Our Founding Principal will:
Direct the school’s day-to-day activity. The buck stops with you when it comes to what happens within our school community. If you’re the person we’re looking for, you probably already have a sense of what that entails, but keep reading to hear what we’re thinking.
Foster a healthy school culture. There must be joy. There must be trust. There must be a common understanding of what transformational teaching and learning looks like and the student’s responsibility to enhance both. Not necessarily in that order. (But maybe in that order.) You’ll make sure of it.
Develop a ground-breaking curriculum and assessment strategy. We are promising our future students a rigorous, personalized education that allows them to do project-based work that is relevant to their lives and communities, allows them to pursue their unique passions, and nurtures their strengths. We are also promising that they will be prepared for successful college and/or professional careers. It’s a tall order, we know. You will ensure we keep our promise by learning from those already doing it well and blazing new trails here at Crosstown High.
Build a dynamic team and then lead it well. You will seek out teachers who are already prepared for this challenge, both locally and beyond Memphis. You’ll also look for the ones who aren’t there yet, but are passionate about our values and ready to put in the work it will take to be teachers at XTH. You are a master teacher and an inspirational instructional leader with a servant’s heart and contagious spirit who people want to learn from. But just as your teachers seek to develop the unique strengths and voice of each student, you will do the same for them.
Believe in the potential and promise of every kid. XTH will be a uniquely diverse learning environment in Memphis, and that means that students will come to us with different strengths and challenges. They will learn best in different ways and not at a lockstep pace. They will have wildly varying interests and passions. We need to you to pull out all the stops to provide students with the personalized instruction and support they need to thrive as individuals so that we can all become better together.
Never stop learning. We have learned a lot in the process of rethinking what high school should be like. But we know that our model is not future-proof. We are committed to continuous improvement and we need you to set the example for our students as a constant learner.
Ideally, our leader will have prior experience in school leadership as a division head, head of school, or principal at a charter, traditional public, or independent school. We prefer someone with experience in a highly personalized, project-based learning environment, and someone who has already demonstrated success in building a team, a school structure, and a culture that fully embraces student-centered learning. Experience leading a school with a diverse student body is a big plus. A successful candidate will likely hold a master’s degree or higher in Education, Education/Business Administration or a related field. Experience in starting an ambitious effort from the ground up, as well as hiring and leading a diverse staff, are preferred.
Please take some time to learn more about our vision for Crosstown High (http://crosstownhigh.org/category/12-days-of-xth/). If it’s as exciting to you as it is to us, we’d love to get to know you better by hearing your thoughts on the following questions.
Which elements of the traditional ways we do school are most ripe for change?
Which elements of traditional schooling should we maintain and build on?
What about the Crosstown High opportunity most speaks to you?
What do you foresee as some of the biggest challenges for Crosstown High and how can they be addressed?
What are the things you do particularly well and how will those strengths help us build XTH?
Where do you look for inspiration in developing your school and in your own personal growth?
Please submit no more than three pages or a short multimedia presentation that helps us understand your thinking on these topics. Submissions can be sent, along with your resume, to Ginger Spickler, Project Director, at ginger@crosstownhigh.org by December 15, 2016.