Dean of Academics

Dean of Academics

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Position: Dean of Academics

Our Mission

Building a foundation of skills, knowledge and character, University Prep educates every K-5 scholar for a four-year college degree and life of opportunity.

Why You’ll Love Us

"We have been a part of the University Prep family from the beginning. Over the past school years, I've been so proud to see my child grow, learn, and get the support that I feel every child should receive.” – U Prep Parent

At U Prep, we’re doing things differently. Three major focus areas drive our work each day, ensuring we stay true to the promises we make to every one of our families – a genuine life of opportunity for their child.

Vision - You can only dream as far as you can see - we make sure all of our students see what’s truly possible. All children deserve the opportunity to view the world that lives outside of their classrooms. Within our K - 5 experience our scholars are exposed to a range of colleges and careers that will become their future reality.

Academics - Academic excellence for every child sits at the center of our work. U Prep offers all scholars challenging, college prep content, along with the support and encouragement necessary to master it. We believe every child will achieve greatness when they are equally challenged, supported and loved.

Character - A focus on growing good students and good people is at the heart of our mission. U Prep knows that to succeed in life, scholars must have a strong and confident character. Our schools go beyond a foundation of academic skills and knowledge with the development of our PREP values - Pride, Responsibility, Enthusiasm, and Perseverance.

Achieving big dreams takes hard work and a team effort. Our approach to education and the genuine partnership we build with our families means the possibilities for U Prep scholars are unlimited.

Why We’ll Love You

As passionate as we are about our children and families we are equally committed to our leaders and educators. Our package for leaders includes, but is not limited to the following:

Do the following must haves resonate with how you’re wired? If so, we invite you to apply and can’t wait to learn more about you!

You're mission and values-driven. You are committed to educational equity for all children and are deeply aligned with the core values that drive our team and our organization at University Prep.

You love kids and content: You are “geeky” when it comes to academic content and have a robust understanding of standards-aligned curriculum. If you don’t know something you use your resources and your intense curiosity to figure it out. You believe love for a child is best shown through delivering on the promise of a consistent, high quality education in which all students achieve.

You love working with people: Your experience has shown you that an investment in people and culture can lead to transformative change in an organization. You proactively build meaningful and authentic relationships, which positions you to effectively support and motivate those around. You push people to achieve more than they could or would on their own because you care about them.

You carry deep humility while remaining results-oriented: While you have experience in this work and possess many of the hard skills necessary to get the work done, you approach each scholar, adult, project and/or challenge with a fresh perspective and a learner’s disposition. You are open to new ideas and approaches while always keeping the end goal in sight.

You never give up: When things feel impossible, you roll up your sleeves, ready to do anything necessary to make them a reality because you know failure is not an option. You are calm, level-headed with an unyielding sense of optimism. You do what it takes to get the job done and motivate others to do the same.

You communicate effectively with others: Your communication skills are exceptional and you pride yourself on always sharing the “why” along with the “what.” You translate unfamiliar information to your colleagues in an easily understandable fashion. You work to listen and understand those around you and connect with them in meaningful ways.

Compensation & Benefits

• Highly competitive starting salaries with other public charter schools in our city (minimum of 70K base salary)
• 100% of personal medical benefits covered & options to elect dental, vision, critical illness and accident benefits.
• U Prep contributes up to $600 to a personal wellness account for each employee
• Access to and full coverage of program costs for participation in prestigious external leadership training programs ( A nearly $ 30,000 investment over two years )
• Building Excellence Schools Leaders of Merging Networks (LENS)
• RELAY Graduate School of Education’s National Principal Academy Fellowship (NPAF)
• Sequence of trainings is dependent on experiences and skillsets of the candidate
• Direct mentorship and ongoing coaching from your Principal ( weekly coaching cycles )
• Engagement in U Prep Leader Academy
• Weeklong training over the summer focused on all aspects of instructional leadership (technical & adaptive)
• Ongoing professional development sessions during the school year to continue building skill and expertise
• Participation in Quarterly Leadership Retreats
• Opportunity to strengthen relationships and connections with colleagues across the network
• Time to step away from day-to-day work and dig in on key areas of focus for the long-term health of our schools
• Engagement in weekly leadership team meetings with campus-based leadership team
• Chance to be open & honest with peers on where you are personally – successes & areas of challenge
• Ensure clarity on school-wide strengths and challenges
• Time to share input and brainstorm solutions to drive further campus success
  

What You’ll Do

• Embody mission of University Prep along with the organization’s core values.
• Work closely with the Principal and full campus-based leadership team to create and maintain a warm, focused, engaging and achievement-oriented environment that meets the needs of all scholars.
• Analyze scholar achievement data and action plan in collaboration with staff and leadership on an ongoing basis.
• Monitor and track progress with teachers towards changes in scholar performance.
• Model rigorous, standards-aligned instruction for teachers to gain clarity on highly effective instruction.
• Coach and support teachers in their implementation of rigorous, cohesive, standards-aligned curriculum. This includes but is not limited to:
• Co-intellectual preparation efforts that support teachers in internalizing unit and lesson plans in alignment with the full scope and sequence for the school year.
• Engaging in deliberate practice to build teacher skills at executing effective instruction.
• Observe and “real-time coach” during instruction and provide teachers with explicit feedback on strengths and areas of growth. Provide teachers with action steps that continuously drive their skills and knowledge forward.
• Communicate regularly and proactively with staff, scholars and families.
• Plan and lead weekly data meetings across grade levels to identify key learning gaps and plan re-teach efforts to close those gaps.
• Develop and lead professional development in core content areas and key teacher skills with the expectation of increasing the capacity and abilities of our teaching force.
• Engage in follow-up monitoring and support efforts to ensure professional development efforts lead to improved practices and positive impacts on scholar learning.
• Engage directly in the hiring of new staff at the school level as needed.
• Continuously desire and use feedback to make productive changes in overall performance.
• Complete all administrative requirements before given deadlines.
• Participate in additional activities including field trips, intensive academic support sessions, and other required programs as needed throughout year to best support our adults and children.
• Assist in coordination and management of all standardized student assessments and evaluations, including federal and state required assessments, quarterly assessments, and curriculum-based assessments
  
  

Position Requirements

• Full commitment to, belief in, and alignment with mission and vision of University Prep.
• Full commitment to organization’s core values and core identity statement.
• Unyielding optimism that children can perform at or above grade level regardless of where they may be starting their educational journey.
• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree.
• Highly qualified as defined by ESSA ( Every Student Succeeds Act ).
• Proven track record of implementing and/or coaching with Common Core standards-aligned curriculum in grades K-5.
• Minimum of two years working in urban education with a history of significant gains in student performance/growth.
• Strong track record of success in building positive staff, student and parent relationships.
• Excellent verbal and written skills.
• Demonstration of cultural competence and a humility/commitment to continue growing in this area.
• Strong organizational skills as evidenced by exceptional time and task management.
• Openness to feedback and a strong desire for continual growth and development as a professional.
• Willingness to take responsibility for scholar outcomes and achievement without excuse.
• Ability to work full-time, including some evenings and weekends along with a “whatever it takes” disposition given the responsibilities of a leader to drive game changing outcomes.
• Bilingual preferred (English/Spanish).
  
  

Apply Today: Visit: http://uprepschool.org/careers/

As an equal opportunity employer, University Prep hires without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability.