Job Description

Vice Principal

Organizational Overview

For 25 years, KIPP DC has partnered with students, families, and the community to create joyful, academically excellent schools across the nation’s capital. Today, our network of 22 schools educate more than 7,500 students in grades PreK3-12, supported by 1,500 dedicated teachers, leaders, and staff.

Our work is grounded in five pillars–Academic Excellence, Joy & Sense of Belonging, Highly Effective Teachers and Leaders, Safe, Structured, and Nurturing Learning Environments, and Commitment to College Readiness–which ensure every student is equipped with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to pursue success in college, careers, and beyond. Our schools combine high expectations with joyful, affirming environments that nurture academic success and personal growth for students and staff alike.

As part of the national KIPP network, we share best practices and innovations while maintaining deep roots in Washington, D.C. Together, we strive toward a future without limits for our students, alumni, and community.

 

Position Overview

The vice principal’s job is to support the school in driving academic outcomes, care, and a sense of belonging for our students as a key member of the school’s leadership team.  KIPP DC vice principals lead both instruction and school culture as the leaders of subsets of teachers and students in either specific grade levels and/or departments.  

This person will serve on the leadership team at a single school or various leadership teams depending on the needs and vacancies across KIPP DC.  The type of school (early childhood, elementary, middle, or high school) and specific role (grade level/content level supported) will be determined based on school need and candidate experience and expertise. 

Vice principals will actively grow through participation in summer and school year high-quality, meaningful formal and informal professional development, invaluable on the job training, transformative coaching, project-based learning, and cohort-based experiences with leaders across KIPP DC

The vice principal role is exempt, reports to the school principal, and serves on the school leadership team. 

Key Responsibilities

Vision & Goals

• Support development of School Leader’s school-wide vision and take an active role in motivating and inspiring staff to achieve the goals of the school and of the specific grade/department being supported
• Support School Leader in upholding excellence with systems that support vision
• Connect team/s' vision, goals and actions to KIPP DC's goal of becoming an anti-racist organization

Plan & Prioritize

• Collaborate with principal and leadership team in determining school and team priorities
• Prioritize and manage own time to deliver on short and long-term goals or priorities
• Support teachers in planning and prioritizing their time

School Culture

• Lead an affirming and joyful culture for students; monitor, follow in and refine PBIS systems
• Work with staff and families to build an inclusive school environment for special populations (i.e. students with IEPs, students with 504s, ELL students, new students, students with HCYP status, etc.)
• Plan for and predictably respond to student behavior that doesn't meet school culture expectations; follow up with teachers to coach and empower them to plan and respond more effectively next time
• Maintain calm and poise in unpredictable, potentially stressful, situations 

Instructional Leadership

• Communicate and invest teachers and staff in a clear, inclusive instructional vision for all students; follow through on all instructional commitments 
• Collaborate with instructional coaches to support teachers with clear, meaningful, and realistic unit and lesson internalization strategies while simultaneously growing teacher understanding of curriculum, pedagogy, standards, and assessments
• Be a frequent, regular presence in all classrooms you coach and manage
• Support a culture where teachers are invested in and prepared for whole staff adult learning; work with Leadership Team to facilitate engaging, effective, relevant meetings
• Explain and describe grade level/subject's curriculum, pedagogical practices, standards, and assessments and how they connect to larger beliefs about teaching and learning

Talent

• Build trusting, strong relationships with teachers and school staff as the foundation for development and management work
• Capture sharp, meaningful evidence during observations
• Ground feedback and next steps for teachers in student impact and data 
• Identifies high-leverage coaching focuses ground in student impact, transferability, context and teacher match
• Develop, relies on, and refines systems that result in the effective coaching of all teacher
• Identify an academic gap across a grade level or department and develop and execute a plan that results in improved student experiences and outcomes
• Consistently communicates to teachers, through words and actions, that they are valued, supported, and cared for 
• Actively and regularly communicate with principal about progress, strengths, areas of growth, and potential trajectories of individual team members
• Understand and practice fair and legal employment practices

Operations Management

• Support the leadership team in executing school operational systems such as arrival and dismissal, mealtimes and attendance. 

Qualifications

KIPP DC is looking for vice principal candidates who are committed to KIPP DC’s mission that all students can learn and achieve at high levels, have a strong teaching background, a commitment to creating identity-affirming learning experiences, and are looking to develop the leadership skills necessary to lead great schools. Specifically, candidates should have:

• Bachelor’s degree 
• Minimum of four years lead teaching, school leadership, or direct student support (i.e., MHP, related service provider) experience 
• Experience teaching core subjects (ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Special Education) (preferred experience, not required)
• Demonstrated academic results 
• Demonstrated leadership experience 
• Demonstrated record of timeliness, good attendance, reliability and responsiveness
• Unquestioned integrity and commitment to KIPP DC’s mission and to advancing its anti-racist ambition through their work with staff, students, alumni, and families

• Student Focus: Builds strong relationships and holds high expectations for students, holds students’ best interests in mind, keeps owns commitments to students and makes sure others do the same and builds a culture of respect for all students
• Results Driven:  Communicates that delivering excellent outcomes, in student experience and academics, is a guiding priority, sets challenging goals for self and others, takes initiative to go above and beyond to to achieve results, follows through on commitments, demonstrates resilience and flexibility 
• Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: Demonstrates strong judgment and data-based, timely decision-making, gathers information from multiple sources, sorts out complexity, anticipates problems, values and encourages creative and innovative ideas, thinks expansively and avoids either/or thinking

• Self-Awareness: Demonstrates understanding of own identity, privilege and power, understands strengths and weaknesses and the impact on others’ perceptions, seeks feedback and self-development, proactively asks for and willingly accepts assistance from others in a variety of roles
• Equitable Practices: Believes that equity is something that can constantly drive one’s approach, rather than a lens that can be used sometimes, defines and communicates beliefs around racial and educational equity and leans into conversations about this, creates an inclusive environment that promotes a genuine sense of belonging for school community members across lines of difference
• Impact and Influence: Is as clear on the purpose of actions as action themselves; effectively and reliably communicates "the why" to many stakeholders, adapts leadership style to influence others, takes the lead when there's a need; demonstrates growth mindset and learns from mistakes when they inevitably happen
• Empowering Others: Actively listen to other school community members; seeks to understand others’ views and needs, intentionally builds trust within and across teams of people to promote collaboration and opportunities for shared ownership, consistently demonstrates respect and appreciation for others by empathizing, valuing their time and contributions, and being available and responsive to their needs ​​​​​​​

KIPP DC offers an extremely competitive compensation and benefits package:

• When it comes to compensation, at KIPP DC we strive for clarity, equity, and to be highly competitive. We look at compensation benchmarks in schools across DC. Vice principal salaries start at $113,827 and increase with years of experience. Please see the salary scale here . Vice principals can earn up to $5,000 in renewal add-ons to their base salary each year they return to KIPP DC. 
• KIPP DC offers a robust benefits package including medical, dental, vision, various voluntary benefits, and employer paid benefits such as short term disability, long term disability, life insurance, and a membership to One Medical. 
• KIPP DC also offers a 403(b) retirement account with employer contributions and match, vesting after three years.

Equal Employment Opportunity Employer

KIPP DC Public Schools does not discriminate against, or tolerate discrimination against, employees or applicants for employment on any legally-recognized basis or protected class including, but not limited to, actual or perceived race, color, national origin, immigration status (except as necessary to comply with federal, DC, state, or local law), religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity or expression), marital status (including domestic partnership status), genetic information, political affiliation, pregnancy, family responsibilities, personal appearance, veteran status, uniform service member status, status of being unemployed, status of victim a survivor of domestic violence, sexual offense or stalking, matriculation or any other protected class under federal, state, DC, or local law.

Click here or here to review KIPP DC’s non-discrimination policy and KIPP DC’s Title IX Coordinator’s contact information.

Please Note: If you encounter difficulties submitting your application or fail to receive a confirmation email after applying, kindly reach out to Danica Cunningham at danica.cunningham@kippdc.org . Please include your name, resume, and specify the role you are applying for in your email. We appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience caused.

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