Company Description

About KIPP Team and Family

KIPP TEAM & Family is our network office that includes support teams - such as Leadership Development, Recruitment, Advocacy, Facilities, Finance, HR and more - dedicated to empowering our schools and ensuring the success of KIPP students throughout New Jersey and Miami. Our schools are part of the nationally recognized “Knowledge Is Power Program” network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools dedicated to preparing students for success in college and in life. The first KIPP New Jersey school opened in Newark in 2002 and since then our school network has expanded to educate 8,135 students in grades K-12. By 2025, KIPP New Jersey will provide a world-class education to over 10,300 students across fifteen schools in Newark and five in Camden.

In 2018, we grew our KIPP community in response to a need for high-quality school options for students in Greater Miami’s Urban Core communities. That led to the creation of KIPP Miami, which currently educates more than 1,000 students in four schools, with plans to reach 5,800 students by 2025. By offering highly effective educators with strong bonds to families, more time in school learning, services that support a variety of student needs, and a culture focused on achievement, our students in New Jersey and Miami are on the path to and through college, career, and choice-filled lives.

Job Description

Here’s what you need to know:

The Director of School Leadership Development (DSLD) drives the equitable school leadership pipeline development for KIPP NJ/Miami. In partnership with the KIPP NJ/Miami Academics and Talent teams, the DSLD will own the design, management, and execution of the School Leadership Pipeline (SLP) programs, ensuring we are developing a robust pipeline of internal school leaders prepared with the skills and competencies to lead high-performing schools.

The School Leadership Pipeline program was redesigned for launch in SY23-24 and aims to provide robust foundational and successor-specific readiness for school leadership in our existing campuses across Newark, Camden, and Miami. The SLP program consists of two sub-programs – the School Leader Fellowship Program and the Principal-in-Residence Program. Both combine on-the-job learning, professional development, and mentorship and coaching opportunities to prepare participants to create and lead excellent schools.

• The School Leader Fellowship (SLF) is an 18-month rigorous leadership development program for sitting Assistant Principals, focused on building the technical, adaptive, and managerial skills necessary for effective school leadership at KIPP NJ-Miami through project-based learning modules.

The Principal-in-Residence Program (PiR Program) is a separate 6-to-12 month phase of the pipeline and begins once a participant is selected into a campus-specific successor or founder position. The focus of the residency is to translate universal school leadership proficiencies built in the Fellowship into campus-specific preparation through a rigorous transition curriculum.

Please note the following:

• The desired start date for this role is mid-June or July 1, 2023.
• The individual that fills this role MUST have prior successful experience as a School Leader/Principal as evidenced through data representing significant student achievement results and positive staff culture metrics. Please see job description for further requirements.

Here’s what you’ll be doing:

Program Vision

• Owns program vision and design, including goal setting and systems for progress monitoring, creation of key program deliverables (leader standards and performance benchmarking tools, formal professional development calendar, etc)
• Owns re-launch content vision and design (specifically in SY23-24)
  • Finalizing a project-based learning scope for Fellows to structure on-the-job learning
  • Tailoring a transition curriculum to each PiR per campus context
  • Tailoring a provided development roadmap (scope of necessary skills) to align to KIPP NJ/Miami leadership competencies and job domain skills.
  • Creating supporting curriculum for formal professional development and ongoing coaching
  • Collaborating with leaders in other CMO functions to provide exposure to and training in regional skill modules such as HR/ER, risk management, finance, operations, etc.
• Owns iterative improvements of initial content vision and design year over year

Program Management

• In collaboration with regional talent team, supports selection process for Fellows and PiRs.
• Manages collaboration between Fellows/PiRs, host School Leaders, program mentors, Heads of Schools, and regional Executive Directors to ensure cross-functional support of development trajectories.
  • Creates and manages systems for team collaboration and project management (e.g., meeting structures, document management, project plans, etc.)
• Collaborates with cross-functional teams (academics, analytics, talent, etc.) to garner appropriate resources and supports for the program
• Designs and executes a communication plan to invest stakeholders in support of program goals
• Monitors Fellows’ and PiRs’ completion of projects and assessments
• Collects and manages ongoing program data including assessment scores, qualitative feedback, and portfolio artifacts for each Fellow

Coaching and Development of PiRs

• Holds Fellows and PiRs accountable to progression on the development roadmap of skills aligned to School Leader readiness.
• Provides direct coaching to a select group of Fellows/PiRs including bi-weekly check-ins and bi-weekly observations of the participants in practice (direct coaching spread across cohort between DSLD and specified Mentor School Leaders, see below section)
• Provides the vision for monthly formal professional development and takes the lead on most content creation and execution
• Evaluates the Fellows’ and PiRs’ performance against standardized benchmarks
• Develops and sends monthly cohort communication to drive accountability, action and sharing of best practices
• Codifies best practices and exemplar models in support of Fellow and PiR development
• Creates processes to audit Fellow assessment ratings to ensure ratings align to the assessment rubric and uphold the school leader-ready bar

Designs and facilitates quarterly evaluation meetings between Fellows, managers, mentors, and school management team members

Developing and supporting Mentor School Leaders

• Holds the mentor school leaders accountable to coaching and assessing Fellow/PiR progression on development roadmap of skills aligned to School Leader readiness.
• Provides direct coaching to the mentor school leaders including observations of the mentor school leader in practice
• Provides the vision for mentor school leader formal professional development in mentor school leader standards; may lead some professional development content
• Develops and sends monthly mentor school leader communication to drive accountability, action and sharing of best practices

Codifies best practices and exemplar models in support of mentor school leader development

Instructional Leadership Development Support (Regional)

• Collaborate with MDLD, Executive Directors, school management teams, and academics teams to support ongoing instructional leadership development needs of each region. This may include:

• Additional coaching of Assistant Principals or new School Leaders
• Designing and facilitating professional development sessions throughout the year for APs and School Leaders
• Acting as consult for regional leaders working to close campus, grade band, or regional-specific instructional leadership gaps

Qualifications

Knowledge

• Demonstrated knowledge of adult learning principles
• Demonstrate knowledge of equity best practices and cultural competence
• Demonstrated knowledge of K-12 academic standards (foundational) and instructional best practices (advanced)
• Demonstrated knowledge of adaptive leadership skills
• Demonstrated knowledge of leadership coaching best practices

Skills

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills (verbal and written)
• Strong large-group presentation and facilitation skills
• Strong systems/project management skills (proficiency in Excel or Sheets)

Abilities

• Ability to build trusting relationships with stakeholders at all levels and across functions
• Ability to balance various stakeholder needs in designing a broad-scale program
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize multiple assignments at once

Ability to travel to school locations to meet with staff regularly (across Newark, Camden, and Miami)

Physical

The usual and customary methods of performing the job’s functions require the following physical demands:

• Prolonged periods of working at computer and sitting at desk.
• Travel to various school locations in Newark, Camden and Miami.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Demonstrated success as a School Leader/Principal as evidenced through data representing significant student achievement results and positive staff culture metrics (Insight, attrition, performance management, etc.)
• Demonstrated success developing instructional leaders towards performance management standards (Assistant Principals or Principals)
• Demonstrated success managing stakeholder relationships at scale (e.g. beyond a single campus)

Nice-to-Haves

• Preferred:
  • State Principal Certification and/or Master’s Degree in Education, Educational Leadership, or related field
  • ICF or similiar certificate in leadership coaching

Additional Information

Compensation & Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary, KIPP NJ offers a full comprehensive benefits plan, including health care, retirement, an optional subsidized wireless plan through Verizon, a school laptop and transportation benefits for TEAMmates commuting into New Jersey from the New York City area.

KIPP New Jersey | KIPP Miami is an equal opportunity employer