Middle School Academic Dean (25-26)

Overview

The Academic Dean (AD) will manage, coach, and develop a talented team of teachers across content areas to achieve extraordinary results for our scholars. The AD will focus primarily on ensuring the highest levels of instructional quality and will have broad responsibility for overseeing a positive, well-organized, and mission-driven school culture with a particular focus on a specific grade band.

What will you do as a Middle School Academic Dean?

• Work closely with Middle School Leaders and take ownership of the overall success of scholars, teachers, and staff members in the specific grade band or content area they are responsible for.
• Build a positive, joyful school culture; develop strong relationships with families and students to create investment in school culture and academics and help teachers to build similarly strong relationships with their students and families
• Teach a limited course load to provide an exemplary teaching model for other teachers
• Continually improve the instructional practice of the teachers you lead through observation and feedback, curriculum planning sessions, data meetings, and formal professional development
• Support teachers to prepare and deliver high-quality, standards-based curriculum, including unit plans, lesson plans, and assessments aligned to Common Core standards
• Collaborate with the Dean of Culture and school culture team members to ensure classroom cultures support learning.
• Contribute to key elements of the day-to-day school team processes, including staff meetings, internal staff communication, staff input on organizational decisions, and systems for accountability
• Manage systems to ensure teachers are invested in using data to drive academic outcomes for their students and do so to meet ambitious academic goals.
• Develop curriculum for new grades and/or improve curriculum for current grades, in consultation with other instructional leaders.

What makes a great Middle School Academic Dean at our school?

• You are passionate about teaching and want your teams to share that passion too.
• You've earned a Bachelor's degree (master's preferred)
• At least 3 years of successful lead teaching in a school in an underserved community, 4 years strongly preferred.
• Experience coaching teachers in a school setting
• Experience leading adults in a school setting as a Grade Level Chair or similar role.
• You have strong leadership skills and the proven ability to manage and motivate people
• You have a track record of producing high-quality, standards-based curriculum and assessments
• You have outstanding oral and written communication skills and strong analytical abilities
• You have the stamina and work ethic required to handle the intensity and challenge inherent in assuming a leadership role in school.
• You've got a good sense of humor! We work hard but believe it's important to have fun while doing it.

Our community and student body are diverse and we believe that we can best achieve our mission when our leadership, teachers, and staff reflect the identities of our students. We are therefore committed to being a diverse organization at all levels and strive to have a diverse applicant pool. With this in mind, we encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply.

Compensation and Benefits

We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including generous paid family leave and all the benefits of the Massachusetts Teacher Retirement System (MTRS). The salary range for this position is $84,000- $97,000 and will be determined based on a variety of factors related to the new hire's years of experience in a position with a similar level of instructional management responsibility.

Schedule:

The Academic Dean's schedule is similar to a teacher's schedule, however, as with all leadership roles, some amount of additional before and after school hours are to be expected. Academic Deans will participate in leading New Teacher Training and will work one additional week in the summer.