Senior Director of High School Academics

About The Opportunity

The Academic Team is part of Democracy Prep’s Charter Management Organization and works directly with school leaders and the Academics Team to drive scholar growth and proficiency and ensure that all schools achieve their end-of-year academic goals. The role of the High School Senior Director is to support school leaders across the network and members of the CMO Team so that academic instruction and the overall academic experience is excellent in all high school classrooms across Democracy Prep. The Senior Director works to analyze data across the network to identify key levers that drive excellent academic outcomes and partners with school leaders, curriculum specialists and other key CMO leaders to enact those levers. They work to set the vision and improve outcomes for the high school program across the network.

Who You Are

• An educator with an unwavering commitment to the Democracy Prep mission of college success and authentic civic engagement for our scholars.
• An organized leader with strong time management and follow-up skills and a demonstrated ability to take initiative, inspire, motivate and coach others and handle multiple projects concurrently.
• A self-reflective and self-aware teammate who is dedicated to aligning their work with Democracy Prep's commitment to antiracism and who is eager to use these skills to contribute to a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• An excellent communicator, with demonstrated ability to speak and write clearly and persuasively to a variety of stakeholders.
• A strategic and data-driven problem-solver, who thinks critically and plans accordingly.
• An experienced high school educator and leader who understands deeply the nuances of instruction at the high school level. Experience with Illustrative Math and StudySync is strongly preferred.
• A strong coach who has a track-record of success growing and developing a team to advance academic achievement for high school students.
• A constant learner who wants to continually grow in their understanding of academic pedagogy, standards and instruction
• An innovative thinker who is solutions-oriented and creative. A person who will think outside of the box for innovative solutions to support academic excellence for all scholars.
• An academic expert who is fluent with all parts of academic pedagogy, including standards, assessments, lesson design and execution
• A graduate of a Bachelor’s degree program (required).
  
  

What You'll Do

• Set and steward the vision for high school academics across the network, ensuring alignment and adoption of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to Regents, AP, SAT/ACT, and graduation requirements.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Regional Directors of Operations, the College Access team, and the Deputy Superintendent of High Schools to align academic programming with operational systems, scheduling, and graduation pathways.
• Monitor and drive outcomes by tracking data on Regents, AP performance, SAT/ACT readiness, credit accumulation, and graduation rates. Use insights to inform strategy, hold schools accountable, and share bright spots across the network.
• Lead strategic initiatives to drastically improve high school performance, including robust course offerings, Regents success, AP expansion, SAT/ACT preparation, and aligned intervention and acceleration models.
• Coach and manage academic teammates (curriculum specialists, PLC content leads, etc.), ensuring they are equipped to support school leaders and deliver on ambitious network-wide goals.
• Oversee curriculum implementation across core and advanced high school courses, ensuring high quality instructional materials are rigorous, aligned, and used with fidelity to drive impact on student outcomes.
• Ensure graduation readiness by partnering with the College Access Team to complete system-wide credit audits, aligning course offerings with diploma requirements, and identifying interventions for at-risk students.
• Plan and facilitate professional development for high school leaders and teachers, building capacity to lead instructional coaching, data-driven decision making, and content expertise.
• Identify and remove barriers to high-quality instruction by partnering with school leaders and CMO stakeholders to troubleshoot challenges, propose systemic solutions, and ensure sustainability.
• Stay ahead of trends and policy changes in high school education (NYS Regents requirements, AP/College Board, SAT/ACT shifts), proactively adjusting DPPS strategy to ensure scholar success.
  
  

Compensation

Salary is $130,000 - $150,000 and commensurate with your experience. Democracy Prep employees are provided with a benefits package that includes medical, vision, and dental insurance, 403B matching, parental leave, a smartphone, and a laptop.

--

Democracy Prep is an Equal Opportunity Employer and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, or ancestry, sex, age, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, familial status, domestic violence victim status, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. Our mission is to educate responsible citizen-scholars who will change the world. We strongly believe that by building a DREAM team that represents numerous perspectives, backgrounds, and expertise, we can achieve this goal together. This is a value we highly support and strongly encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply.