Job Description

Alexandria City Public Schools seeks a dynamic and strategic leader to serve as Principal. The Principal executes the school’s vision; establishes and maintains the school philosophy; leads and manages the school to achieve daily instructional program excellence; and leads the school improvement planning process ensuring alignment with the school division’s strategic plan and best practices. This job reports to the Executive Director of School Leadership under the Department of Teaching, Learning and Leadership. 

School History: 

Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 IB School was Alexandria's first school serving students in pre-K through eighth grade. It is also an International Baccalaureate® (IB) school for the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and Middle Years Programme (MYP). The IB programme focuses on developing the whole child so that the student acquires the intellectual, personal, emotional, and social skills needed to live, learn, and work in a technology-driven, rapidly globalizing world of interconnectedness across space and time. See more information about the school on the Jefferson-Houston website.  

The school Principal should be a dynamic school administrator who will lead change with a highly positive approach for continuous improvement. The Principal must have a proven track record of instructional leadership including evidence of making significant academic achievement gains, maintaining high staff morale, and using a systems-thinking approach to drive instructional programming. Relative to other schools, this school principal must be acclimated to a highly visible, highly intense, and high-accountability work environment within an ethnically diverse, culturally diverse, and economically diverse student population. 

The ACPS Family of Schools:

Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 IB School is part of the Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) in Alexandria, Virginia. The school division serves more than 16,000 students who hail from 120 countries and speak 121 languages. ACPS includes one pre-K school, 12 elementary schools, two middle schools (grades 6-8), two K-8 schools, and Alexandria City High School (formerly T.C. Williams High School). Please see a complete listing of ACPS schools.

Qualifications

Education:  Master’s degree in a related field required. Doctorate Preferred. 

Certificates & Licenses:  Valid Virginia Department of Education license is required, or eligibility to obtain one, with an endorsement in Administration and Supervision.

Experience:  A minimum of five years of experience as a school principal is required.  Experience leading school improvement efforts is highly preferred with a focus on elementary and/or middle curriculum and instruction, including programs for English learners, advanced academic services, and special education (particularly inclusion models).  

Essential Functions

Transformational Functions

• Quarterly reporting and progress monitoring with key central office stakeholders.
• Team building and strategic planning with staff.
• Weekly updates to the staff regarding school expectations and school climate.
• Establishment of a systems approach to teaching, learning, and leadership within the school environment.
• Community engagement activities and opportunities to build school-community relations.
• Facilitation of ongoing professional learning opportunities for staff in social, emotional and academic learning.
• Establishment and monitoring of data reporting and accountability system for the school.

Leading Instructional Excellence

• Articulates a clear instructional vision with a school-wide focus on teaching and learning that is data-driven, standards-aligned, and rooted in the ACPS Strategic Plan.
• Demonstrates knowledge of how to use instruction to reach student achievement goals.
• Able to identify and describe effective instructional practices and how to provide feedback, coaching, and professional development to teachers and assistant principals to improve the quality of instruction throughout the school.
• Demonstrates knowledge of educational theory and practices, including a focus on standards-based instruction.
• Implements consistent school-wide instructional practices that are clear, results-oriented, and research-based.
• Creates opportunities for ongoing learning and staff development that are informed by data in alignment with division foci.
• Provides direction and support in accomplishing instructional, curricular, and/or program requirements.
• Reviews instructional programs and services and assesses how they will meet the needs of students/employees/school division.
• Working collaboratively with other ACPS principals in a community of practice that leads toward division-wide and school improvement.
• Embrace and model the IB philosophy and IB Learner Profile.

Leading Student Accessibility and Support

• Demonstrates a belief in student possibility, promise, and potential in every student. 
• Demonstrates evidence of student achievement down to the classroom level (teacher, specific subgroups, resources needed for special education, EL, etc.).
• Focusing on evidence-based growth and results to drive the school towards annual and long-term goals.
• Managing the change process, including making tough decisions when necessary to move the school and students forward.
• Engaging in constant personal learning, including the need to learn and adapt when faced with challenges and successes.
• Assures the proper evaluation of student progress and the effectiveness of the program to determine what practices or objectives to maintain or modify.
• Collaboratively develops and implements a school improvement plan in support of increased student success.
• Utilizes a variety of data sources to make informed decisions for enhancing student/employee/program performance.

Leading Staff, Family and Community Engagement

• Engaging school community members effectively to ensure all stakeholders are included in school improvement efforts.
• Listening to and communicating with all the school’s stakeholders; building successful interpersonal relationships with faculty, staff members, family and community members, and students.
• Communicates with parents, employees, and the community to establish and maintain professional relationships.
• Cultivates and facilitates leadership development in staff members through the provision of leadership opportunities.
• Supporting community engagement around the work of the K-8 analysis initiative to include providing oversight to stakeholder focus groups.

Leading Operations, Strategic Resource Allocation, and Systematic Alignment

• Demonstrates an understanding of the Title I process.
• Executing results-focused school operations and resource management that ensure minimal disruptions to teaching and learning and promote the success of all students and staff.
• Developing and maintaining a purposeful school culture that supports a safe and effective learning environment.
• Aligning human resources to school needs, setting high expectations, and effectively managing all school employees to meet school goals.
• Communicates a clear vision of excellence and pursues that excellence in a manner that provides consistency with the goals of the school division.
• Coordinates and supervises all extracurricular programs to maintain high standards of student conduct and enforce discipline.
• Coordinates the daily operations to maintain the safety of the facility/office/departments and responsibly and efficiently manages fiscal and/or other resources.
• Advises the administration on activities in the school for the submission of required reports and responds to the administration’s written and oral requests for information.
• Maintains the school philosophy and educational program in consistency with community characteristics and school division goals and practices and implements and enforces School Board policies and regulations.
• Practices ethical standards appropriate to the profession to ethically resolve issues and promote a climate of collaboration and collegiality.
• Prepares the school budget and monitors the expenditure of funds, provides for adequate inventories of school property and for the security of and accountability for that property, and assumes responsibility for the safety, security, and appearance of the school plant.
• Selects, instructs, supports, and evaluates to retain quality instructional and support personnel.
• Selects, orients, assigns, supervises, and evaluates staff to attain the objectives of the educational program.
• Uses problem-solving techniques in identifying, analyzing, and resolving problems.
• Performs other tasks and assumes such other responsibilities as may be required to ensure an efficient and effective work environment.

Clearances:

• Criminal Justice Fingerprint/Background Clearance.
• Tuberculosis Skin Test.

Public Health Compliance

• Must follow safety and health protocols.

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