Principal or Vice Principal High School Principal
Job Description
Position: Principal (Grades 9-12)
Reports to: Managing Director of Schools
Location: STRIVE Prep- Excel – NW Denver
THE CHALLENGE
Do you want to inspire a shared vision that rallies STRIVE Prep – Excel’s school community to co-create a high performance, inclusive culture that leads to breakthrough results for each student, and improves the school’s School Performance Framework rating within 3 years?
OVERVIEW OF THE ROLE
STRIVE Prep is a Denver-based community of K-12 public charter schools, that challenges every student to discover and develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary to succeed in college and beyond.
STRIVE Prep – Excel serves brilliant 9th- 12th grade students in the Northwest Denver community, including emerging bilinguals and students with varying special needs. The Principal of STRIVE Prep – Excel will be the cultural and instructional leader of the school and will lead the team effectively to create exceptional outcomes for each student by inspiring a clear vision and accountability for success. The Principal will build deep relationships with and leverage the strengths of students, families, staff, and community to co-create and implement: 1) A school climate that fosters safety and learning, respects and supports the cultural identity of students and families, and accelerates existing restorative practices school-wide for both student and adult culture that reflects the pride of an Excel Lion; and 2.) An aligned academic plan that makes it possible to lead the school from a yellow to a blue rating in three years, and enables the lifelong success of each of our students and 40 team members who are committed to achievement, justice, and perseverance.
THE MUST HAVES
Do the following must haves resonate with how you are wired and demonstrable in your unique talents and experiences? If so, we invite you to apply and can’t wait to learn more about you!
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- You find fun in doing the impossible: You have an unyielding belief and trust in the brilliance of each student and team member which enables you to collaboratively set high standards of excellence with clear expectations for achieving them. You make these standards a reality daily through a disciplined approach to execution that focuses and holds students and staff accountable to a narrow set of the most important goals and initiatives. You generate high and contagious energy throughout the school because everyone knows routinely whether or not we’re winning and collaborates to course correct when we’re not.
- You prioritize social justice AND academic excellence: Your experience in education shows a history of moving students and/or staff to transformational academic gains. You are also a champion of social justice and restorative practices, knowing that they are integral in ensuring strong academic results, student agency, and for preparing students to be agents of change. You treat each student as if they are your own and expect your teammates to do the same. You know this is key to building and fostering an inclusive, high-performance environment where students and staff are known, empowered, and trusted to be active collaborators to ensure each student’s success.
- You are a people whisperer with a strong lens on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI): Your experience has shown you that investing in people and culture leads to transformative change in a school. You value diverse perspectives, seek feedback to inform the work, and innately keep those on the margins top of mind, which enables you to truly maintain an inclusive school environment. You proactively build meaningful and authentic relationships with your Managing Director, teachers, support staff, parents, students, & community members. You bring a deep belief in equity and action-oriented commitment to advancing DEI work, and you galvanize others to do the same.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
With the must haves driving your daily approach to the work, the successful Principal will manage a school leadership team of six that supports a staff of 34 overseeing instruction, operations, culture, and student services. The Principal will collaborate with their supervisor, the Managing Director of Schools, to identify strategic priorities for year one and beyond :
Academic Program
- Lead an effective, student achievement- focused administration team of six people.
- Implement a rigorous, comprehensive, standards-based curriculum, ensuring teachers have internalized and are prepared each day to deliver the rigorous, comprehensive, standards-based curriculum in alignment with Common Core State Standards.
- Lead and oversee a rigorous system for student assessment, data tracking, and appropriate student interventions.
- Model and ensure high-quality observation/ feedback cycles, student work analysis protocols, and real-time coaching.
- Oversee all supporting logistics for the academic program, including staffing structure and schedule.
- Design and deliver comprehensive professional development throughout the school year and during summer training.
- Partner with the network team to recruit and select high-quality teachers and staff.
Student Culture
- Set, model, maintain, and monitor a vision for strong student culture.
- Build and sustain rituals, systems, and structures that prioritize and promote college access and preparation.
- Implement network-wide systems to support student conduct and discipline.
- Lead community gatherings that set the tone for the academic program.
- Oversee extracurricular activities, including sports, arts, partnerships with outside providers, and other areas of interest.
Staff Culture
- Model and hold adults accountable for excellence.
- Care for and empower staff members.
- Model professionalism at all times.
Talent Management
- Own and prioritize staff retention.
- Oversee evaluation of all staff members twice annually
- Regularly collaborate with the Talent Team on hiring strategies and cultivation of quality candidates.
- Collaborate with Talent Team to determine hiring competencies for each role upon posting.
- Prioritize recruitment within your school and leveraging the staff for referrals.
- Designate time within weekly schedule for in-person interviews, candidate follow up, and recruitment.
Community
- Ensure excellent parent engagement and satisfaction based on intentionally building meaningful relationships with families and students that respects and values their social and cultural identities..
- Ensure high levels of student attendance.
- Engage external partners to add value to the students’ experience of the school, especially in the areas of extracurricular activities.
Network Leadership
- Regularly collaborate with other principals and Central staff.
- Be a network leader, always considering the needs of the network and the needs of the campus.
- Effectively implement network programming.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS (OR PREFERENCES WHERE NOTED)
- Proudly hold at least a bachelor’s degree (required), and preferably an advanced degree.
- Understand, appreciate and can pull from at least 3 years of teaching experience and a minimum of 1 year of instructional coaching, with an emphasis on data-driven instruction and demonstrable gains in student achievement (required).
- Understand, appreciate and can pull from experience teaching in an urban setting (strongly preferred).
- Speak Spanish and/or have experience working with bilingual students (strongly preferred).
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
- Competitive compensation package with annual performance-based raises.
- A robust, year-long professional development program.
- A cohort experience with principal fellows and coaches at varying levels on their path to school leadership.
- Participation in Colorado’s PERA retirement program, including a 401k contribution option.
- Funding of 100 percent of individual medical benefits and a wide range of insurance plans.
- Approximately three weeks of summer vacation, approximately four weeks of school holidays and vacations, and eight days of paid time off annually.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION
STRIVE Prep works to make a college prep education for all students in our community the norm, rather than the exception. We are committed to building and sustaining a diverse team by maintaining hiring and recruiting processes that are free from bias and seek to provide each candidate with a unique and equitable opportunity for employment. STRIVE Prep is an equal opportunity employer and actively encourages applications from people of all backgrounds.
