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Principal

Position Description:

The ACT Charter School is a small independent public school dedicated to providing under-served Chicago public school students with a college-preparatory curriculum. ACT was founded in 1997 by two Chicago Public School teachers. ACT is designed to prepare urban students for the future by offering a challenging academic program with a focus on communications and technology. Our innovative field experience, internship and community service learning components give students multiple opportunities to apply the skills and knowledge they are learning in school.

The Principal provides vision and instructional leadership to the organization. Because the school was founded as a teacher-led school, the Principal works collaboratively with the faculty in creating and maintaining a quality educational program. The Principal must establish a professional culture centered on student learning with an end goal of high student achievement. S/he also has a significant role as the school’s public representative in educational settings.

Qualifications:

Master degree in education related field
At least four years of full-time teaching experience
Experience in a management, leadership role in a school setting
Illinois Type-75 certificate or enrollment in a certification program strongly preferred
Visonary – make the path to achieveing the mission tangible
Strong public speaker and writer
Knowledgeable computer user
Systems thinker – enjoys building systems and structures
Team-oriented thinker – frequently seeks and considers input
Highly organized
Strong interpersonal skills/proactive communicator
Embraces entrepreneurial nature of charter schools
Believes in the underlying principles of ACT – small schools, arts and technology integration, project-based learning, connect learning to real world
High expectations for student learning and instruction

Responsibilities:

Development, coordination and monitoring of curriculum and its implementation
Facilitate Instructional Leadership Team
Plan and execute professional development differentiated for range of experience levels of teachers and other staff in collaboration with leadership team including examination of student work, strengthening classroom routines/management, use of interim assessments, integration of arts
Establish and maintain strong relationships with parents, students and community
Collect and compile data on student performance and complete annual reports for ISBE and CPS
Recruit, hire, evaluate and fire teachers and staff, using Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching as a guide for evaluation
Maintain active liaison with Chicago Public Schools
Maintain compliance with CPS charter agreement in conjunction with DSO
Supervise Director of School Operations, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, teachers, Academic Advisors, Director of Career Development, After-school Director and Office Manager
Execute school safety plan and crisis management planning
Oversee and execute master schedule and student scheduling processes
Oversee and execute budget creation and purchasing approval processes

Salary Range: $90,000 to $105,000 based on education and experience

ACT Charter School seeks a principal with the vision, determination and experience to build upon the existing strengths of the organization and take student learning to the next level.

ACT’s mission is to provide a college preparatory education to historically underserved urban youth empowering them to take their place in society as competent, confident, creative and compassionate citizens of the world. The school was founded with a few core ideals:

Engage students who have been traditionally marginalized from the school experience in their own learning through creative expression, multiple intelligences, and real life experience and contexts.
Create processes by which students show what they have learned in significant ways
Structure the teaching profession so that it is sustainable and highly professional.

In preparation for hiring a new principal, the school has held focus groups with parents, teachers and students. All three groups agree that the new principal needs to:

Enthusiastic, passionate about ACT, believes in our mission and vision
Proactively builds positive relationships with all members of ACT community
Communicates effectively and proactively with families, students and staff – especially about school progress, ACT philosophy and programs
Embraces and extends technology focus
Has high expectations for self, staff and students and pushes us all to reach them
Highly organized
Seeks input and listens carefully to it
Knows what they bring to the table and offers it confidently

The school’s charter was renewed in 2007 and the current term runs until June 2012. In the upcoming school year they face several challenges including:

Moving the school back to its permanent location at 4319 W. Washington
Developing a written version of the school’s curriculum which must be submitted to the District
Planning for transition to an outcomes based assessment system in 08-09
Supporting a significant number of new teachers (30%)
Reenergizing and consolidated a significant group of talented veterans
Documenting existing systems and structures and creation of some new ones

Over the first eleven years of operation ACT has embraced certain supporting structures which they see as defining pieces of our program including:

The Coalition of Essential Schools ten common principles
The Framework for Teaching by Charlotte Danielson
Understanding by Design from ASCD

ACT is located in West Garfield Park and serves students primarily from Chicago’s West Side. ACT is governed by a 15 member Board of Directors, which includes representation from the faculty, parents, and students. ACT is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity.

Please call Sarah Howard 773-742-6685 or Karen Croteau 773-610-8417 for more information. You may email your resume and cover letter to showard@actcharter.echalk.com