Head of School Grades 6-12
NOTE: This job listing has expired and may no longer be relevant!
Dearborn STEM Academy Overview:
The Henry Dearborn School has served Boston students for more than a century. Located in Dudley Square, the school became the Dearborn STEM Academy in 2012 and began the process of expanding from a middle school to a 6th-12th grade school in the years that followed. Currently, the school serves approximately 300 students in 6-10th grades and will expand to eventually serve approximately 600 students in 6-12th grades.
In 2014, after four years in Turnaround (Level 4 status), the Dearborn had not demonstrated rapid academic progress. Boston Public Schools elected to identify an external operator to run the school, thereby preventing the school from entering into receivership. BPS identified BPE ((formerly the Boston Plan for Excellence) as the operator to restart the Dearborn STEM Academy.
The Dearborn STEM Academy (DSA) to be re-launched in summer 2015 will be committed to supporting and preparing students to be contributing members of their communities and to successfully enter the global workforce. DSA will bridge rigorous academics with career readiness and will leverage Boston’s unique position to provide students with access to authentic experiences, while simultaneously cultivating critical thinking and communication skills. The school will use common planning time, an extended school day, and teacher collaboration to drive student achievement.
BPE Overview:
For three decades, BPE has devised solutions to the toughest challenges faced by Boston’s students and teachers. BPE has prepared over 500 teachers for Boston’s public schools through the Boston Teacher Residency. BPE has partnered with the Boston Public Schools on a variety of initiatives focused on improving student achievement, including but not limited to implementing standards-centered reforming, serving as the agent for the Boston Annenberg Challenge, and supporting district reform working with fundraising, management, communications, and evaluation. In 2012, with the Dudley Neighborhood Community, BPE launched the Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School, serving students in grades PreK-5.
Position Overview:
The DSA Head of School will work closely with a team from BPE to launch and manage an effective turnaround effort. Reporting to BPE’s Chief Program Officer, the DSA Head of School will play a lead role in designing the school’s model; recruiting, selecting, and hiring faculty members; building and maintaining strong family and community partnerships; and managing effective teams to drive results. The DSA Head of School will achieve outstanding student outcomes through developing and implementing a shared vision for excellence in teaching and learning with students, families, faculty members, and community partners.
Position Responsibilities:
The individual who assumes this role will be responsible for the following:
- Leading and managing a school focused on driving excellence, executing with urgency, and realizing significant and meaningful achievement for all students;
- Setting the vision for instructional excellence and ensuring alignment with that vision for faculty members, students, families, and the community;
- Fostering a reflective, collaborative, and inspiring culture for students, families, faculty members, and community partners that values innovation, accountability, and performance;
- Developing and implementing accountability practices to evaluate school effectiveness and to make strategic decisions that ensure the school, its faculty members, and its results are ever-improving;
- Recruiting, hiring, developing, managing, promoting, and retaining high quality, high impact leaders, instructors, and support staff members;
- Leading a school leadership team to create, build, and maintain a STEM school that serves as a model for excellence within the education community;
- Leading the development and implementation of all school systems, schedules, structures, and operations;
- Leading and managing others to provide an outstanding professional development program for all staff members; and
- Determining the allocation of fiscal and human resources.
Position Qualification:
The individual who assumes this role will have the following attributes, skills, and experiences:
- Deep commitment to improving the quality of public education in urban communities;
- Strong leadership and organizational skills;
- Minimum of 5 years of experience as an urban school leader;
- Demonstrated ability to hire, coach, develop, and manage staff members;
- Demonstrated ability to achieve measurable results for students and families;
- Strong and tested collaborative management style;
- Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s Degree strongly preferred;
- Background in STEM strongly preferred;
- Background in ELL strongly preferred; and
- Valid Massachusetts Principal License strongly preferred.
Compensation:
We offer a competitive compensation package, including, when relevant, a salary equal to (and in some cases above) the district scale and comprehensive benefits.
To Apply:
Please visit http://bpe.atsondemand.com/ to submit an application for consideration.
The Dearborn STEM Academy, a BPS/ BPE School, is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.