Principal or Vice Principal Assistant Principal
Job Description
Overview
We seek assistant principals (APs) who are passionate about curriculum, coaching, and culture. They inspire teachers to excel in their craft, and motivate students to achieve their highest potentials. APs provide instructional and administrative leadership to the teaching staff, oversee the implementation of the curriculum, coordinate assessments, and monitor students’ academic performance. They also help shape and sustain the school’s distinctive culture and ensure that students internalize the school’s values and aspirations for academic excellence. The APs provide cultural leadership to the teaching staff and oversee the implementation of school-wide systems and procedures. In short, they help bring the Ascend mission to life.
The assistant principal role is an ideal opportunity for a collaborative and flexible thinker to play a leadership role in growing and shaping one of our high-performing public charter schools, part of a broader network committed to ensuring our students have the knowledge, confidence and character to succeed in college and beyond.
Join us as we foster our students’ innate curiosities, encourage discussion and debate, and guide students to think, imagine, debate, and create.
Why extraordinary leaders lead at Ascend
Ascend is a network of K-12 public charter schools serving 5,700 students in 15 schools across Brooklyn—New York’s most populous borough. Our undertaking is to lead our students on a great intellectual adventure, provide them with an exceptional college preparatory education, and place them firmly on the path to success in college and beyond.
We guide our students to think critically and independently and to enjoy education as an end in itself. We teach a rich and rigorous liberal arts curriculum that nurtures students’ natural curiosity about the world. We foster a positive, non-punitive school culture where students feel connected, empowered, and safe to take academic risks. Even our school buildings are designed to reflect our high aspirations for teaching and learning and the notable accomplishments that occur within our walls.
To create this kind of vibrant learning community, we invest heavily in our faculty by providing ongoing professional training and support, and encourage our educators to collaborate closely and push each other to achieve great outcomes. Leading at Ascend means growing deeply in your career, expressing your voice, and playing a defining role in the future of your students, your school, and the Ascend network.
Ascend is committed to building a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist community, both through our hiring practices and our focus on creating a culture and environment where diverse perspectives, ideas, and identities are valued and integrated into our way of working and educating students. Ascend staff represent a wide diversity of racial, socio-economic, gender, religious, and national identities—opening a window to the entire Ascend community on the richness of humanity. We welcome all applicants who share our mission and vision to join us in our deeply consequential work.
Learn more about the Ascend approach by visiting our website.
Responsibilities
Curriculum and instruction
- Develops school’s ability to foster a culturally responsive classroom
- Collaborates with curriculum team to plan and execute curriculum and instruction that fosters student growth, creativity, and agency through aligned, culturally relevant materials and pedagogy
- Develops teachers’ ability to foster a culturally responsive classroom
- Collaborates with the principal to plan and execute curriculum and instruction that is culturally relevant and fosters student growth, creativity, and agency through aligned, culturally relevant materials and pedagogy
- Manages the effective implementation curriculum and instruction, including providing feedback to teachers on their lessons
- Supports partnership with teachers and student services coordinator and special education team to ensure that all students, including those with exceptionalities, have the access and support needed to achieve
School culture
- Partners in leading a culture that results in a love of learning, student agency, and full range of student learning and growth
- Builds an engaged, diverse, and inclusive school community
- Supports staff and students to demonstrate consistent values and positive behaviors aligned to the school’s vision and mission
Racial equity mindset
- Models and supports a race equity culture, including skill building and leading self and others through awareness, growth, and development
- Continuously strengthens personal and staff knowledge and expertise in effective instructional design and academic standards with DEIA considerations in conjunction with the curriculum team
Effective teaming
- Promotes and develops strong teams of teachers that collaborate, communicate, and work together for Ascend students and community
- Observes and coaches instructional staff leading to pedagogical growth and student achievement
- Plans and leads professional development that results in improved pedagogy and student achievement
- Creates and executes coaching plans and evaluations to ensure development of instructional staff
Strategic leadership
- Works collaboratively and thinks flexibly to support and improve systems and decision-making processes that strengthens outcomes
- Supports and strengthens a data-driven and data-hungry culture that relentlessly seeks continuous improvement
- Creates, strengthens, and maintains academic and culture systems and procedures
Whole student focus
- Establishes, fosters, and sustains a culture of academic success and social-emotional development through partnerships with students, staff, families, and community
- Fosters and sustains a warm, welcoming, and inclusive environment for scholars, families, and staff
- Implements a vision that exhibits a deep belief in the potential of all students and leads to improvement for all learners
- Engages families and communities in support of child’s learning and school learning goals, and supports teammates in building family partnerships
Technological fluency
- Evaluates and uses technological tools, and coaches others in their use to strengthen school results and student achievement
Staff and reporting relationships
The assistant principal reports to the principal and supervises teachers in their portfolio.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree, with advanced degree preferred
- At least three years teaching experience with a proven track record of elevating student achievement preferred
- At least one year of experience leading, managing, and coaching a team of adults that demonstrates ability to drive results through others
- A hunger for feedback and self-improvement
- A high level of ownership over the overall outcomes of the scholars they lead
- A hunger for feedback and self-important
- Self-awareness, with an ability to treat all members of the school’s community with respect and an accurate idea of one’s own strengths and weaknesses
- Skilled in content, pedagogy, and data-driven instruction as evidenced by quantitative and qualitative data
- Strong collaboration, interpersonal and communication skills, including working effectively with people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse perspectives
- Strong organizational, self-management, and problem-solving skills with the ability to handle many responsibilities simultaneously
- Alignment with the educational philosophy and core beliefs of Ascend Learning
Compensation
Initial salary offers for this position range from $85,000 – $115,000. Salaries are determined using an equitable compensation scale that accounts for years of experience and levels of attained education.
Diversity at Ascend
Ascend is committed to building a diverse and inclusive community, both through our hiring practices and our focus on creating a culture and environment where diverse perspectives, ideas, and identities are valued and integrated into our way of working and educating students. Ascend staff represent a wide diversity of racial, socio-economic, gender, religious, and national identities—opening a window to the entire Ascend community on the richness of humanity. We welcome all applicants who share our mission and vision to join us in our deeply consequential work.
