Dean of Academics Resident (starts July 2023)

Position: Dean of Academics Resident 

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 are 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.

In 2011, University Prep opened the doors to its first elementary campus. Fast forward 15 years and our founding scholars are now enrolled in their sophomore and junior years of college. With nearly 90% of U Prep alumni on track for post-secondary success, U Prep is living its mission. Our scholars represent a 3X difference when compared with their peer group statewide ( less than 30% are earning a degree or certificate following high school graduation ). Our alumni are beating the odds and pursuing their dreams as they enter young adulthood and make choices about their futures. We couldn’t be prouder of our now college-going alumni, but more importantly, they couldn’t be prouder of themselves.  Watch this video to hear from them directly and learn more about who we are as an organization and why we exist.

Our Investment in You:

Our Compensation and benefits package includes, but is not limited to the following:

• • Our competitive salary within the local market
  • Dean of Academics Residents are paid as Teachers while receiving two additional stipends:
  • $ 5,000 for being a Leader in Residence
  • $ 4,000 for being a Teacher Leader
  • * Teacher salaries for new to U Prep hires live within a range of $ 60,000 - $ 80,000 depending on years of experience with up to 10 years being honored
  • 100% of medical benefit covered for all employees , and options to elect dental, vision, critical illness and accident benefits.
  • Up to $600 in contributions to a personal wellness account
  • Participation in the Colorado PERA retirement program, including PERA 401K option
  • Weekly personalized coaching and supports from your Principal and ongoing professional development and coaching from the network’s Chief Academic Officer

Why we’ll love you:

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-driven . You believe educating all children from all backgrounds to grade level proficiency and beyond is the priority of a school because academic achievement sets the stage for young people to pursue genuine lives of opportunity.

You love content AND culture . You are “geeky” when it comes to academic content and have a robust understanding of standards-aligned curriculum, instruction & assessment. And, you’re deeply committed to the creation of warm, focused, and joyful classroom cultures that allow for all children to meaningfully engage in learning.

You want to become a leader . While you still love teaching, you are genuinely invested in becoming a game changing instructional leader. You want to further refine your skills in the classroom while building your coaching and management muscles, preparing you for future, campus-based leadership.

You operate with deep humility. While you carry skills and knowledge from previous experiences, you humbly reflect on new learning and are open to change if it means getting better. You ask questions, listen, and learn from a wide range of sources including families, team members, other leaders and research.

You never give up. When things feel impossible, you roll up your sleeves, stay calm, and carry an unyielding sense of optimism. You take on challenges directly and find a way to get to the finish line.

What you’ll do:

• Fully embody the mission and vision of University Prep along with the organization’s core values.
• Carry all responsibilities of a U Prep teacher, performing as an exemplar for what excellent teaching and learning looks like in a U Prep classroom. Teaching responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
• Establishing and maintaining a classroom culture that is warm, consistent and focused, setting the stage for maximizing scholar learning.
• Intellectually preparing for and implementing cohesive, rigorous, and standards-aligned curriculum.
• Executing engaging, motivating, and rigorous instruction in whole-class, small group and individual settings (in alignment with U Prep’s Vision of Excellence (VOE) - ( See VOE Rubric Here).
• Leveraging daily, weekly, interim and end of year assessments to consistently capture scholar learning
• Analyzing scholar work / academic data & action planning accordingly in collaboration with leaders / team members.
• Monitoring progress against action plan expectations to ensure scholars are making necessary gains.
• Planning for and delivering academic supports to small groups or individual scholars as needed/scheduled.
• Drafting scholar report cards and intentionally planning for family meetings to ensure information is shared with candor and thoughtfulness.
• Communicating regularly and consistently with families to build a school/home partnership.
• Actively participating in all professional development and learning opportunities, demonstrating a desire toward continual improvement and learning.
• Preparing for, attending and engaging in team-level and school-wide meetings
• Continuously using feedback from leaders, colleagues and families to make productive changes in practices and overall performance.
• Teaching, supporting and enhancing school-wide systems and expectations at all times with all children.
• Coach and develop one or more Teachers/Teaching Fellows in their establishing and maintaining of healthy classroom culture and their implementation of rigorous, standards-aligned curriculum. This includes but is not limited to use of the following ‘coaching levers:’
• Co-intellectual preparation that supports teachers in understanding, internalizing and practicing lesson plans.
• Engaging in deliberate practice to build teacher skills at executing effective classroom management & instruction.
• Leveraging real-time coaching, observation feedback cycles and weekly data meetings to move teacher knowledge and skills forward.
• Take full ownership of the scholar culture and academic outcomes of both the classroom/content being directly taught and within the teachers’ classrooms being coached/managed.
• With the support of network and/or campus-based leadership, plan and lead professional development for both academic content and classroom culture, building teacher skills using the See It, Name It, Do It Framework with the expectation of increasing the capacity and abilities of our educators.
• Engage with the Principal and full campus-based leadership team to create and maintain a warm, engaging and achievement-oriented environment that meets the needs of all scholars.
• Carry an unwavering vision for high behavioral & academic expectations across our building and all classrooms.
• Participate in additional activities including field trips, intensive academic support sessions, and other required programs as needed throughout year to best support our children and adults.
• Assist in coordination and management of all standardized student assessments and evaluations, including federal and state required assessments, quarterly assessments, and curriculum-based assessments.
• Complete all administrative requirements before given deadlines.

Position Preferences & Requirements:

• Full commitment to, belief in, and alignment with mission and vision of University Prep.
• Full commitment to organization’s values, definitions of diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism, 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 and can all meet/exceed high behavioral expectations that support learning for all.
• Evidence of successfully implementing Common Core standards-aligned curriculum in the elementary grades.
• Minimum of five years working in public education and preference for candidates who have a history of not only working in urban communities, but in driving significant academic gains in student growth & achievement.
• Demonstration of success in building and sustaining positive staff, student and parent relationships.
• Experience and success with analyzing data, finding trends, and using a range of information to drive strategic decisions and build effective plans.
• Demonstration of cultural competence and a humility/commitment to continue growing in this area.
• Openness to feedback and a strong desire for continual growth and development as a professional.
• Willingness to take full responsibility for scholar outcomes.
• 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 results.
• Excellent verbal and written skills along with strong organizational skills (including the ability to prioritize).
• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree ( required )
• Bilingual - English/Spanish ( preferred )

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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.