource by devoting significant energy to hiring, developing and retaining a talented, diverse team and cultivating strong staff culture.
Qualifications:
Bachelor’s Degree required
3+ years of experience leading (Principal experience required) a strong school that serves an under-resourced population. Starting at $140,000 - $175,000 commensurate with experience with significant bonus opportunity.
Additional Information
Compensation
Starting at $140,000 - $175,000 commensurate with experience with significant bonus opportunity. Leader salaries at KPPS are competitive, equitable, and transparent. To maintain equity, leader salaries are determined by years of leadership experience. All candidates are welcome to ask their recruiter how their experience and credentials will translate to their salary.
All full-time team members at KPPS enjoy a comprehensive health benefits package (including vision and dental, a telehealth option, and flexible spending accounts) for themselves and their families as well as a 403B matching program for retirement savings and free access to financial advising services.
Note To Applicants
KIPP Philadelphia Schools is an equal opportunity employer. Employees are selected on the basis of ability without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation, in accordance with federal and state law.