School Leadership: Dean of Students

Job Description

Job Description

Who We Are

KIPP SoCal Public Schools is a nonprofit organization that operates 20 tuition-free, open-enrollment charter public schools, within 17 Local Education Agencies (LEA), educating more than 10,000 students and supporting 8,300 alumni to and through college and beyond. Our award winning schools are part of the national KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) network, dedicated to meeting the needs of all learners and providing the social, emotional and academic support for success in high school, college, and life.

Mission

Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and create a more just world.

What We Do

At KIPP SoCal we build trusting relationships that are strengthened by high expectations and collaboration alongside laughter and joy. We set ambitious goals and hold each other accountable for students achieving their greatest potential. We work together with each other and in partnership with families and communities in the active pursuit of a more equitable world. We do the right thing, even when it's not always comfortable standing up and speaking out against anti-blackness, racism, oppression, and injustice. We persevere through obstacles and treat failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.

What You'll do

 

The Dean role is an instructional staff and manager position. The dean’s job is to support the school leader and/or ASL in driving academic and character outcomes for students as a key member of the school’s leadership team. Deans lead both instruction and school culture. The dean will work in conjunction with the school leader and other members of the school leadership team to invest a team of mission-driven educators to execute on the necessary components to meet the vision of the school. Key components of this job include:

Responsibilities

• Model and support the implementation of the school’s vision and goals
• Supports development of School Leader’s school-wide vision and takes an active role in investing and mobilizing teachers to achieve the collective goals of the school;
• Owns the implementation of select school priorities in support of the school-wide vision;
• With guidance from the School Leader, helps lead the planning and goal setting for the grades/departments that he/she coaches and ensures alignment with school-wide goals

 

• Contribute to school-wide planning and prioritize time to accomplish goals
• Provides input into school-based strategic planning, and identifies what the school’s strategic plan means for his/her own leadership and people that he/she coaches and manages

 

• Build own and others’ instructional knowledge of standards, content and instructional methods
• Develops deep mastery over the academic standards in the subjects/grades for which he/she coaches, and strong understanding of academic standards for all subjects/grades;
• Understands the implications of standards on what a student should know and be able to do, connect teachers with relevant resources to improve their content knowledge, and therefore what a teacher needs to know and be able to do to facilitate student mastery;  
• Studies curriculum and assessment content and further develops understanding of how assessments map to content mastery, and what is required of students and teachers to accomplish mastery on the assessments; 
• Teaches teachers how to assess for both student mastery and growth towards college readiness and insists that assessments are used to inform teacher instruction;
• Develops own and teacher’s knowledge of best practices in instructional methods and teaches teachers how to match particular strategies to gaps in student mastery 

 

• Develops teachers to provide rigorous and high quality instruction
• Provide high-quality instructional coaching with frequent and scheduled teacher observations, actionable and bite-sized feedback, and accountability for adjustment in practice;
• May lead or coach others who lead department/content/grade -level meetings that focus on planning for and norming on instruction and culture, practicing instructional strategies, and progress monitoring the department/content/grade level;
• Lead engaging, actionable, adult-learning workshops; and hold staff accountable for implementation of the workshop practices

 

• Leading data-driven instruction
• Help teachers to determine how data aligns to end-of-year goals, break-out data to analyze how different student groups are performing, determine what data is saying about areas of student mastery and growth, and identify specific instructional actions and adjustments to fill students’ knowledge and skill gaps and a timeline to do so 

 

• Modeling strong staff and student culture 
• Help manage school-wide character development and behavior management systems;
• Supports teachers in understanding process and roles in student support and intervention and develops systems and structures to ensure that limited time is spent on reactive response;
• Manages parts of daily school operations (e.g. arrival/dismissal, lunch/recess, school trips);
• Acts as the first point of contact for student intervention and parent engagement and for any issues that rise to the Leadership Team;
• Supports a culture where excellence is paramount by holding self and others accountable for achieving it

Leadership Qualifications

• Experience : Strong instructional coaching background (department chair, grade level chair, etc.)
• Student Focus : Belief that all students, regardless of background, have the ability to go to and through college; demonstrated commitment to the school’s unique community
• Build Relationships :   Demonstrated ability to develop relationships with students, families, teachers and colleagues based on mutual respect, integrity and trust.
• Cultural Competence : Demonstrated ability to create inclusive environments that honor and support a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives and support KIPP SoCal's belief that education is for liberation
• Planning, Prioritization and Execution: Demonstrated ability to plan, prioritize, and execute on own and grade/department team's work
• Direction-Setting and Team Leadership : Ability to lead a grade/department team to reach its vision and goals
• Achievement Orientation and Performance Management : Demonstrated student achievement results in own classroom and from teachers that he/she coaches. Demonstrated resilience and focus on student outcomes.
• Instructional Leadership : Adept at data analysis; able to analyze student achievement data and identify team/individual teacher adjustments to instruction. Has built proficiency across own grade/department content standards and how they are assessed.

Position Perks

• Competitive compensation package. Review our public salary scale here
• 100% of healthcare premium costs covered by employer, dependents added at 50% of the cost
• Employer-paid KIPP SoCal life insurance
• 401(k) plan with up to 6% match by KIPP SoCal
• Voluntary Benefits (Pet Insurance, Supplemental Life, Accident, Short Term Disability, etc.)
• Generous paid time off program includes 22 holidays, sick leave, and vacation
• Other great benefits (Flexible spending account, EAP, etc.)

KIPP SoCal Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation/gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

KIPP SoCal strives to ensure that our careers website is accessible to all, including individuals with disabilities. If you require reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process due to a disability, please contact us. You can find our contact information on our website, Information will be sent to a talent acquisition representative who will provide assistance to ensure appropriate consideration in the hiring process.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.