School Network Staff Chief Academic Officer
Job Description
At Public Prep we believe that joy, warmth, and rigor are the foundation of a school culture where students achieve academically and develop strong character. In the words of one community member, “Every student, every family and every Public Prep staff member plays an important part of our amazing school, a school filled with energy, personality, hardworking people who are committed to ensuring all of our scholars have a sense of belonging and are put on a predictive path to and through college.”
Our network comprises 6 schools across 5 campuses in the Lower East Side and Bronx, serving 2,100 scholars in grades PreK-8:
Primary Function & Position Overview
The Chief Academic Officer (CAO) is a leadership role that will report to the Superintendent of Public Preparatory Network. The CAO provides leadership and executes the vision and strategic direction for Public Prep’s curriculum, instruction, assessment and school improvement initiatives. Responsible for our core instructional program, the Chief Academic Officer ensures that all scholars become independent learners who are curious, engaged, and growing in all aspects academically, socially, and emotionally.
The Chief Academic Officer supervises and provides direct coaching and concrete, actionable feedback to the network academic team, as well as collaborates with the Chief Talent Officer and Superintendent to foster a network-wide growth mindset of continuous learning and professional development. The Chief Academic Officer ensures the professional development and coaching of instructional faculty is aligned to network priorities to achieve high-quality, culturally relevant instruction within a warm, inclusive, and academic rigorous environment across our network of schools.
The Chief Academic Officer is a highly motivated and collaborative leader who takes initiative to solve problems and address challenges through an equity lens, centering the needs of all scholars on the pathway to achieving their full potential. The Chief Academic Officer models the core values of scholarship, merit, community, and responsibility and embodies a growth-mindset.
Duties & Responsibilities
Domain I: Vision and Supporting Systems
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- Build a culture of collective efficacy and positively impact instructional practice by maintaining a focus on rigor, high expectations, growth, and achievement for all
- Collaborate with the Superintendent, Chief Talent Officer and Academic Cabinet to ensure there is a common vision for student learning, high-quality instruction and the professional development and coaching required for instructional staff to put all Public Prep scholars on a predictive path to college completion
- Drawing on work done over the last several years, as well as Public Prep’s Strategic Plan, refine and implement a vision for strong instruction and curriculum across our network grounded in our mission and Vision for Impact
- Provide leadership for all aspects of the network’s instructional program, including curriculum and assessment, instructional quality, and use of both instructional and non-instructional data
- Assess the quality and impact of organizational structures related to curriculum and instruction, researching best practices and providing actionable feedback that can be implemented to increase leader, teacher, and student outcomes
Domain II: Rigorous Instruction and Learning
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- Develop a scope and sequence of professional learning for school leaders, instructional staff and student support teams to ensure consistent, normed implementation of Public Prep’s expectations of high-quality instruction, family engagement and positive behavior systems to achieve high levels of student engagement and learning through a continuous loop.
- Drawing on work done over the last several years, as well as Public Prep’s Strategic Plan, leads the advancement and cohesive development of an aligned, network-wide PK-8 curriculum that ensures all scholars are challenged to think and work hard every day
- Leads the effort to review, adapt and change academic frameworks and intervention programs based on student needs, within a MTSS framework
- Designs, implements, and evaluates systems to assess student achievement
Domain III: Drive Results
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- Sets ambitious goals and leads process of change with specific and measurable outcomes to strengthen overall academic program, in alignment to Public Prep’s Strategic Plan
- Positively impacts a data informed culture in schools by ensuring laser-like focus on teaching, learning, and increasing achievement and growth for all students
- Assesses the strength of the academic program at all schools through observations, achievement and survey data; identify trends and align network-wide strategy, opportunities and support for leaders and teachers.
Domain IV: Authentic Leadership
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- Demonstrate personal leadership by employing reflective practices while building and encouraging strong, trusting relationships through the application and modeling of appropriate and effective communication strategies
- Directs instructional leadership training for content supervisors, Principals, Academic Directors, and aspiring leaders
- Represents the school to a variety of audiences and supports all necessary functions for school management and success.
- Provides instructional/curricular input to network-wide and school-based new teacher orientation and mentoring programs.
Domain V: Strategic Talent Management
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- Manage the Home Office Academic Directors to unlock their potential and drive a strong instructional programming across all content areas through curriculum development, assessment, professional development and instructional coaching.
- Build capacity, in their team members and across teams, by strategically leveraging relationships while observing, supporting, and coaching them toward success and holding them accountable to a vision of excellence for all scholars
- Work collaboratively with a variety of consultants and strategic partners to ensure alignment to network goals/priorities and build the internal capacity of the team.
- Ensures that each member of the Academic team has a development plan aligned to their performance goals and expectations.
Qualifications
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- A demonstrated commitment to the mission of Public Prep and to the goal of building a culture of the highest of expectations;
- A minimum of a Master’s degree in school leadership, education or a related field
- Experience as a classroom teacher, preferably in elementary and middle schools
- At least 8 years of leadership and management experience overseeing academic programs and driving significant results in high-performing Pre-K-12 institutions or nonprofit organizations, with examples of the following:
- Deep understanding of project planning, curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, data inquiry, and instructional technologies
- Proven track record of achieving short- and long-term organizational objectives and academic results through the development and implementation of academic systems, and
- Coaching and supporting teachers and school leadership teams
- Experienced strategist and innovator who will contribute in the leadership, management, and growth of cross-functional teams and adult learners across the organization
- Highly accountable and results-driven with the ability to set and use goals to guide action and objectively measure performance
- Outstanding communication and organizational skills with experience in Google SuiteStrong work-ethic, detail-driven, solutions-oriented, and a relentless commitment to success
- Ability to prioritize, multi-task, delegate, and lead by example.
This description is intended to describe the type of work being performed by a person assigned to this position. It is not an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities required by the employee.
Please be sure to attach a resume and a cover letter including examples of how you have demonstrated continuous learning and specific ways you have used data to drive decisions.
