Job Description: Principal

Reporting to: Head of Schools

ABOUT US:

Bright Star Schools is a free, publicly funded and open enrollment non-profit organization with nine public charters in urban Los Angeles. Across all of our Bright Star sites, over 90% of our students are eligible for free and reduced lunch.

Our mission is to provide holistic, inclusive support for all students to achieve academic excellence and grow their unique talents so that they find joy in higher education, career, and life. Bright Star students will become leaders who act with integrity and champion equity to enrich our communities and the world. The framework to our success is our core operating principles, which are Integridad, Ubuntu, Kohyang (고향), and Growth.

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Bright Star Schools is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, pregnancy, or veteran status.

Principal Summary:

A Bright Star Schools’ Principal is an inspiring instructional leader and cultural leader who sets, monitors, and achieves a shared vision for high academic outcomes and emotional well-being for all students by creating systems that are equitable, restorative, and transformative for students, families and the community and by effectively managing teams through coaching and development. The Principal is the instructional leader and visionary for the campus, working with members of the school leadership team, the School Support team, teachers, families, partners, and other Bright Star schools to execute the highest quality educational programs to help students achieve and serve our students and families. Although the Principal will delegate appropriate duties so that operational decisions can be made at various administrative levels, s/he is responsible for the execution of these duties and will establish administrative regulations as needed to manage the campus. He/she is responsible for supporting students in achieving the mission and vision of Bright Star schools, including, but not limited to ensuring a safe and positive learning environment, an effective instructional program, after and before school programs respectively, and strong family and community partnerships that support students to thrive. The Principal is responsible for ensuring positive student achievement and growth, supported by a foundation of a strong adult and student culture. The principal is the instructional leader on campus, who sets the vision for the school, spearheads the school’s leadership team, and coaches to ensure an effective instructional program.

Responsibilities and Duties

Basic Components of the Job Description for the Principal position include (but are not limited to):

Team Leadership and Management

• Manage 15 - 50 school site personnel including the Assistant Principal(s), Deans, and all teachers and counselors.
• Train, coach, and supervise all leadership team members, teachers, counselors and support staff.
• Recruits and hires mission aligned, qualified instructional and operational staff.
• Maintains a focus on mission-aligned, student-focused decision making that leads to student achievement and development of the whole child.

Instructional Leadership

• Guides instructional staff to improve teaching and learning by providing teacher support, evaluating teachers, and designing professional development. Ensures that all students are learning and that there are no gaps in student achievement among subgroups.
• Provides instructional leadership, coaching, and support to teachers.
• Work directly with teachers to oversee the effective facilitation and management of:

• Instruction & Formative Assessment including standards maps, benchmark goals, weekly instructional planning, selection and use of texts and support materials (beyond those defined by the School Support Team), common assessment plans, and differentiated instruction including specialized programs for students who are English Language Learners and who have an IEP.
• Summative Grades & Assessments (including iReady, Smarter Balanced, ITBS, ELPAC, Midterms & Finals, Unit Assessments, A-G compliance, Suspensions, Chronic Absenteeism, and High School graduation rates).
• Gradebooks, Report Cards & Transcripts by ensuring that teachers are giving enough appropriate assignments to complete all sections of their grade books. Verify that all grades are inputted and summarized appropriately for our monthly progress reports and quarterly report cards. Oversee production of transcripts as appropriate.
• Accountability and feedback systems to ensure staff follow the rules and procedures as outlined in the handbooks.
• Professional Development by working with each teacher on his or her individual professional development plan. Serve as each teacher’s advisor for university internship or mentor for credential renewal, if needed.
• Evaluates teachers to provide sound feedback on their practice through a vetted rubric in a timely and consistent way.

• Consistently monitors student data and ensures students are on track to meet year end academic metrics.
• Supervise, coach, develop, and evaluate teachers via regular observations, feedback, and coaching as part of Bright Star Schools teacher development and support system.

Positive and Productive School Culture

• Communicates the school’s vision and goals in a way that ensures understanding and commitment from a racially, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse community of parents, students, faculty, staff, and board members
• Develop a work environment to retain and develop qualified, talented staff.
• Foster an environment of deep collaboration with families and caregivers, building strong relationships and encouraging their direct engagement in their students’ school experiences.
• Partner with the Bright Star School Support Team to secure and allocate the resources and support necessary to maintain the school’s organizational health.
• Leads positive and productive school culture.
• Leads staff culture, including ensuring monitoring and responding to staff feedback as needed to support a safe, positive work environment and staff retention.
• Ensures that all members of the school community are engaged and valued.

Ensure Continued Success & Partnerships

• Leads External Communications including relationships with our parent community, LAUSD, neighbors & community, LACOE, CDE, USDOE. Gather information and publish weekly teacher bulletin, biweekly parent newsletter, or monthly Board Dashboards and other requested reports.
• Lead proactive student and staff recruiting. Conduct information and orientation sessions.
• Ensure successful execution and monitoring of daily attendance reporting and ADA reports, including reports on attrition, expulsion, and re-enrollment.
• Work with families as partners
• Oversee school site budget. Directly oversee purchasing for all texts and classroom instructional materials.
• Conduct all forms of family engagement, including Parent-Principal meetings as needed.
• Oversee creation, change, distribution, and collection of quarterly student, teacher, and parent surveys. Summarize data and use it to inform school improvements.

Qualifications

Minimum:

• At least two years of Assistant Principal experience.
• Valid Multiple or Single Subject California Teaching Credential.
• Valid California Administrative Credential or Willingness to enter into a program within one year of being hired.
• 5 years of successful teaching experience in K through 12th grades.
• Evidence of strong organizational, student management and interpersonal skills.
• Extremely high standards for student academic work and student behavior – expectation that all of our students will be able to rise to the same academic challenges and compete at the top levels with all students from across the city, regardless of family background.
• Desire to be a team player and delegate as appropriate.

Desired (but not required) in order of importance:

• Fluency in a second language. Willingness to learn Spanish and/or Korean if that isn’t the language of fluency.
• Post-graduate degree.