ABOUT KIPP

Together with families and communities, KIPP creates 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. KIPP is a national network of tuition-free, public charter schools open to all students. There are 255 college-preparatory KIPP schools in 20 states and the District of Columbia, serving more than 100,000 students. Nationally, KIPP students are graduating four-year colleges at three times the national average for low-income students.

ABOUT KIPP ALBANY COMMUNITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (KIPP ALBANY)

KIPP Albany Community Public Charter Schools (KIPP Albany) is a network of high-performing public schools that has been committed to creating joyful, academically excellent schools in Albany since 2005.  KIPP Albany is affiliated with KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) Public Schools, a national network of over 10,000 educators serving 160,000 students and alumni. For the 2021-2022 school year, KIPP Albany schools will serve over 1,600 students in grades K-8 and will employ more than 225 staff.  We are committed to furthering anti-racism, equity, and racial justice in all our efforts, and expect all of our stakeholders to participate in this work so that we can create a future without limits for our students, together.

Further regional growth is on the horizon with the Troy Prep K-12 schools planning to join the KIPP Albany network (new name TBD) at the start of the 2022-23 school year. Serving over 2,500 students in grades K-12 at seven schools across the Capital Region will allow increased curriculum offerings for students, professional development for staff, and enhanced family and community partnerships. 

KIPP Albany Community Charter Middle School (KACCMS) is a 6-8 middle charter school which was founded in 2012 as the sister school to Albany Community Charter Elementary School. In the same year, the school was named a National Blue Ribbon School by the US Department of Education.  We offer an extended school day, a longer school year, two instructors per class, school uniforms and a variety of afterschool programs. Our school places a high value on collaboration, community, and culture. We have made a commitment to developing an environment that affirms and celebrates the racial and cultural identities of our students and recognizes the critical importance of having teachers and leaders that reflect the communities we serve KACCMS students are taught in an environment that emphasizes respect and character education in addition to reading, writing and mathematics.  Like KIPP Albany Community Charter Elementary School, the middle school offers spacious classrooms, a media center, a state-of-the-art music room and a gymnasium. Students are provided a robust offering of extra-curricular activities. These additional offerings complement our longer academic school day and school year to allow for whole child development and an exploration of creativity and personal growth among our students. In 2020 Albany Community Charter Middle School joined the KIPP network and was excited to become a KIPP school to access more of the curriculum, professional development, and other resources available within the network to provide more opportunities to the community we serve.

Role Overview

The School Leader’s primary job is to drive academic and character outcomes for students. We expect our School Leaders to focus 75% of their time on instructional leadership, specifically all of the activities involved in leading and developing teachers to improve their instruction and drive student achievement. At KIPP, we also expect our School Leaders to build lasting and sustainable organizations by developing a pipeline of future School Leaders and creating systems for the ongoing development of school staff. The School Leader is responsible for developing his/her successor and the leadership capacity of his/her staff.          
 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1.    Set ambitious school-wide vision and goals, aligned with the KIPP region, that lead students on a path to and through college

2.    Plan and prioritize time and resources to achieve annual goals

3.    Cultivate a diverse, high-potential school leadership pipeline (from teacher leader to AP to successor) and develop leadership team members by teaching and insisting that they are true owners of the work and coaching and assigning stretch activities

4.    Model expectations for leaders, teachers, and students on school-wide practices for a positive learning culture

5.    Develop systems and structures to hire and retain diverse, highly-effective staff

6.    Build own and school staff’s knowledge and expertise in effective instructional design and academic standards

• Develop teachers’ conceptual understanding of what students must know and be able to do and what instructional methods drive student mastery
• Develop knowledge of how standards map to curriculum and assessment

7.    Develop teachers to provide rigorous and high-quality instruction

• Lead analysis of and develop teachers’ ability to analyze student data to identify strategies that will move students toward mastery
• Regularly observe and coach instructional coaches to ensure they are providing high-impact, actionable, and bite-sized feedback to teachers on a weekly basis
• Ensure teachers can collaborate, analyze their practice and their student data, and adjust instruction in content teams
• Lead whole-school professional development workshops that drive highest-impact improvements in teacher practice

8.    Cultivate School Leader’s own success and sustainability by engaging lifelines and renewing to get stronger

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education: Bachelor’s Degree required, Master’s preferred

Experience:

• At least 1 year as an Assistant Principal and 3+ years as an instructional coach
• At least 3+ years teaching in a similar charter school setting

Student Focus:

• Belief that all students, regardless of background, have the ability to go to and through college; demonstrated commitment to the school’s unique community

Direction Setting:

• Ability to set direction across an entire school and motivate others to action

Performance Management:

• Demonstrated student achievement results from teachers and leaders that he/she manages and coaches

Talent Development:

• Demonstrated success in developing leadership capacity in others

Cultural Competence and Commitment to DEI Work:

• Demonstrated ability to create inclusive environments that honors and supports 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 (e.g. make kids sweat, pacing, stretch it, etc.) based on comprehension of child development and pedagogy
• Command of instructional design and the benefits and tradeoffs of school design decisions in driving student achievement

Achievement Orientation: Demonstrated resilience and focus on student outcomes

Start Date:

This position is immediately available.  

Compensation:

Competitive salary and benefits package including health coverage and retirement.

KIPP TECH VALLEY is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, handicap, age, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.