General Application (All Grades): World Languages, Electives

If none of our current openings match your talent, but you feel you would be a great fit for Khan Lab School, please feel free to submit a general application. 

Note: We will comb through general submissions less regularly. You can expect to hear back from us if we see a good fit.

ABOUT KHAN LAB SCHOOL:

In 2012, Sal Khan wrote The One World Schoolhouse, in which he outlines how modern education developed and how Khan Academy came to be. But, most importantly, the book outlines a vision for the future of both in-person and online education given the tools we have and the need for many more people to participate in the knowledge economy. In 2014, He founded Khan Lab School to test and refine these ideas in an actual school setting.

WHAT WE OFFER:

Khan Lab School is a community of learners and partners that have a deep commitment to their work. We get things done and believe that in our highly collaborative environment that anything is possible. All of our decisions are made through the lens of what is best for our students. We tackle tough questions without ego, are results oriented, and have high expectations for school and our students. Today, Khan Lab School has grown to be a K-12 independent school on two campuses serving over 240 students in Silicon Valley.  The K-8 program is located in Palo Alto. California. The high school is located in Mountain View, California

KLS is a community of learners and partners that have a deep commitment to our work. The staff and administration believe that in our highly collaborative environment that anything is possible.  We tackle tough questions without ego, are results oriented, and have high expectations for the school and our students.  Decisions are made through the lens of what is best for students.

From its founding, the core ideas of the School have been:

Student centered. Students need to have the space and encouragement to take control of their learning. 

• Teacher-guides focus on student motivation, unblocking academic or social-emotional hurdles, and guiding students through student-driven experiential learning.
• Teacher-guides create the context and conditions for student independence.
• Teacher-guides may question, prompt or provide short explanations, but they do not lecture. 

Mastery learning. Students should always have the opportunity and incentive to fill in any gaps in learning and prove mastery. This is in contrast to traditional models where a student may receive an 80% on a test (showing a 20% gap in what happened to be on the exam) and then be forced to move to the next topic that builds on those gaps. This results in a majority of American students entering college needing to remediate at the middle school level. Through mastery learning, we believe that all students can learn more.

Personalization of pace with high expectations. Students’ academic progress should not be tied to age. In support of mastery learning, students need to be able to gap fill, refresh, or move ahead at a pace appropriate for their individual needs. But with personalization, we believe that most students should be able to master more learning per year relative to traditional expectations due to our extended calendar, mastery learning, and targeted use of technology.

Everyone’s a student; everyone’s a teacher. Students are given the opportunity to learn from and teach each other. Students can and should aspire to become peer teachers themselves. Adult teacher-guides should always be looking for ways for them to step back so students can step in. Adult teacher-guides should also feel comfortable learning and teaching new domains.

Using online tools to unlock experiential learning. By leveraging online tools for core skill development/mastery (especially Khan Academy for STEM), students not only learn standards faster (1.3x traditional expectations), but it also frees time in the school day for more experiential learning. Through the experiential learning (including teaching), students can supplement their evidence of mastery with a portfolio of meaningful work, service, and experiences.

Learning not bound by time or space. The educational experience should not be bound by the walls of a classroom or the traditional academic calendar. When learning can happen outside the classroom, it should. For younger students, this could be just spending as much time as possible outdoors (ideally by having outdoor classrooms), as well as field trips. We should also have an extended academic calendar to avoid long-gaps in learning. At the same time, by having an extended school day that coincides with parent schedules (9am-6pm) , students should have a chance to complete all their work during the school day to get proper time for family and rest at home. For older students this could also include internships, travel or specialized off-campus academic/arts/sports programs. Through use of video conferencing (and other asynchronous mechanisms), students and teachers are not constrained to only working with people in the same physical space. 

Blurring the arbitrary boundaries between high school and college (and between middle and high school). There is no reason that students with a strong mastery-learning foundation can’t master college-level content well before graduating high school. Even more, when this is done in a supported, mastery learning environment, the high school-aged students can actually learn and retain the material better than most college students. When this happens, students should get dual high school and college credit that allows them to enter college at a far more advanced level.

Content knowledge matters. We believe that both skill development and content knowledge are crucial. Students who have a solid base of knowledge along the lines of E.D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge Sequence will be more culturally literate and have a fact base from which to draw connections and develop higher order insights.

Less is more. We need to be hyper focused on the essential content and skills that prepare students for their future journeys. By not overloading students with content or seat-time requirements, it:

• Increases the chances that the focus areas will be mastered.
• Creates time, space and flexibility for students to go deeper in areas and experiences that matter to them.

An affordable, replicable model. Too many private schools make up for inefficiencies/complexity/lack-of-focus with more and more staff which drive up costs and squeeze out space for students. We believe that a truly great school that embodies all of the above can be implemented (once at scale) to be cost comparable with local public schools.

Whole child. As important as academic mastery is, mental and emotional well-being and resilience is even more important. KLS has an explicit emphasis on student mindfulness and social-emotional learning.

THE HIGH SCHOOL:

Faculty & Administration:
Khan Lab High School’s faculty and administrators foster a community who love to learn. We work diligently to ensure consistency in mastery across disciplines, while also maintaining a commitment to meeting students where they are. The quality of teaching and learning remains consistently high, even as our lab school regularly reimagines and tests new approaches. Our team is committed to this model and to sharing lessons learned with educators locally and globally. Seventy percent of our faculty members hold a Ph.D. in their respective discipline.

Academics:
Our school uses a mastery-based learning model, creating the time and space for what matters most. Students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of all competencies and skills identified in a course before moving on, thereby filling any potential “gaps” in their education. While the time it takes a student to finish a course may vary, the depth of mastery remains constant. Khan Lab High School creates space within the academic day for students to explore their passions. In this space, they further develop their skills and apply their learning within contexts that are meaningful to them—and frequently develop expertise at a far younger age than many would expect. Wellness, caring, and creative expression are also central to community life. 

Khan Lab High School uses the Mastery Transcript Consortium® software platform to publish official transcripts for our students. The contents of our transcript are defined and certified by the Khan Lab High School itself, as are the transcripts published by other member schools of the consortium. The samples of work in the “evidence” section as well as the student profile text are developed in a contextual and student-centric manner in close collaboration with the student.

Courses:

Students must earn Foundational Credit in all of their 22 required core courses. Foundational Credit is earned when 90% of all learning outcomes are mastered. A student with a grade of 90% and above at a traditional school would earn foundational credit at KLS. If the student has not yet earned Foundational Credit in a course, the transcript will show a designation of “In Progress.”

Khan Lab High School also offers an opportunity for students to earn Advanced Credits during their high school career. Unlike Foundational Credits, which are teacher-driven, Advanced Credits, similar to independent study, are a unique opportunity for students to propose, undertake, and defend an interdisciplinary inquiry of their own design. Advanced Credits often incorporate internships, peer teaching, and university-level research experiences and involve 100 or more hours of student work. 

APPLICATION PROCESS:

Applications should include:

• A cover letter.
• A resume.
  
• Names and contact information for three professional references.
  
  

Successful candidates will have a demonstrated familiarity with the Sal Khan’s school model outlined in his book The One World Schoolhouse.

Compensation: $85K-$100K per year. Competitive compensation commensurate with experience.
Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision insurance. Generous PTO. Life insurance. A 401k retirement plan with an employer match.

Location: Mountain View, CA

Khan Lab School is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not unlawfully discriminate based on race, color, creed, place of national origin, sex, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity, gender expression, and transgender), religion (beliefs, observances, or practices, including religious dress or grooming), marital status, registered domestic partner status, ancestry, genetic information, physical or mental disabilities, medical conditions, and/or military or veteran status in its employment practices or any other considerations made unlawful by federal, state, or local laws.

Salary : $85,000 - $105,000