Job Description
** Position Overview**
The Dean of Culture and Instruction (DCI) serves as an active member of the School Leadership Team and reports to the Principal. They are instrumental in ensuring and maintaining a safe and nurturing learning environment for students and staff. The DCI will oversee and lead the development and growth of a positive, structured, and achievement oriented school and student culture. In addition, they will support teachers to effectively develop a strong classroom culture and model for student behavior management. They will work with students and families to improve student behavior in order to ensure success in the classroom. Finally, they will develop and encourage a positive staff culture.
DCI roles and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
Student Discipline:
- Model positive interactions with students, as well as a variety of ways (principles of Love and Logic, Lemov techniques, etc) to handle misbehavior and disruptions
- Plan, implement, and provide ongoing professional development and feedback to all staff focused on building positive student relationships, student culture, and classroom community
- Support teachers in class to problem solve ways to address challenging student behavior
- Serve as a resource for teachers to determine best ways to develop student management techniques
- Collaborate with the school social workers to support at-risk and in-crisis students
- Provide students in crisis with a space and strategies to cope, and/or improve in-class behaviors
- Serve as the coordinator and leadership point person for student removals/in-school or out-of-school suspensions
- Communicate with families of students in-crisis on a regular basis, and collaborate/problem solve the best ways to address student behaviors and support student needs
- Lead/Assist in the creation and implementation of individual behavior plans for students who need extra support
- Lead pairing meetings with Co-teachers to discuss individual student needs, as well as classroom needs (as necessary).
Student Culture/Character/SEL Development:
- Provide teachers with professional development/resources to build a positive student and classroom culture
- Lead the implementation of KDCP values integration/character development/Social Emotional Learning into classroom community
- Plan and Manage Advisory/Community Meetings and Pride Time
- Create structures and expectations for increasing student independence in the classroom and throughout the school.
Professional Development for Staff ** :**
- Prioritize staff training needs and organize a plan for individual and staff-wide professional development focused on school and student culture, discipline, and character/SEL development; to oversee the implementation of the plan and to revise as necessary in response to student and teacher needs
- Conduct classroom observations and to follow-up with targeted feedback and support for teachers that help them to become even more effective teachers; to be available to work with teachers to problem-solve areas of classroom discipline, behavior, and culture/community difficulty
- Collaborate with Leadership Team to plan summer training and professional development full-days and half-days during the school year
- Develop a menu of internal and external professional development opportunities available to our teachers and consistent with our mission/vision
- Be a regular presence in classrooms, informally observing and following-up with teachers in order to improve teacher effectiveness
- Utilize a variety of techniques (video, literal notes, real-time coaching, etc) to provide feedback and coaching to staff
Instructional Coaching: Observations/Feedback for Individual Teachers
- Conduct weekly O3s with all direct reports
- o O3s should include time for relationship building, gathering feedback, assessing individual needs, and providing feedback (instructional and other, as needed)
- Conduct weekly, bi-weekly, or tri-quarterly observations (depending on teacher needs); to follow up these observations with both one-on-one and written feedback
- o Based on observations and assessment of teacher need, this may include modeling for the teacher, providing video resources, co-observing in another classroom, real-time coaching, etc.
- Provide lesson plan feedback as needed to staff members (specifically direct reports)
- Recognize and celebrate student achievement and staff professional growth and success
- Contribute to and participate in comprehensive mid-year and end-of-year staff performance evaluations for direct reports
- Contribute to the successful implementation of our teacher induction program and to develop or recommend workshops appropriate to staff needs
Family Engagement:
- Facilitate, encourage and increase family engagement, relationships, communication, and participation
- Create and lead a schedule of events throughout the year to involve families in school community
- Lead onboarding process for new families, potentially involving home visits with new parents
- Serve as Faculty Advisor to KIPP Family Association
- Organize and implement family engagement events/activities atKDCP including but not limited to: Coffee and Conversations, Potential Family Breakfasts, Family Workshops, School-wide family engagement events such as Family Feast, Family Saturdays and Family Conferences
- Facilitate family communication via weekly family newsletter