Director of Academics

KIPP METRO ATLANTA COLLABORATIVE INC • Atlanta, GA

6d • $95,000 - $160,000

About The Position

KIPP Atlanta Schools is part of the KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) national network of free, open enrollment, college-preparatory schools dedicated to ensuring that every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities. KIPP Atlanta currently operates 11 schools serving scholars across primary, middle, and high school grades, as well as KIPP Forward which supports scholars on their journey to a choice-filled life. We are a social justice organization and our vision and mission require the work of dedicated, bold, and skilled leaders, educators, and support staff who are committed to serving as the catalyst for joyful, academically excellent schools and the foundation for building a more just and equitable world for our scholars.

The Director of Academics (grade band specified) leads and executes a bold, coherent, research-based academic strategy across core content areas (Literacy/ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies/Humanities) within an assigned grade band. The Director is accountable for ensuring instructional coherence and measurable gains in achievement and growth by: Driving high-quality curriculum implementation aligned to the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) and local requirements relevant to Metro Atlanta authorizer/district contexts, Leading an integrated assessment and progress monitoring system that supports strong outcomes on Georgia’s CCRPI accountability indicators, and Building school leader and coach capacity to deliver consistent Tier 1 instruction and aligned intervention—especially in schools engaged in improvement work. This role serves as both strategist and executor—translating regional priorities into clear expectations, high-quality professional learning, and high-fidelity implementation support across campuses. Georgia + Metro Atlanta Context (Role Expectation): The Director must demonstrate a working command of Georgia’s instructional, assessment, and accountability landscape and be able to translate CCRPI performance and subgroup data into school-level adult actions (planning, task quality, coaching moves, reteach/enrichment plans, and schedule protection). The Director operates in a Metro Atlanta ecosystem that often requires proactive coordination across school operations, scholar support, and compliance timelines while sustaining a high-frequency, school-embedded execution model.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required in Education or related field.
• Minimum 7–10 years of successful instructional experience with demonstrated scholar achievement gains.
• Minimum 5-7 years of instructional leadership experience (e.g., Assistant Principal, Dean of Instruction, Academic Coach, Principal, or regional academic role).
• Minimum of 3 years impacting and influencing the work of instructional leadership across schools.
• Deep knowledge of curriculum alignment, standards-based instruction, and assessment strategy.
• Demonstrated success leading adult professional development and coaching leaders (principals/APs/coaches).
• Strong data analysis skills with the ability to translate insights into strategic action and measurable adult behavior change.
• Experience driving measurable academic improvement across multiple classrooms or campuses.
• Ability to manage complexity, competing priorities, and ambiguity in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Commitment to equity, excellence, and scholar-centered leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret CCRPI- and state assessment-aligned data, identify root causes, and translate implications into a prioritized academic action plan (Tier 1, intervention alignment, and leader routines).
• Experience operating in a charter-network context that requires high-frequency campus presence, rapid problem-solving, and tight implementation verification.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Education, Educational Leadership, or a related field.
• Experience in a charter school network or regional academic leadership role.
• Experience supporting school turnaround or improvement initiatives.
• Experience with high-quality instructional materials adoption and implementation.
• Strong experience and knowledge with Georgia accountability systems and state assessment frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Lead implementation of a rigorous, standards-aligned academic program within the assigned grade band.
• Ensure curriculum quality, coherence, and alignment to Georgia Standards of Excellence, including unit internalization expectations, task/text complexity, and standards mastery progressions.
• Maintain a vertically aligned K–12 scope and sequence in collaboration with cross-band academic leaders; protect “transition years” (5→6; 8→9) with clear readiness expectations and on-track indicators.
• Develop clear academic expectations and implementation guardrails for school leaders (e.g., core minutes protected, Tier 1 non-negotiables, lesson internalization, small-group model expectations).
• Partner with content leads and instructional leaders to ensure high-quality instructional materials are implemented with fidelity, including look-fors, observation calibration, and artifact-based checks for implementation.
• Monitor alignment between Tier 1 instruction and intervention systems in partnership with MTSS and Special Education (ensuring intervention is coherent with core and does not replace core access).
• Translate CCRPI implications into instructional focus: identify which priority standards, instructional routines, and grade-level outcomes must move to drive CCRPI performance, and ensure leaders can articulate the “why” and the “how” to staff.
• Design and deliver high-impact professional learning for principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, and teacher leaders, tied to priority content and the highest-leverage instructional actions.
• Enable and strengthen school-based coaching systems aligned to instructional priorities (coaching cycle quality, frequency, evidence quality, action step clarity, practice/role-play, and follow-up).
• Model high-leverage instructional practices and facilitate calibration across campuses to improve observation accuracy and feedback quality.
• Build leadership capacity in analyzing instructional quality and driving teacher development through strong planning expectations, data-informed reteach plans, and high-quality in-the-moment coaching.
• Support new leader onboarding and academic leadership pipelines by providing role clarity, exemplars, and coaching for first-year APs/coaches.
• Ensure school leaders can run tight academic routines (collaborative planning, coaching cycles, data protocols) that result in measurable instructional improvement—beyond compliance.
• Lead assessment strategy across the grade band, including interim assessments, progress monitoring, and state testing preparation aligned to Georgia’s assessment calendar and testing ethics expectations.
• Establish a grade-band assessment governance approach: clear expectations for common assessments/CFAs, quality review for items/tasks, analysis protocols, reteach/enrichment expectations, and monitoring of implementation.
• Analyze regional and school-level data to identify trends, gaps, and priority actions—including subgroup performance and the highest-impact “next moves.”
• Establish tight progress monitoring cycles to ensure accountability for academic outcomes—clarifying what success looks like weekly/biweekly and how leaders will respond when results are off track.
• Partner with school leaders to create, execute, and monitor academic improvement plans (including CSI/TSI-aligned priorities where applicable), grounded in adult actions and verified through evidence.
• Lead CCRPI-aligned improvement analysis: help leaders understand how outcomes connect to CCRPI indicators and what instructional/system levers must move (Tier 1 quality, acceleration, attendance-linked learning recovery strategies, and subgroup supports).
• Build and maintain a “single source of truth” for academic health: progress-monitoring dashboards, APM/data meeting outputs, and action-step tracking.
• Partner with MTSS, Special Education, Talent, and Operations to ensure cohesive academic systems and aligned priorities.
• Collaborate across grade bands to ensure seamless K–12 progression and coherence in expectations, materials, and scholar readiness.
• Support academic scheduling decisions to maximize instructional minutes, intervention effectiveness, and protection of grade-band non-negotiables (core minutes, intervention blocks, acceleration time).
• Communicate academic priorities clearly to internal stakeholders and, as needed, external stakeholders in the Metro Atlanta environment (authorizer/district-aligned timelines, reporting rhythms, and family-facing clarity).
• Partner with Operations and school leadership to ensure academic plans are embedded in the master schedule and resourced—rather than layered on—especially for intervention and acceleration models.

Benefits

• 20 days of Paid Time Off, in addition to identified holidays
• Comprehensive health insurance (medical and dental), life insurance, and optional short and long term disability
• Counseling and Telehealth Options
• Paid Parental Leave
• Participation in Georgia retirement plan and an optional 403(b) retirement plan

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director