KIPP Texas Public Schools is a network of 59 public charter, open-enrollment, pre-k-12 schools educating nearly 34,000 students across Austin, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Together with families and communities, our mission is 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.

Founded in Houston in 1994, and operating as KIPP Texas since 2018, our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism in our classrooms, in our offices, and in the communities we serve is unwavering. We are looking to hire a diverse team of dynamic, collaborative, and dedicated individuals with an unyielding belief that every child will succeed. Join our Team and Family and champion equity, chase excellence, persist with purpose, bring joy, and help us rise together.

KIPP Texas is part of the national KIPP network of 255 college-preparatory public charter schools in 20 states and the District of Columbia. 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 communities.

The Upper Level Literacy Lead role is an exciting opportunity for an individual who has extensive experience with  3-8 ELA teaching and learning, deep content knowledge of literacy best practices and the science of reading, and a passion for curriculum and instruction; who is committed to advancing culturally responsive teaching; and who is eager to influence literacy education across KIPP Texas and beyond.

The Upper Level Literacy Lead will play a critical role at the state-level in an effort to drive improved student results, including growth and achievement, college and career readiness, and closing the achievement gap, at KIPP schools in our Houston, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio regions.

Duties and Essential Job Functions:

1. Curriculum Implementation | Develop a strategy to support regions with tightening their implementation of our adopted reading and writing curricula in grades 3-8, and create supplemental resources as needed to help students, teachers, coaches, and regional academics teams better access and make meaning of the published curriculum. 

2. Data Analysis | Regularly analyze a variety of qualitative and quantitative data at the school-, region- and state-levels to identify strengths and gaps in the curriculum itself and its implementation; strategically progress monitor implementation.

3. Professional Development | Plan and facilitate virtual and in-person professional development to ensure all regions are on a path to implement the reading and writing curriculum, as well as supplemental blended learning programs, with fidelity and aligned to our literacy vision.

4. Instructional Coaching | Coach and support school administrators, teachers, and regional academic teams to set, make progress towards, and achieve goals appropriate for upper-elementary and middle school reading and writing, with focus grades determined based on data. This may include occasional travel to each KIPP Texas region (Houston, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio).

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• well-acquainted with the college-ready bar for students in literacy; has exceptionally high standards for students’ potential, and an unyielding belief that ALL students can achieve at high levels 
• deeply knowledgeable about the science of reading and expectations for 3-8 literacy instruction and assessment (including ELA TEKS and familiarity with STAAR)
• detail-oriented and obsessed with accuracy, especially in the areas of curriculum and assessments
• able to project plan around multiple priorities and fast-paced deadlines
• a strong communicator and tailors their message for the audience, context, and mode of communication
• comfortable with ambiguity and can translate abstract ideas into concrete work plans and products
• flexible and solutions-oriented when faced with shifting priorities, demands, and timelines 
• skilled at building coalitions and collaborating with diverse stakeholders at all levels, including but not limited to state leaders, regional leaders, school leaders, coaches, teachers and students
• organized in establishing clear expectations, deliverables and deadlines across organizational layers
• empathetic for the issues facing students and teachers; demonstrates cultural competence

Required Education and/or Experience: 

• Bachelor’s degree (required), master’s degree (preferred)
• A master literacy teacher (or coach of literacy teachers) with proven results advancing students’ reading and writing skills; minimum of 3 years of literacy teaching experience
• experienced coaching teachers and/or leaders to improve instruction through observation & feedback; can identify targeted impact statements (action steps) based on observations to improve instruction efficiently and effectively

Location:

Dallas, TX

Compensation and Benefits:

As a full time KIPP Texas employee you are eligible to participate in all KIPP Texas’ benefit plans. KIPP Texas offers a robust variety of benefits choices, including medical, dental, and vision options, as well as life insurance, fertility, and disability plans starting as low as $25/month.

KIPP provides equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees.
As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability

Funding:

The Upper Level Literacy Lead will be funded directly from the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) grants awarded by the Texas Education Agency under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (ESSER II) and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ESSER III). This position will be funded solely (100%) from the ESSER II and III allocation for direct expenses through September 30, 2023, and may continue to be funded through September 30, 2024, depending upon the availability of ESSER grant funds. At the end of the grant period this position may be eliminated unless other sources of funds are secured to maintain this position or a similar position. The employee must sign this job description acknowledging receipt of the job description and signing their acknowledgement that this position is grant funded and is temporarily aligning with the terms of the grant period.