Founded in Houston in 1994, KIPP has become a national leader in partnering  with families and communities, to create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose — college, career, and beyond — so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world.

In 2018, KIPP schools in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio joined forces to become KIPP Texas Public Schools, a nonprofit public charter school network, accelerating student academic outcomes and impacting more students across Texas. As a unified, statewide organization, KIPP Texas can more effectively leverage the talent, resources, instructional expertise, financial strength, and advocacy in the public charter school movement, in order to have an even larger impact with educationally underserved communities across the state.

In the 2020-2021 school year, KIPP Texas Public Schools will educate more than 31,100 students in 59 schools, placing the district among the top 50 largest in the state. KIPP Texas will continue to prove what is possible for its students, communities, and state, with a goal of growing to educate 100,000 students and achieving a 75% college graduation rate for alumni.

The mission and vision of KIPP Texas is grounded in five Core Values as its cultural North Star:

As a Team & Family, we:

Champion Equity
Chase Excellence
Persist with Purpose
Bring Joy
Rise Together

KIPP Texas is part of the national KIPP network of 255 college-preparatory public charter schools educating early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school students. KIPP schools are part of the free public school system and enrollment is open to all students. Nationwide, KIPP students complete four-year college at a rate of 36 percent, comparable to the national average for all students and approximately three times higher than the average of students from low-income families.

The goal of a school leadership pathway is to build and sustain high performing schools. KIPP Texas is investing in a residency program to ensure that there is a transparent pathway to leadership with consistent succession plans and an equitable process for promotions. With a structured on-ramp to school leadership and targeted coaching and support, leaders will develop the skills necessary to thrive as principals. 

The KIPP Texas Principal in Residence program is a one- or two-year, regionally-operated residency to prepare aspiring principals in the adaptive, technical, and managerial skills to lead a KIPP TX school as either a Successor or a Founder. Those in the one-year program are on an accelerated track to become a Successor at the school at which they are placed or a Founder at a school in community they will found in.  Those in the two-year program are placed in schools with Mentor School Leaders.  PIRs are full-time members of their residency school leadership teams and will have daily opportunities to practice the skills and competencies required to lead high-performing schools.

The PIR’s role mirrors that of an Assistant Principal for the majority of the development program, namely: coaching and developing teachers, teacher leaders and deans and contributing to the overall academic and cultural vision of the school. In some cases, a PIR who enters the program without teaching experience in KIPP TX may also have teaching responsibilities to enhance their instructional leadership expertise.  Towards the end of their time as a PIR, the role mirrors more of School Leader, with clear responsibilities fully owned by the PIR at the school-level.

In addition to their school-based performance goals, PIRs are actively developing the leadership skills and competencies outlined in the Development Roadmap. They actively seek growth on the Roadmap and in their journey to school leadership through one-on-one coaching, site visits on their campus and other campuses, formal professional development and by engaging lifelines. PIRs also actively participate in the KIPP TX PIR cohort.

KIPP Texas Leadership Competencies

Student Focus: 

Belief that all students, regardless of background, have the ability to develop the skills and confidence to pursue the path they choose – college, career, and beyond; demonstrated commitment to the school’s unique community

Direction Setting:

Ability to set direction for a team and motivate others to action

Achievement Orientation and Performance Management:

Demonstrated student achievement results in own classroom and from teachers that s/he manages

Equity-Centered Leadership: 

Demonstrated ability to create inclusive environments that honor and support a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives

Instructional Leadership: 

Adept at data analysis; ability to extract meaningful insights across school-wide data

Expertise in what the school-wide academic standards and state assessments require of students’ knowledge and skills to demonstrate mastery; able to translate student mastery requirements into instructional plans and strategies

Deep understanding of appropriate application and differentiation of high-leverage instructional strategies based on comprehension of child/adolescent development and pedagogy

Relationship Building: 

Expertise in cultivating relationships and managing a diverse group of stakeholders

Achievement Orientation: Demonstrated resilience and focus on student outcomes

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university (required)

• At least 2 years of teaching experience (required)

• Strong record of ensuring students achieve academic success and holistic growth (required)

• Experience working in historically educationally underserved communities and communities of color (preferred)

• At least 1 year of school-level leadership experience (required)

• Strong record of helping students achieve academic success and holistic growth (required)

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook)

• Excellent organizational, verbal, and written skills

• Ability to travel throughout the KIPP Texas regions(for programming, residency and development opportunities) and the PIR’s placement city

Compensation and Benefits:

In addition to a competitive salary scale, a part of KIPP Texas’ competitive benefits options, KIPP offers all employees an $0 HMO plan for the employee only. In addition to our $0 plan, KIPP provides a $600 employer contribution towards a Health Savings Account and a variety of other supplemental benefits such as Dental, Vision, Short and Long-Term Disability, Pet Insurance, Life, etc.