Frank Tejeda Beyond Academy Academic Dean 2026-2027

 Job Description

TITLE: Academic Dean Frank Tejeda Beyond Academy - 2026-2027 School Year

Status: Exempt

REPORTS TO: Principal

QUALIFICATIONS:  

• Master’s degree from an accredited institution  
• Valid Texas Principal Certification 
• Minimum of 3 years of successful teaching experience  
• Demonstrated success improving student achievement and instructional outcomes 
• Experience supporting historically underserved student populations  
• Experience working with over-age, under-credited, disengaged, or returning adult  learners 
• Familiarity with adult education, dropout recovery, or reengagement systems 
• Knowledge of instructional coaching, PLCs, and data-driven instruction  
• Strong facilitation, communication, and relationship-building skills  
• Ability to lead change and support innovative school implementation 

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in alternative education, opportunity youth programs, or reengagement  settings  
• Experience with competency-based or personalized learning environments 
• Experience supporting dual enrollment or college and career readiness initiatives  
• Experience implementing restorative practices and culturally sustaining instruction  
• Experience implementing HQIM and curriculum internalization systems  
• Familiarity with TEA Effective Schools Framework (ESF)  
• Experience leading adult learning and coaching systems  
• Experience in school launch, redesign, transformation, or innovative partnership  environments 

SUMMARY: Frank M. Tejeda BEYOND Academy is an innovative opportunity school designed to reengage  and accelerate students ages 16–26 through flexible pathways leading to high school completion,  GED attainment, dual enrollment participation, industry-based certifications, workforce  readiness, and postsecondary success. 

The Academic Dean serves as a senior instructional and implementation leader  responsible for ensuring instructional coherence, teacher development, implementation fidelity,  and continuous improvement across the school’s academic and learner support model. This role  plays a critical part in translating the BEYOND vision into daily classroom practice during  launch and early implementation years. Because BEYOND serves both adolescent and adult  learners, this role must ensure instructional practices reflect principles of andragogy, learner  agency, flexible pacing, relevance, and relationship-centered engagement. 

The Academic Dean works closely with the Principal, the Texas A&M Institute  for School and Community Partnerships (ISCP) leadership team, instructional coaches,  counselors, and community partners to ensure students experience rigorous, culturally  responsive, and relationship-centered learning environments aligned to an Expanded Definition  of Student Success (EDSS), including academic achievement, belonging, agency, mindset  development, and postsecondary readiness. 

This position requires an entrepreneurial instructional leader who can build systems while  simultaneously supporting implementation, refinement, adult learning, and instructional 

improvement. The ideal candidate believes deeply in educational equity, restorative practices,  adult learner pedagogy, and transformational outcomes for historically underserved students. 

The Academic Dean will help ensure strong implementation readiness and  sustainability aligned to the district-approved school design and the leadership expectations of  the ISCP launch framework, including instructional leadership capacity, onboarding systems,  coaching cycles, implementation planning, and continuous improvement structures. 

Additionally, the Academic Dean will support operationalization of innovative  school model components, including flexible scheduling structures, competency-informed  practices, embedded workforce readiness experiences, dual enrollment integration, and  interdisciplinary student support systems. 

About Frank M. Tejeda BEYOND Academy 

BEYOND Academy is designed to: 

• Reengage over-age and under-credited youth and young adults  
• Support adult learners returning to education through flexible, affirming, and barrier responsive instructional system 
• Create flexible and personalized learning pathways  
• Utilize andragogical instructional practices appropriate for adolescent and adult learners
• Embed college and career experiences into the daily student experience 
• Integrate academic, workforce, advising, and postsecondary systems into a coherent  learner experience 
• Foster learner agency, belonging, and purpose  
• Support academic achievement alongside mindset and identity development 
• Implement culturally sustaining and restorative practices  
• Build coherent systems of academic, behavioral, and advising support  
• Utilize continuous improvement to refine instructional systems and student outcomes 

The school’s model is grounded in the belief that student success includes: 

• Academic achievement  
• Belonging and connectedness  
• Student mindset and agency  
• Postsecondary readiness  
• Workforce readiness  
• Leadership and self-advocacy  

SUPERVISES: Instructional staff, instructional coaches, academic intervention personnel, and assigned  academic support systems as designated by the campus Principal.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

Mental Demands:

Ability to communicate effectively (verbal and written); interpret policy, procedures and data; coordinate campus functions, and maintain emotional control under stress.

Physical Demands/ Environmental Factors:

Occasional district and statewide travel; frequent prolonged and irregular hours.

The working conditions described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Instructional Leadership 

• Lead implementation of the BEYOND instructional vision and academic model  
• Ensure rigorous implementation of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM),  including TEA-approved curriculum resources  
• Support competency-informed, flexible, and personalized instructional practices that allow students to progress through multiple pathways toward completion and postsecondary readiness 
• Ensure instructional practices are aligned to principles of adult learning theory and engagement of reengaged learners 
• Monitor instructional quality through frequent classroom observations, walkthroughs, and feedback cycles  
• Lead instructional calibration aligned to schoolwide expectations for teaching and learning  
• Facilitate PLCs, lesson internalization, and student work analysis protocols  
• Support implementation of intervention systems and differentiated instruction 
• Support instructional systems that accelerate credit attainment, persistence, and  successful student reengagement 
• Collaborate with instructional coaches to strengthen instructional practice and student  outcomes  
• Collaborate with pathway, workforce, and postsecondary partners to align instructional  experiences to real-world application and career readiness expectations 
• Ensure instructional systems support diverse learners, including emergent bilingual students and students requiring intervention support  
• Support alignment between instruction, assessment, and student outcome goals  
• Promote rigorous, culturally responsive, and student-centered learning experiences 

Adult Learning and Teacher Development 

• Lead the campus professional learning system aligned to teacher competency goals,  implementation priorities, and launch-year instructional needs 
• Support onboarding and development of new teachers and instructional staff 
• Oversee instructional coaching cycles and feedback structures  
• Ensure alignment between teacher competencies, observation systems, and professional  development  
• Build staff capacity to effectively serve opportunity youth and adult learners with  interrupted educational experiences 
• Support teachers in transitioning from traditional pedagogical approaches toward learner centered and andragogical instructional practices appropriate for BEYOND students
• Build teacher capacity in:  

o Adult learner pedagogy  

o Relationship-centered instruction  

o Restorative practices  

o Data-driven instruction  

o Student discourse and engagement  

o Differentiated and flexible instructional practices  

• Facilitate instructional reflection and continuous improvement among staff 
• Develop systems that foster collective efficacy, accountability, and professional growth 

Postsecondary and Pathway Readiness 

• Support implementation of multiple student pathways, including:  

o High school diploma completion  

o GED attainment  

o Dual enrollment participation  

o Workforce and industry certification pathways  

• Monitor student progress toward credit accrual, graduation, and postsecondary readiness  indicators  
• Collaborate with counselors, advisors, and pathway partners to ensure student success
• Support systems that help students build agency, self-advocacy, and future readiness 
• Ensure instructional systems align to college, career, workforce, and life-readiness  expectations 

Learner Experience 

• Foster learning environments grounded in belonging, trust, and high expectations 
• Support implementation of restorative and relationship-centered practices  
• Promote student voice, leadership, and learner agency  
• Ensure instructional practices support engagement and persistence  
• Collaborate with student support teams to strengthen attendance, intervention, and  reengagement systems  
• Help create coherent systems of academic and social-emotional support  
• Support equitable outcomes for historically underserved student groups 
• Support trauma-informed, culturally sustaining, and dignity-centered approaches to  student engagement and accountability 
• Ensure systems reduce barriers to student persistence, attendance, completion, and  postsecondary transition

Continuous Improvement and Implementation Leadership 

• Lead regular instructional data review cycles  
• Monitor implementation progress toward academic and EDSS outcomes  
• Analyze subgroup performance and equity indicators  
• Support teachers in using assessment data to improve instruction  
• Participate in implementation planning and launch readiness monitoring 
• Help phase implementation of innovative model components over time 
• Collaborate with ISCP leadership and campus administration to monitor implementation  benchmarks associated with the approved school design 
• Support rapid-cycle improvement and refinement of systems  
• Assist in development of systems documentation, implementation playbooks, and launch  sustainability structures 
• Contribute to strategic planning and school improvement efforts  
• Build sustainable instructional systems that support long-term growth and scalability
• Support implementation of Results-Based Accountability (RBA) and continuous  improvement processes aligned to partnership goals and student outcome 

SCHOOL/COMMUNITY RELATIONS

• Articulates the school’s mission to the community and solicits support in making that mission a reality.
• Promotes two-way communication between the school and community.
• Projects a positive image to the community.

Represents the principal at various meetings and functions. 

OTHER

• Performs such other duties/tasks and assumes such responsibilities as may be assigned by the Principal.

EVALUATION:  Performance of this position will be evaluated in accordance with provisions of the Harlandale Independence School District Board of Education Policy on Evaluation of Personnel.

This document describes the general purpose and responsibilities assigned to this job and is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties that may be assigned or skills that may be required. 

Salary : $75,266 - $105,010