Deputy Chief of High Schools

Chicago Public Schools•Chicago, IL

8h•Onsite

About The Position

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is the third-largest school district in the United States, serving over 340,000 students in more than 600 schools and employing nearly 40,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. To fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. The district’s six core principles are within these commitments – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning. The Deputy Chief of High Schools reports to the Chief Schools Officer in the Office of Network Support (ONS). The Deputy Chief shares responsibilities for principal quality and high school performance, primarily through the direct management of High School (HS) Network Chiefs, the Deputy Chief of Small High Schools, the high schools within the Independent Schools Network, and JROTC. Additionally, the Deputy Chief of High Schools is responsible for the direct management and implementation of the district’s high school strategy through the High School Vision Collaborative, a cross-departmental team assembled to collectively execute the strategy to achieve the district’s five-year vision goals. Network Chiefs directly supervise Principals, who are responsible for ensuring high-quality teaching and learning in every classroom and for student achievement in their schools. The Deputy Chief of Small High Schools provides support to Network Chiefs and supervises principals leading small schools across the four High School Networks. The district currently has 45 High School JROTC programs which include 7 military academies. The Vision Collaborative consists of senior leaders or their designees from both the academic and operations departments along with Principals and High School Chiefs. This is a full-time, exempt position that will be paid for time worked on a salary basis.

Requirements

Minimum of five (5) years leadership experience within a complex educational organization required
Minimum of four (4) complete school years of experience as a high school principal or three (3) complete school years as a high school principal and one (1) year of experience in a district administration role; urban education experience preferred
Demonstrated experience directly supervising and developing the capacity of high school principals
Establishes and executes against an ambitious vision and coaches others to do the same, both within and across teams
Strategizes at a high level and executes that strategy on the ground
Analyzes data, defines opportunities and outlines valid conclusions and action steps
Sets actionable, measurable instructional and experiential goals and manages direct reports to meet and exceed high expectations
Demonstrates the capacity for adaptive leadership, including the ability to manage effectively and collaboratively through change
Communicates regularly and clearly; leverages strong interpersonal and organizational skills
Understands operations, management, and organizational design; uses this knowledge to assist HS Network Chiefs in continuously improving student outcomes
Builds collaborative relationships with a wide variety of stakeholder groups, including external partners, to ensure the entire system operates to meet school and principal needs
Thrives in a changing environment and demonstrates a lifelong commitment to learning, humility, and flexibility
Possess a track record of success as demonstrated by superior academic and professional achievement

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Education preferred
Valid General Administrative certificate issued by the Illinois State Board of Education (or out-of-state equivalent) preferred
urban education experience preferred

Responsibilities

Visionary leadership: Partner with the Chief Schools Officer to develop and effectively execute a strategic plan that clearly aligns with the District’s five-year vision, supports a seamless PreK-12 learning community, and allows for transparent accountability against CPS’ HS student outcome goals
Actively support and develop the High School Network Chiefs and an internal team of 30+ staff
Foster a culture of high expectations with shared strategic goals around measurable and continuous improvement in principal quality as well as around student academic achievement in all schools
Effective system & talent management: Manage and sustain systems that enable Network Chiefs to identify, recruit, support, and develop a strong pool of highly-skilled Principal candidates for schools as well as a strong pool of Network support team members; this work includes: Monitoring performance: Data and performance management systems that enable weekly, real-time coaching conversations with Network Chiefs, centered on continuous improvement of Principal and school quality and on the impact of Network support
Developing leaders: Transparent, fair, and effective tools for assessing Principal and Network team leadership capacity, developing leadership and succession plans, and providing differentiated supports that result in improved performance
Contributing to setting a learning agenda: A learning scope and sequence for Network Chiefs that is built on regular assessment of chief and team capacity and that results in measurable improvement of the coaching and management provided to Principals in schools
Supporting effective allocation of resources: Implements systems that allow Network Chiefs to make data-informed decisions about Principal needs and to allocate resources accordingly, including the allocation of instructional supports and content experts to specific groups of Principals, based on need
Informing stakeholders: Implements a communication system for ensuring Network Chiefs, their teams, and the Principals receive actionable information in a timely and efficient way, and that peer leaders in CPS, external stakeholders, and leadership team members are well-informed of Office initiatives, successes and struggles
Manage team administration and operations as assigned by the Chief Schools Officer, including making sure that all team members are held accountable for meeting and exceeding expectations and that the office remains a good steward of public resources
Cross-team collaboration: Develop and maintain strong relationships with other senior leadership team members, including all Academic Chiefs, as well as leaders on the Equity, Talent, and Operations teams
Work toward convergence with the full team to ensure that the needs of Network teams and Principals are met by other Central Office functions
Work with the Talent team to develop internal talent benches and external talent recruitment strategies for Chief and Deputy Network Chief roles
Liaise with Support Centers; monitor schools’ operational performance and compliance, resolve open issues, etc., and ensure principal time is focused on instructional leadership.
Other responsibilities: Aid in the development of systems to effectively provide ad-hoc operational support to Principals, Networks, Chiefs, and Deputies (e.g. escalated inquiries, emergencies, etc.)
Demonstrate a moral imperative to work in the best interest of children
Demonstrate applied instructional expertise, sound judgment, integrity, honesty and credibility
Demonstrate courage in making difficult, yet necessary, decisions
Additional ad hoc projects and oversight as assigned