Chief Academic Officer

Description

Chief Academic Officer

Join a compassionate team of lifelong learners, dedicated to building a strong, intentionally integrated community and making the word a better place in the heart of Washington, DC!

The Organization:

Founded in 2011 as Washington, DC’s first “green” public charter school, Mundo Verde is an EL Education, language immersion school serving over 1,000 students across two campuses. Our core pillars—bilingualism, hands-on learning, and sustainability—guide our innovative educational approach, shaping confident kids who generate sustainable solutions. Students in PK-kindergarten are taught and assessed exclusively in Spanish, and 50 percent of instruction in grades 1-5 is in Spanish. Our mission is to foster high levels of academic achievement among a diverse group of students by preparing them to be successful and compassionate global stewards of their communities.

With the hiring of a new Executive Director in February  2025, the launch of a new strategic planning process in spring 2025, and its fifteen-year anniversary in 2026, Mundo Verde is at an inflection point in its development as an organization. Mundo Verde seeks to build a strong executive team of mission-driven, compassionate leaders who can lead the school in realizing its mission and chart the path for its next phase.

The Call:

At Mundo Verde, we believe that if executed with excellence, the pillars of our model – bilingualism, hands-on-learning, and sustainability – can change the trajectory of students’ lives, and the world.  The Chief Academic Officer is a central leader to Mundo Verde’s executive team who thrives on bringing to life a coherent, evidence-based and rich instructional vision that serves a diverse group of students, and investing others in that vision.  This will be Mundo Verde’s first Chief Academic Officer, and under a new ED and strategic plan will have a unique opportunity to shape the future of Mundo Verde, and deliver tangible impact for Mundo Verde’s students, families and educators in the next several years.  

What you will accomplish in this role:

Refine and ensure evidence-based implementation of a joyful, rigorous instructional program founded in our three pillars of bilingualism, hands-on learning and sustainability.

• In collaboration with the Executive Director, define what excellent teaching and learning looks like at Mundo Verde, in alignment with Mundo Verde’s programmatic pillars and evidence-based best practices. 
• Work with the instructional leadership team to build buy-in around this vision and ensure strong implementation across Mundo Verde’s two campuses, engaging leaders to set and follow through with clear annual instructional priorities aligned to the organization’s strategic plan.
• Lead Mundo Verde’s drive toward strong outcomes for all students regardless of need, including language access, support for learning differences, advanced learning, or social-emotional support.
• Ensure integration of the model across Mundo Verde’s in-school and out-of-school programming for a holistic experience that brings joy to learning and sets our students up for success at Mundo Verde and beyond.

Coach our instructional leaders to be best in class at moving student outcomes across the three dimensions of student achievement (mastery of knowledge and skills, character, and high-quality work).

• Serve as Mundo Verde’s lead educator, coaching and supervising Mundo Verde’s principals, student support leadership, and data, curriculum and instruction leaders.
• Model compassionate, high-impact coaching of instructional staff that meets all educators’ needs.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, teamwork, continual growth and improvement, and adaptive leadership across Mundo Verde’s instructional staff, and between the Academic Team and other functional teams (e.g., operations, talent)
• In collaboration with the Chief of People and Culture, build a robust and transparent evaluation system for instructional staff at Mundo Verde that supports the development of best-in-class talent.
• In collaboration with the Chief of People and Culture, set the vision for Mundo Verde’s professional development for instructional staff and ensure delivery of high-quality professional development programming across the network.

Relentlessly examine results and support collaboration and improvement to ensure we are delivering on our mission.

• Lead Mundo Verde’s efforts to use data to inform practice, assess school and student performance, and ensure continuous improvement, with a focus on addressing gaps in performance across student groups.
• Develop systems to improve collaboration and effective use of data across the campuses, network and within teams, e.g. between general education and special education teachers.
• Lead the refinement of Mundo Verde’s multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), or data and intervention cycle, to meet the needs of all students.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state and sector-level policies, and lead preparation for Mundo Verde’s 15-year charter review as it relates to programmatic data.

The tangible good (what you get):

• The starting compensation for this position will be $170,000-$190,000.
• Mundo Verde offers a competitive benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, short/long-term and life insurance, employer contributions to a 401(k), a transportation stipend, and paid time off (28 days of PTO: 8 Sick, 20 Personal), off on holidays scheduled in the school calendar. 

Qualifications

Who should apply?

Leaders who have:

• 5 years of instructional leadership experience, including experience in the principal role; candidates with equivalent experience coaching senior instructional leaders will also be considered.
• Interest in working with a mission-driven executive team to re-establish trust, tackle complex challenges and lead effective change management to deliver measurable results for students.
• Proven ability to significantly improve student outcomes across a range of student groups by using data driven-instructional strategies, building educator capacity, collaborating with educators and families, and creating a culture where every student is expected to thrive.
• Strong understanding of special education, English Language Learners (ELL), data-driven instruction, and rigorous, standards-aligned curriculum and instruction.
• Track record of successfully managing and developing other instructional leaders.
• Experience in elementary school, and in an urban setting similar to DC, and in schools serving an intentionally demographically integrated student population preferred.
• Ability to set priorities, anticipate challenges, build and maintain strong yet responsive structures, manage and implement a plan, and build team members’ investment in realizing an ambitious vision. 
• Some Spanish language proficiency and/or EL Education understanding (would be an asset).
• Advanced degree and certification in elementary education strongly preferred

Salary : $170,000 - $190,000