Dean of Academics

Description

Summary

The Children's Guild is a nonprofit organization serving children, families, and child-serving organizations. We provide individualized transformational experiences to ensure children, families, and communities thrive through education, behavioral health, management, and consulting services. The Children's Guild operates the Monarch Academy public charter and contract schools, Monarch Preschool College Park, The Children's Guild DC Public Charter School, The Children’s Guild Transformation Academy, the TranZed Academy for Working Students, TranZed Apprenticeships, treatment foster care, and outpatient mental health clinics. We are among the most experienced child-serving organizations in the Greater Baltimore/Washington region and are expanding in regional and national programs.

The role of the Dean of Academics is to establish a culture consistent with the tenets of Transformation Education (TranZed) as a means of assuring the existence of a milieu that produces students who are prepared for high school by being able to think critically, problem solve creatively, be self-disciplined, to learn how to learn and who understands that the goal of life is to serve a cause larger than ones self. This position serves as the chief academic officer for the school. The dean of academics assists the principal in planning, development and implementation of all aspects of the TranZed school program. S/he works alongside the principal and participates in all aspects of the TranZed school design including curriculum development, staff development, evaluation and program documentation and other administrative responsibilities as required by the school district.

Our DEI Commitment

Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion are fundamental values at The Children’s Guild. We are committed to building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable working and learning environment for all students, staff, and families at The Children’s Guild. We believe every member of our team strengthens our diversity by showing us a broad range of ways to understand, engage, care for, and educate.

All Guild employees are expected to demonstrate an awareness of, respect for, and attention to the diversity of the people with whom they interact (person served, personnel, families/caregivers, and other stakeholders) that are reflected in attitudes, organizational structure, policies, and services.

Qualifications

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Assist teachers with implementing the Transformation Education approaches to learning
• Participate in the development of compelling topics and learning targets that are aligned with the core curriculum
• Support organizational structures and intervention levels for tiered instruction
• Lead curriculum development projects
• Design internal writing benchmarks for assessing students writing
• Monitor instruction by daily learning walks and observations
• Coach and model for staff the student assessment protocols
• Model direct instruction techniques which are brain based
• Assist in data analysis of summative and formative assessments
• Supervise teachers and teacher assistants and provide feedback for professional growth and instructional delivery
• Assist principal with data collection of student achievement and monitors accountability plan
• Assist individual teachers and teacher teams in developing high quality learning projects (in depth, project-based investigations aligned with standards) as the primary way of organizing curriculum
• Motivate teachers to continue to develop their content knowledge and instructional repertoire through modeling effective instructional practices in staff meetings, professional development sessions and crew meetings
• Design an effective professional learning community
• Organize staff development schedule and monitor effectiveness of professional development activities
• Link the physical environment to the desired learning experience to meet the brains need for contrast, challenge and variety

Cultural Awareness Expectations

• The Children’s Guild employees are expected to honor the diversity that makes up our community. This includes being respectful and accepting of everyone's identity. The Children’s Guild empowers employees to share their own identities and encourages all members to learn from each other to foster a safe, tolerant, and diverse community.
• The Children’s Guild expects all to contribute to a space where individuals can grow, learn, share, and embrace differences in a respectful environment. The Children’s Guild recognizes that expressing personal and cultural identity is crucial to cultivating a safe community for staff, children, and families.
• Staff will build an empathetic, supportive, and equitable environment for the students and families we serve.
• Staff will value all children and families we serve and colleagues by embracing their diverse talents, perspectives, identities, and experiences while fostering inclusion that inspires innovation, encourages respect, and promotes growth.
• Staff will attract and sustain a diverse workforce by recruiting, hiring, developing, and retaining employees who work collaboratively to carry out the mission of The Children’s Guild.

Competencies

• Ability to work as part of a team
• Strong communication skills, written & verbal
• Leadership
• Diversity
• Organizational management
• Community relations
• Judgement and problem analysis

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

The minimum requirements are a masters degree with emphasis on supervision, educational administration, elementary or secondary school curriculum or a closely related field. It is essential to have a minimum of five years of classroom teaching experience and successful completion of observation and analysis of teaching I and II. Other combinations of applicable education, training, and experience which provide the knowledge, abilities and skills necessary to perform effectively in the position may be considered.

The successful candidate will possess an understanding of and an appreciation for Transformation Education approaches to learning. It is required that this position meet Maryland or a collaborating states certification requirements for Administrator I or elementary principal and supervisor.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to speak and hear sufficiently to communicate effectively by phone or in person at normal volumes. The employees vision must be adequate to read correspondence, computer screen, forms, etc.

Salary : $70,000 - $90,000