Founding Director of Curriculum and Instruction

Job Description

Job Description

Founding Director of Curriculum and Instruction 

About Launch

Launch Schools is currently hiring to staff a founding high school option for students of Brooklyn focused on tackling the two greatest challenges of our time– climate change and equity. The Launch High School welcomed its first 9th grade class in Brooklyn, NY in Fall 2025. Launch High School builds on the work of Launch’s middle school, an EL Education school that has operated in Weeksville, Brooklyn for 13 years.  Launch's mission is dedicated to empowering all students to develop the knowledge, skills and character to disrupt inequities in society and build a better world. We believe that students at all levels can be pushed and supported to do more than they think possible.

Launch High School is a transformative, student-centered learning environment that offers one of the most innovative and impactful high school experiences in NYC.

The student experience is grounded in:

• Competency Based Learning rooted in reDesign’s Future9 Competencies
• Personalized Learning that honors student voice, choice and builds their capacity to direct their own learning as they move through high school
• Groundbreaking Learning Ecosystem model design that ensures learning is not limited to the classroom, leveraging community partnerships (including the National Park Service, as well as local non-profit and business partners) 

You can learn more about the high school model in our community driven, work-in-progress School Design Blueprint.

We are hiring our founding team to operationalize this ambition vision. We are committed to developing the conditions and an adult culture that makes our school a laboratory of innovation, where growth and development of our staff members is prioritized. We believe that creativity, authenticity and hustle among our founding team are key ingredients to the success of our students in learning in a way that is truly personalized, and that can only be accomplished with comprehensive coaching supports that help our staff be authentically their best.  Please note that this role is for the 26-27 school year.

As the Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Launch High School, your responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Coaching and Development of Instructional Staff
  • Own the quality and coherence of curriculum and instruction across Launch High School, ensuring all students experience rigorous, accessible, and competency-aligned learning.
  • Supervise a portfolio of teachers, establishing clear expectations and supporting ongoing professional growth through observation, feedback, and coaching systems, including regular classroom observations, high-quality written and verbal feedback, and follow-up coaching cycles.
  • Set, articulate, and continuously refine an equity-driven vision for instructional coaching at Launch High School, ensuring coaching practices advance rigorous, culturally responsive, and accessible instruction.
  • Lead the development and execution of team level inquiry cycles aligned to schoolwide workplan goals, leveraging student data, observation evidence, coaching cycles, and feedback to drive instructional improvement.
  • Facilitate and lead instructional team meetings, including department, grade-level, and cross-disciplinary teams that builds instructional skill, drives alignment and shared practices, and promotes collective responsibility for student outcomes.
• Fostering a positive Academic Culture Schoolwide 
  • Develop a work culture of cooperation, positive attitudes, and teamwork, where all staff are motivated to perform with excellence and continually improve.
  • Design, foster, maintain, and protect a culture of student voice and choice, where heads, hearts, and hands are engaged in interdisciplinary project-based learning.
  • Ensure staff are prepared to operationalize the model outlined in the Launch High School Design Blueprint, and convicted in the vision that it supports and the impact it will have on the community.
  • Build staff capacity around mindsets in ensuring academics are both rigorous and accessible for all learners.
• Academic Administration
  • Own and oversee Launch High School’s curriculum,  assessment systems,  data based goal, and action planning  ensuring coherence across disciplines, grade levels, and competencies.
  • Ensure a program where students can graduate with a Regents Diploma and with a personalized pathway for life after high school graduation that aligns to their skills, passions and dreams for the future.
  • Oversee compliance, design, and implementation of English Language Learner (ENL) programming, family engagement, staff training, and coordination with external partners and  federal, state, and local requirements, to support multilingual learners’ language development.
  • Vision and lead the team in implementing a targeted and data informed intervention program
  • Supervise, facilitate, and build staff capacity to administer and debrief regular assessment administrations, including (but not limited to) SAT administration, AP Exams (when applicable), Regents exams (when applicable), Interim assessments and performance showcases of student academic growth
• Postsecondary Readiness & Student Pathways
  • Ensure all students graduate with a Regents Diploma and a coherent, personalized pathway aligned to their competencies, interests, and postsecondary goals.
  • Lead systems that support students in demonstrating learning through portfolios, performance tasks, exhibitions, and public showcases.
  • Partner with school leadership to ensure academic programming prepares students for college, career, and life beyond Launch High School.
• Leadership & Collaboration
  • Serve as the Principal’s primary instructional thought partner, owning instructional quality, academic systems, and curriculum coherence schoolwide.
  • Collaborate with school leadership to align instructional priorities with staffing, scheduling, and schoolwide initiatives.
  • Model Launch’s values through leadership grounded in clarity, accountability, collaboration, and deep belief in student potential.

The ideal candidate will be:

• Aligned with, passionate about, and invested in both the vision for Launch High School that is currently in progress (School Design Blueprint) and the community-based design process by which it will continue to be developed
  • This includes unwavering commitment to equity, Launch’s mission, and the Crew model
• An experienced school leader, with at least two years of experience leading, managing, and coaching a team of adults with clear evidence of being able to drive results through the supervision of others, and building on a foundation of at least three years teaching experience with a proven track record of elevating student achievement and cultivating positive culture.
  • Preferably in an urban setting
  • Preferably in a high school
• Aligned with the educational philosophy and core beliefs that will undergird Launch High School: project-based and competency-based learning, an interdisciplinary approach, and work-based/career-connected programming.
  • Preferably with experience teaching and/or leading in a school that uses one or more of these elements.
• Entrepreneurial
  • Comfortable with rapid growth and evolution (personal and of the school) within an innovative educational model  
  • Skilled in starting and growing a new program as it is in development
  • A visionary that can construct, implement, and successfully reach a desired outcome, in true partnership with community 
• Committed to staying at Launch at least three years, which will include seeing the inaugural grade class through their graduation and leading the school to scale
• A leader who demonstrates:
  • Self-awareness, demonstrating an accurate idea of one's own strengths and weaknesses 
  • An ability to treat all members of the school's community with respect and to inspire others
  • Skill in project-based, interdisciplinary and competency-based instruction, and innovative educational approaches, as evidenced by quantitative and qualitative data
  • Strong organizational, self-management, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to handle many responsibilities simultaneously
  • Enthusiasm, energy, and optimism, even in the face of challenges
  • Adeptness in managing  change, coupled with innovative  thinking to surmount obstacles
  • A belief in the value of building relationships and balancing empowering staff and students while ensuring accountability
  • Composed demeanor during crises, underpinned by optimism and resilience 
  • Confident and effective communication, adjusting styles to suit  diverse audiences 
  • Empathetic listening  skills and high emotional intelligence
  • Strategic thinking, critically assessing information, data, and  processes to facilitate organizational  improvement
• Holder of a Bachelor’s degree, with advanced degree preferred
• Teaching experience (in an urban setting preferred)
• Fluent in Spanish preferred
• Valid State Instructional and/or School Leadership Certification preferred

Compensation: Highly competitive and commensurate with experience, along with a full benefits package.

Launch is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any individual or group for reasons of race, color, creed, sex, age, culture, national origin, marital status, sexual preference or mental or physical disability.

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