Senior Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction

Description

Summary

As a member of the Academic House Team, the Senior Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation, and evaluation of high-quality academic programming across 4 elementary campuses.  The Senior Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction directly supports the Elementary Instructional Leadership Teams, as well as collaborates with the Chief Academic Officer, Executive Director of Academics, Senior Director of Student Development (Special Education), and the Director of School Quality to support the strategic priorities of the organization.

Our mission is to prepare students for success in life. If you are dedicated to a pursuit of excellence both in yourself and our students; if you are self-motivated; if you are an innovator and if you want to play a key role in changing young lives --we are looking for U.

Role Responsibilities

• Design and Development of Elementary Academic Model and Strategy
  • Academic Model Development and Continuous Improvement
    • Plays a key role in ensuring curriculum, instructional practices, and assessments are appropriately aligned.
    • Uses insights from student performance data across school network to inform continuous improvement of curriculum, instruction, and assessments, incorporating input from School Directors
    • Elevates challenges that arise with the academic model and works with the Chief Academic Office to inform and improve model (by providing viable solutions to complex problems)
  • Advancement of A Culture Focused on Academics and Equity
    • Determines approach to drive educational equity across the network and allocates resources and programs accordingly
  • Develops and progress monitor Elementary Schools Plan in alignment with individualized Campus Plans
  • Develop and progress monitor PBLWorks Strategic and Implementation Plan for all elementary campuses
  • Develop strategy and progress monitor summer programming for elementary campuses

• Management of Instructional Leadership Teams
  • Measurement and Improvement of Teaching and Learning
    • Coach and support School Directors and Instructional Leadership Teams through Campus Plan and Student-Centered Coaching

• Professional Learning and Development of Instructional Staff
  • Advancement of Talent-focused Culture
    • Studies trends in employee feedback data to determine key areas of strength and improvement and recommends improvements to Chief Academic Officer
  • Career Path and Succession Planning
    • Collaborates with management and leadership teams to develop succession plans for priority academic positions
    • Mentors' novice and aspiring instructional leaders to grow within current roles and to seek stretch opportunities to rise up within network
  • Performance Evaluation
    • Determines improvements to performance evaluation system that supports the development of teachers and other academic leaders
  • Professional Development
    • Structures, sequences and delivers program-specific professional development to ensure effective program implementation (includes but not limited to):
      • School Director Development (Instruction)
      • Instructional Leadership Team Development
      • New Teacher Development
      • Campus Based Teacher Development
      • Project Based Learning
    • Ensures that Instructional Leadership Teams are able to coach and mentor campus instructional staff to improve student outcomes
    • Assesses impact of professional development and continuously improves based on performance data and knowledge of promising field practices
    • Develops Instructional Leadership Teams capacity to deliver feedback and manage difficult conversations

Qualifications

• Education and Certification
  • Master's degree required
  • School Leadership and/or Central Office Administration experience required
  • Currently possess Michigan Administrator Certificate (Central Office endorsed preferred)

• Experience
  • Capacity to support curriculum implementation preferred
  • Leadership in driving implementation of rigorous curriculum
  • Developing and delivering high quality professional development
  • Competence in Project Based Learning and Student Centered Coaching
  • Can lead others to successfully complete multi-faceted projects
  • Experience leading major initiatives from concept to implementation
  • Experience executing and implementing high impactful strategy

• Skills
  • Strong executive presence and leadership skills
  • Ability to perceive, interpret, demonstrate, control, evaluate, and use emotions to communicate with and relate to others effectively and constructively
  • Ability motivate/influence others to outcomes
  • Successfully lead teams through adaptive and complex change
  • Ability to distill essential findings from analysis, determine root causes, and suggest ways to improve current practices
  • Strong communication skills, verbal and written

• Demonstrates U Prep’s Core Values
  • We work well by ourselves and teams
  • We care about people
  • Our actions have a purpose
  • We think big and do
  • Learning is exciting

Salary

Compensation for this position is dependent on prior experience and is competitive. 

Benefits

• Medical coverage
• 401(k) - up to 6% matching
• Eight sick and four personal days
• Year-round staff earn vacation days
• Professional and career development
• Master’s program tuition reimbursement through GVSU