Superintendent

Superintendent

Job Summary

The Superintendent role is an integral part of the executive team, ensuring that KIPP DC's academic and school performance strategy translates from vision to results across all 22 schools through systems-level leadership, rigorous accountability, and trusted relationships with school communities.

The starting salary range for this role is $244,025-$269,712. This is a full-time, fully in-person role based at our KIPP DC’s headquarters office with an immediate start date.

About KIPP DC

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.

About the Team

The executive team is KIPP DC's senior leadership body, composed of the school system's functional leaders who drive strategic direction, operational performance, and organizational health.

The Superintendent sits on the executive team as a cabinet-level peer to the President & Chief Operating Officer and the Head of Strategy, Impact, and Transformation, providing systems-level leadership for academic and school performance across all 22 schools. This work — instructional strategy, school leadership, and everything that shapes what students learn and experience — is carried out through the teams of the Chief Academic Officer and the Chief of Schools, both of whom report to the Superintendent. The Superintendent is responsible for system-level coherence, prioritization, and cross-functional alignment across both teams.

About the Role

The Superintendent serves as KIPP DC's senior executive accountable for the coherence of academic strategy and school leadership across all 22 schools. This is a rare opportunity for a systems-level leader to guide a school system with 25 years of legacy and impact through a consequential academic transformation, with a focus on preparing all students to pursue the paths they choose — college, career, and beyond.

Location and Type of Work

Fully on-site (5 days per week onsite). As a headquarters team that is focused on being responsive to our schools and meeting the needs of our students and families, we approach our work in a way that reflects these priorities. Schools operate in person and our students and families rely on us for in-person support which requires this position to be fully on-site. This role is currently required to be on-site or in schools during regular work hours.

Responsibilities

Lead academic and school performance transformation (35%)

• Shape the school system's academic vision for students within the direction set by the multiyear strategic plan, leading the integration of academic strategy and school leadership into a single, coherent academic and school performance strategy.
• Monitor academic and school performance across all 22 schools on a regular cadence, using that visibility to inform enterprise-level decisions and priorities.
• Hold academic and school-level work coherent with the school system's broader strategic commitments, surfacing risks and bringing timely, clear-eyed recommendations to the CEO before they compound.
• Push the school system to innovate where innovation is needed to deliver on its commitments to students, bringing new academic and school-level approaches into the strategy where they are warranted.
• Serve as a cabinet-level peer to the President & Chief Operating Officer (COO) and the Head of Strategy, Impact, and Transformation, participating fully in shared enterprise work on behalf of the school system's academic and school performance.
• Partner with executive leaders across the school system, understanding how their work affects academic and school performance and elevating what students and schools need from them, so the academic and school performance strategy is properly resourced and represented.

Lead and develop portfolio leaders (25%)

• Set clear expectations for the Chief Academic Officer (CAO) and Chief of Schools (COS), and hold each accountable for leading their team’s day-to-day work and the outcomes their team produces.
• Ensure the CAO and COS each operate at the right altitude: each manages their own portfolio with appropriate independence, while the Superintendent maintains the cross-functional coordination and enterprise orientation the transformation requires.
• Lead and coach the CAO and COS, sharpening their systems-level leadership and building the capacity each needs to translate the academic and school performance strategy into excellent execution as the school system's transformation deepens.
• Ensure the CAO and COS each build a strong talent bench within their own portfolio. Provide additional support when capability gaps require enterprise-level structural adjustment across the academics and schools portfolio.

Ensure internal and external accountability for academic excellence (25%)

• Hold the school system accountable for delivering on its academic and school performance commitments to students, naming gaps directly and ensuring they are addressed, while identifying and scaling what is genuinely driving strong outcomes.
• Oversee the school system's progress toward the academic and school-level standards required for charter renewal and regulatory compliance, including under applicable school performance frameworks. Hold the CAO and COS accountable for the strategies that meet or exceed those standards.
• Serve as the primary liaison to the board's School & Community Affairs committee, giving the committee the information and access it needs to fulfill its oversight of academic and school performance.
• Serve as the school system's point of decision and escalation for academic and school-level matters requiring enterprise-level resolution, ensuring the school system responds with clarity and speed.

Build and steward relationships in service of the portfolio (15%)

• Maintain a visible and consistent presence across school communities and at key school and community moments, building trust with families and communities and ensuring firsthand observation from schools informs how the academic and school performance strategy is refined.
• Engage regularly with school leaders through purpose-built structures, gathering a firsthand read on whether academic and school systems are functioning as intended.
• Represent the school system's academic and school performance work with external stakeholders, including DC PCSB and OSSE, in coordination with the CEO and Chief External Affairs Officer as appropriate.
• Serve as one of the school system's primary points of contact within the broader KIPP network, engaging in network-level convenings and peer learning communities and keeping the school system's academic and school-level work aligned with national priorities.
• Build relationships with peer leaders and external organizations, in and outside the KIPP network, whose expertise and perspective strengthen the school system's academic and school-level work.

Requirements & Preferences

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required
• 15+ years of school system experience required, including significant leadership experience in a complex, multi-function organization
• 5+ years of experience in a central office or headquarters leadership role within a multi-site school system, leading work that spans schools
• Demonstrated experience managing across functions and through multi-layered teams, with a track record of developing and holding senior leaders accountable for results
• Proven ability to lead and manage organizational change effectively to drive student outcomes
• Excellent internal and external communication skills and a demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across an organization, within communities, and with a board of directors

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree in education-field
• 15+ years experience in urban schools, including experience working in or alongside K-12 school systems at a similar scale and complexity
• Experience managing large multi-layer teams in or supporting schools
• Deep knowledge of and commitment to equity to drive student outcomes and achieve academic excellence
• Experience with special education and/or multilingual education
• School leadership experience
• Strong cultural competency skills, including ability to communicate, work effectively, cultivate relationships with a diverse set of stakeholders
• Passion for education reform and the belief that every child can succeed
• Unquestioned integrity and commitment to KIPP DC’s mission and to advancing its antiracist ambition through their work with staff, students, alumni, and families

Physical Requirements

• Ability to travel across and between campuses and schools
• Flexibility to work outside normal business hours or weekends in the event of a school or system crisis.

Demonstrated Excellence in the Following Areas:

• Commitment to Students and Schools: Demonstrates commitment to education reform, believing in every child's potential for success and prioritizing students, schools, and the essential role of families.
• Strategic Thinking and Problem Solving: Finds creative solutions to challenges that achieve broader goals of team and organization.
• Project Management: Sets a high bar for own work and supports others to achieve desired team outcomes.
• Communications and Influence: Demonstrates adept communication skills and influence to advance work by adjusting content and style.
• Teamwork: Contributes to a supportive team culture, fostering diverse work styles and maintaining a high performance standard.
• Trust and Collaboration: Establishes and nurtures effective relationships with a diverse set of stakeholders to support the best outcomes for our work.
• Cultural Humility: Advances KIPP DC’s commitment to anti-racism by creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment for all stakeholders.
• Continuous Learning: Commits to continuous learning through feedback, self reflection, humility, and action.

Benefits & Compensation

KIPP DC offers an extremely competitive compensation and benefits package:

• The anticipated starting salary range for this position is $244,025-$269,712. At KIPP DC we strive for clarity, equity, and to be highly competitive. When determining salaries we look at benchmarks in the education and non-profit sector.
• KIPP DC offers a robust benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurances; 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 a 3% employer contribution and a 3% match with 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.

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