Austin Regional Superintendent (Immediate) - KIPP Texas Public Schools

KIPP Texas has partnered with Alma Advisory Group on the regional superintendent search. You may apply for this position through this external link.

KIPP Texas Public Schools is a network of 57 public charter, open-enrollment, pre-k-12 schools educating nearly 34,000 students across Austin, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Together with families and communities, our mission is to 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 build a more just world. Founded in Houston in 1994, and operating as KIPP Texas since 2018, our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism in our classrooms, in our offices, and in the communities we serve is unwavering. We are looking to hire a diverse team of dynamic, collaborative, and dedicated individuals with an unyielding belief that every child will succeed. Join our Team and Family and champion equity, chase excellence, persist with purpose, bring joy, and help us rise together.

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 280 schools, nearly 15,000 educators, and 175,000 students and alumni.

About the Regional Superintendent Position

KIPP Texas - Austin is seeking a Regional Superintendent committed to educational equity and passionate about creating joyful, academically excellent schools. As the regional leader for ten PK-12 schools across KIPPTexas - Austin, the Regional Superintendent is charged with leading the region to deliver KIPP Texas’ vision to become the highest performing large school district in the state. Through enacting the state-wide vision and strategy for academic programming, school operations, and school culture, the regional superintendent will lead a sustainable organization capable of producing consistent, equitable, and high-quality results for students. The Regional Superintendent will oversee a high-performing team of regional leadership team members focused on rapidly improving student achievement, and transforming student culture.  The regional superintendent will serve as an executive leader at KIPP Texas and collaborates with state-wide departments to ensure that the region has the financial, operational, and personnel resources to thrive. Serving as the public face of KIPP TX - Austin, the regional superintendent will support key external initiatives, including regional advisory board and community relations. 

Key Responsibilities and Duties

Lead the KIPP Texas - Austin region 

• Collaborate with the KIPP Texas Public Schools Executive Team to hone the state-wide strategic vision.
• Enact the state-wide strategic vision by developing and implementing a regional plan to accomplish key priorities.
• Partner with the Chief Schools Officer to set clear multi-year operational, financial, and academic goals for the region, ensuring a sustainable organization at all levels.
• Foster KIPP Texas Team and Family through championing KIPP Texas’ organizational culture and modeling our core values and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Manage change across the region and invest internal and external key stakeholders in strategic evolutions, always ensuring that little KIPPsters and academic excellence are at the center of decision making.
• Together with regional leadership oversee the operational management of the region.

Drive academic excellence and joy across KIPP Texas - Austin schools

• Serve as the regional expert on KIPP Texas vision for academic excellence, acknowledging and addressing systemic issues, such as racism, power dynamics, and privilege.
• Transform academic and student culture at ten PK-12 schools, aligning the most critical outcomes and measures of success for students and schools to ensure we are achieving our mission by operating high-quality schools.
• Ensure Little KIPPsters enroll, thrive, and persist in KIPP Texas - Austin Schools.
• Serve as the regional instructional leader, supporting and developing school leader managers and school leaders to implement high-quality teacher development, including, observing, coaching, and professional learning practices across schools.
• Support data-driven practices across the region.

Lead a high-performing team to deliver transformational educational outcomes for students

• Lead and develop a high performing team of regional leaders responsible for student outcomes across ten PK-12 schools in Austin.
• Directly manage two Heads of Schools and Regional Director of Academic Health to drive the instructional vision across the region. 
• Drive results across KIPP Texas - Austin, including progress tracking, monitoring, and reporting, holding team and self accountable to short and long term outcomes and ensuring instructional excellence, and a joyful student and staff culture.
• Foster a culture of inclusion, belongingness, and innovation across the KIPP Texas - Austin portfolio.
• Promote KIPP Texas - Austin talent strategy and recruit, develop, and retain high-performing teachers, assistant principals, school leaders, heads of schools, and regional support team members.
• Develop a leadership pipeline through strong coaching and development practices for Heads of Schools, School Leaders, and Assistant School Leaders.

Serve as the public face of KIPP Texas Public Schools in Austin

• Collaborate with the CEO and Chief Advancement Officer to develop a strong, engaged, and active advisory board.
• Build and promote the KIPP Texas-Austin brand within the Austin market as the face of KIPP Texas-Austin as evidenced by relationships with advisory board members, parents, funders, community members and stakeholders.
• Build coalitions, relationships, and partnerships with key external stakeholders in support of the organization’s mission and goals.
• Support fundraising efforts and community engagement initiatives, in partnership with the state-wide advancement, marketing/communications, and operations teams.

Competencies and Skills

Instructional Leadership

• Deep knowledge of evidence-based instructional practices and interventions with diverse learners, including demonstrated practice for improving student learning.
• Drive the academic vision and implement instructional programming involving coordination across schools.
• Maintain visibility in the schools and work collaboratively with heads of schools and school leaders.
• Accurately assess team and individuals’ skills, identify development needs, and provide feedback and support to improve practice, build capacity, and maximize talent.
• Effectively balance the tension between individual school leaders' needs and the need for coherence across the region and state. 

Decision-making and Problem Solving

• Exhibit outstanding critical thinking skills, including the ability to analyze data, identify trends, pinpoint problems and root causes, ask probing questions, and develop innovative solutions.
• Possess a deep understanding of systems-level operations, management, and organizational design in order to deliver desired outcomes for the region. 
• Analyze the conditions for change and articulate the vision for change to inspire and create ownership, buy-in and accountability within the region. 
• Lead effectively even in times of ambiguity and adapt and respond to unexpected challenges.
• Exhibit a strong focus on goals, accountability and results; set clear metrics for success.
• Monitor progress and demonstrate persistence to overcome obstacles to achieve goals.

Impact and Influence

• Advocate for and serve as key connector between the KIPP Texas Executive Team, School Support Partners (SSP), and the regional team.
• Facilitate and secure buy-in for a clear and compelling vision of organizational excellence for KIPP Texas - Austin.
• Navigate politically complex structures, relationships and dynamics to enable thoughtful decisions and positive outcomes for students.
• Build coalitions and work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders at all levels of the organization. 
• Identify, address and resolve conflict proactively in order to find mutually acceptable solutions as part of change management. 

Equity-based Leadership

• Gain the trust and respect of all staff, cultivating personal accountability among staff for excellent service, problem solving, and efficiency.
• Solicit, elevate, understand, and value--either through personal experience or empathy--the perspective of a wide variety of stakeholders. 
• Build authentic relationships across lines of difference (race, gender, age, socioeconomic background, LGBTQ status, etc.) through self-reflection, empathy, and a clear personal identity.
• Address matters of equity, race, and bias in decision-making with clarity, confidence, openness, empathy and historical context.

Extraordinary Communication

• Communicate clearly and consistently, tailoring written and verbal messages for the Austin context and audience. 
• Listen actively and compassionately with an open mind - seeking to fully understand what makes KIPP Texas Austin and the community unique before establishing the direction forward.
• Be courageous in addressing matters of equity,  race/ethnicity, and bias in decision making.
• Respond to feedback and concerns in a timely and empathetic manner.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree, relevant Master’s degree in Education preferred.
• Superintendent certification preferred.
• 10+ years of experience working in K-12 public education.
• 7+ years of people management experience, including 5 years of systems-level or executive leadership experience. 
• Experience leading K-12 public schools or supporting K-12 public schools in academic excellence.
• Demonstrated record of delivering excellence.

• Deep knowledge of instructional best practices, content, and pedagogy;
• Exceptional ability to translate instructional expertise into practice; strong coach and people manager;
• Compelling oral and written communication  to a wide variety of internal and external audiences;
• Exceptional strategic thinking and analytical skills, with the ability to prioritize competing demands and solve complex problems; 
• Exceptional leadership judgment with the ability to navigate ambiguity and complex situations;
• High self-awareness, humility and integrity; personally driven to learn and grow;
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Physical Requirements

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.
• Considerable time spent at a desk using a computer/laptop.
• The person in this position needs to be able to move about inside and outside the school throughout the workday.
• The candidate is expected to attend conferences, meetings and training sessions both virtually and in person within the Region. 

Work Environment

• Hybrid work - in office/at schools a minimum of 3 days a week.
• Typical office environment with frequent interruptions.

Travel Requirements

• Ability to travel to various locations, travel time approximately 20%.

What We Bring to the Table

• The starting point for the salary range for this position is $190,000 and is commensurate upon experience and internal-equity.
• Competitive vacation and flexible paid time off (PTO) policies.
• Paid family leave.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans with varying coverage for employees and their families, inclusive of virtual physician visits. High deductible health plan with HSA also offered.
• Employee assistance programs. 
• Participates in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS).
• 457 Roth retirement plan option with KIPP matching contribution up to $1,200 a year.  403b plans also supported.
• KIPP also offers the following employee-paid benefits: legal plans, LifeLock identity protection, life insurance and disability insurance.
• Flexible spending account or high-yield HSA.

 KIPP provides equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability.

KIPP Texas has partnered with Alma Advisory Group on the regional superintendent search. You may apply for this position through this external link.