Job Description

Chief Academic Officer

The Chief Academic Officer (CAO) reports to International Leadership Charter High School’ (International Leadership CHS) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and serves as a member of the Executive Leadership Team. In partnership with the CEO, the CAO is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the learning experience for all students from 6-12, including support for alumni through college and career. Using an anti-racist and equity lens, the CAO establishes an inspiring, comprehensive academic vision with rigorous student outcome goals in alignment with International Leadership CHS overall strategic plan, leads the design and implementation of its full instructional model and program, and drives outstanding student results by regularly progress monitoring student and school performance. The CAO will collaborate with the CEO and other leaders across International Leadership CHS to ensure our schools are places our students want to run to every day. Together, we will ensure scholars have the skills and confidence they need to be successful in college, career, and beyond.

You know you are a successful candidate if:

• You communicate and embody International Leadership Charter HS culture and core values;
• You lead with the highest ethics, build relationships based on trust, and inspire and motivate others to achieve rigorous goals;
• You establish and implement a strong academic vision and set clear direction;
• You partner with the School’s Operation Team to meet all operational, financial, and other non - academic goals, ensuring a sustainable organization at all levels;
• You oversee the organizational process to align on the most critical outcomes and measures of success for students, alumni, and schools to ensure we are achieving our mission by operating high - quality schools;

Key Responsibilities

• Oversight of the accountability and achievement of the academic program. Supervises, evaluates and gives direction to the Instructional Leaders i.e. Principals, Directors of Curriculum and Instruction, Director of Literacy and Academic Intervention.
• Sets the vision and leads the implementation of International Leadership CHS School 6 -12 instructional vision, strategy, and program to achieve breakthrough student results, promotes a strong culture of teaching and learning excellence, and fosters educational equity for all scholars.
• Lead the development and selection of high-quality curricular materials and aligned assessments across academic disciplines and grade levels that are designed to serve students at all levels and abilities in partnership with the Academic teams at the middle and high schools.
• Oversees program design, implementation, and achievement of all specialized learning groups, including students with IEPs, emergent bilingual and multilingual students.
• In partnership with the coaching team, oversee the support and development of teachers and school academic leaders to implement curriculum in a highly effective way, including professional development for teachers in pedagogy and their specific content areas.
• Use data effectively to drive instructional practice and, in collaboration with the CEO, improve and adjust academic strategy and program.
• Maintain a cutting-edge awareness of the promising practices and innovations in programs and policies for teaching, learning, and school design that are emerging locally and nationwide.
• Create proactive systems that garner feedback from stakeholders (CEO, regional leaders, school leaders, staff, community partners) to inform school support and school improvement strategy and practice.

College, Career, and Beyond

• Lead processes to set vision, establish, implement, and monitor results of strategic objectives around International Leadership’s mission to achieve unprecedented postsecondary results and achieve college and career readiness for every student.
• Regularly monitor student progress on goal setting and interim measures to ensure all International Leadership CHS scholars are on track for achievement of post-secondary goals.
• Collect and use alumni data to evaluate effectiveness of and inform change in 6 -12 academic strategy.
• Support development and execution of alumni strategy to ensure connections with graduates, to promote persistence in whatever path they choose, and to support path shifts or reformulation where necessary.
• Collect and use alumni data to evaluate effectiveness of and inform change in 6 -12 academic strategy.

Senior Leadership

• Serve as a member of senior level executive team in our organization, to achieve our charter schools accountability goals
• Consistently model our mission, beliefs, and values and collaborate with the CEO and other executives, to achieve exceptional student results.
• Serve as the liaison between Principals and Directors of Curriculum and Instruction and

the International Leadership CHS Executive Team

• Lead, develop, manage, and evaluate statewide academics team.
• Leverage effective change management practices and strategies that are people- and relationship-centric.
• Model excellence as a manager, developing others, and modeling a International Leadership CHS work ethic for teams

Educational Equity

• Is philosophically aligned with the mission of charter schools that embraces equity for black and brown children who are ethnically and linguistically diverse.
• Establish and promote a clear vision of educational equity for all students as a guiding principle across all International Leadership CHS teams.
• Ensure alignment of curriculum, instruction, and program offerings, including for all special population students and services.
• Lead from an equity-centered approach, centering the most marginalized students in the creation of strategy and execution of the instructional vision.
• Conduct statewide instructional equity audit to ensure curriculum, assessment, and instructional program are culturally responsive.

Skills and Qualifications

• Master’s in education and hold supervisory credentials.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in a school leader/principal role with a record of achieving outstanding academic results for students from traditionally under-resourced communities or populations in the tri-state area
• Minimum 3 years of experience managing and/or coaching school leaders/principals to drive student academic results.
• Ability to set a clear academic vision and aligned priorities, develop strategic plans, and empower others to achieve them.
• Deep knowledge and experience in the design, integration, implementation, and management of school systems including knowledge of curricula, instructional practices, school operations and management, and teacher and leader development.
• Structures work–can frame key questions, analysis/work to resolve those questions; can divide work into discrete pieces with clear activities/deliverables; thinks about the interdependencies of projects/efforts and proactively manages those touchpoints.

Education and Knowledge

• Minimum of a master’s in education from an accredited four-year institution, plus 5 years of proven teaching excellence
• 7-10 years of experience with supervision of faculty, curriculum development, assessment, instructional enabling systems, and tools, and building and executing an instructional strategy
• A leader with a track record of achieving excellence with equity; as a CAO at International Leadership Charter High School, you must have experience directly leading affirming and empowering schools with a record of achieving outstanding academic and social results for students from disadvantaged communities.
• An anti-racist, equity and culture champion; the CAO will be among many models for how International Leadership CHS exemplifies our core values and, specifically, what it looks like to lead for racial equity.
• International Leadership provides equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or disability.

Compensation and Benefits:

The compensation will be commensurate with level of experience and a record of demonstrated success. We are seeking an individual of outstanding quality with a track record of positive outcomes. The International Leadership Charter High School is prepared to

offer a compensation package commensurate with experience, to include a competitive base salary as well as health, dental, vision and 401 (K).

Additional Application Instructions:

• Resume must be accompanied by a cover letter.
• Current COVID Vaccination required.
• Salary Range: $130,000.00 to $160,000.00

Please send your cover letter and resume to elopez@lchs.org

To learn more about our charter school please visit our website at

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