Rocketship Education is reinventing elementary school from the ground up. We are building a national network of high-performing schools serving students from low income communities in the Bay Area, Milwaukee, Nashville, and Washington D.C. We serve 7,000 primarily low income students (87% of Rocketeers are socioeconomically disadvantaged) from Pre-K to 5th grade. Our teachers, school leaders, and network support staff are united in our mission to eliminate the achievement gap in our lifetime.

The Schools Team 

The Schools Team is chiefly responsible for bringing about the vision of our Rocketship network in helping to build, refine, and support excellent schools, instruction, and our parent advocacy, community, and engagement. Through the direct management of and partnership with our Principals, the Schools Team is able to directly influence this vision and ensure we constantly realize and pursue excellence at our schools and within our communities. The Schools Team also directly influences and at times manages School Leader development in all aspects of their role as well as developing the vision and structures that ensure Principals, Assistant Principals, and Office Managers are most effectively leading teachers and building community amongst their parents and families, and as a result, students to the best outcomes possible. 

The Schools Team focuses on the following elements: 

• Deep support and development of School Leaders 
• Developing, refining, and maintaining unified structures & vision to operate at the highest level 
• Developing highly skilled teachers--instructionally & with parent partnerships.

The Role 

This role can be based in the Bay Area, Nashville, TN, and/or Washington D.C. and reports directly to the Vice President of Schools. This individual will be a key strategic leader on the Schools Team and will directly manage 4-6 of our transformational Principals. In this role the Director of Schools (DOS) will ensure that Rocketship schools remain a model for instructional excellence both in regards to student outcomes on multiple measures (literacy, math, science, social-emotional, etc.) as well as continuing to serve all students through a culture rooted in inclusion of special education students and rigorous support of a Positive Behavior Interventions & Support structure.

 
The successful candidate will ensure that Rocketship maintains a culture that puts our Rocketeers first and ensures outstanding support to our schools, school leaders, teachers, and entire school team while also ensuring a strong partnership with the Network Support Team (NeST). He or she will combine a capacity for systems-level and strategic thinking, deep instructional knowledge, careful attention to detail, and strong interpersonal skills in building relationships with critical internal and external stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as a strategic counselor and thought partner to the VP of Schools and other members of the Schools Team, working to achieve Rocketship's mission while managing schools in a disciplined, conservative manner; 
• Build, develop, and lead a high performing team of mission-critical Principals toward exceptional outcomes for students, families, and staff. These responsibilities include: 
  • Manage 4-6 Principals through weekly meetings to determine and assess school and principal priorities; 
  • Provide guidance to Principals on effective management of Assistant Principals, Teachers, Office Managers, and Business Operations Managers in order to realize strong outcomes for students and families while also realizing strong levels of staff satisfaction and retention; 
  • Work with Principals to analyze unit and interim assessment data across the entire campus and ensure next steps are completed during each data cycle; 
  • Build and execute Principals and Assistant Principal development via Achievement Team Meetings, monthly intensives, and additional times as needed; 
  • Oversee the development and execution of each school's strategic plans and ensure key targets are met, facilitating additional professional development (i.e. sessions, 1:1s, experiences, etc) when necessary; 
  • Analyze and action plan around: student achievement data, observation and coaching data, and schools target data on five key levers; 
  • Plan and conduct weekly 1:1 meetings, classroom observations, SL team meeting observations, and monthly school strategic plan stepbacks; 
  • Work with principals to set teacher professional development priorities for the year and break them down to 5-6 week cycles (aligned to data and school needs); 
  • Help design outstanding site-based and network-wide professional development; 
  • Problem-solve solutions to challenges common to all schools in network; 
  • Work with principals to design and implement excellent professional development for staff during Thursday PD, 1:1s, and any additional structure 
  • Develop and conduct highly effective mid- and end-of-year performance evaluations; 
  • Work with principals to ensure that they continue to implement rituals and practices that deepen parent engagement and investment while also creating/sustaining a welcoming school-culture for families; 
  • Ensure that goals are met in regards to parent engagement, especially in parents realizing goals around volunteer hours, parent conferences, and home visits 
  • Serve as lead staff for school-level hiring including: 
    • Partner with the national Talent team to develop systems necessary to successfully source and hire qualified individuals for positions such as Teachers, Office Managers, Business Operations Managers, and Individualized Learning Specialists within the region 
    • Guide all hiring decisions for teachers and school leaders within the cluster of schools, with an eye toward building strong, balanced teams across the network 
    • Collaborate with the network Achievement team to ensure that schools are receiving necessary instructional supports and that priorities are being fully executed on each campus 
      • Build a strong organizational culture that is aligned with the whole Rocketship organization and ensures that ALL schools are successful

Required Qualifications

The ideal candidate for the Director of Schools position at Rocketship Education is someone who has had school management experience of an organization of similar scope and scale to that of Rocketship Education, while also realizing strong student achievement and staff related outcomes in this role. The Director of Schools will be mission-driven with a tangible passion for ensuring Rocketship Education continues to provide life-changing opportunities for students of low-income communities where we catalyze city-wide, sustaining transformation. The ideal Director of Schools candidate has experience working in a dynamic, growing organization during a transformational phase and identifies with, and appreciates the work of, every contributor across all levels of the Rocketship Education organization. 

In terms of the performance and personal competencies required for the position, the ideal candidate should be a results oriented, determined, skilled instructional leader and manager with a record of experience that includes: 

• A belief in the mission and education model of Rocketship Education with the ability to work in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, flexible environment; 
• A minimum of 2-4 years of broad school management experience serving as a Principal in a high-performing charter or district environment with 2-4 additional years of successful teaching/instructional expertise with a record of strong achievement results; 
• A demonstrated ability to attract, hire, develop, motivate and lead a high-performing team and sustain a culture of high performance and service orientation among team members consistent with the culture and mission of the organization; 
• Excellent communication, influencing and motivation skills to interact effectively with all levels of the organization, the school network, and any external stakeholders; 
• A minimum of a Bachelor's degree; 
• Experience and demonstrated track record in managing principals/schools towards high student achievement outcomes preferred.

How to Apply

To apply, please visit http://www.rsed.org/applynow_nest.cfm.

Rocketship Education provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Rocketship Education complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training. 

Rocketship Education expressly prohibits any form of unlawful employee harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of Rocketship Education's employees to perform their expected job duties is absolutely not tolerated.