Principal (RISE)
Washington, DC
2024-2025 School Leader – Principal /
Full-time /
On-site
At Rocketship Public Schools, we believe in the infinite possibility of human potential. We believe that every student deserves the right to dream, to discover, and to develop their unique potential and it is our responsibility and our privilege to unleash the potential inside every Rocketeer we serve. Our non-profit network of public elementary charter schools propels student achievement, develops exceptional educators, and partners with parents who enable high-quality public schools to thrive in their community. We are a collective of parents, teachers, leaders, and students working together to transform the future for underserved communities across our country. At Rocketship Public Schools, we are unleashing potential.
Principals are the backbone of our school communities. They are charged with driving academic achievement and building a rigorous college preparatory culture. The Principal also serves as a cultural and community leader by building staff capacity in culture, behavior, and parent engagement.
We staff Rocketship campuses with a Principal, Assistant Principals, a Business Operations Manager, and an Office Manager. Together, they lead a team of teachers, tutors, enrichment coordinators, and support staff who collectively deliver gap-closing, personalized instruction to students from pre-K to fifth grade.
Principals provide instructional leadership by regularly observing classrooms, providing continuous feedback, co-planning units of study and lesson plans, and leading data analysis cycles. They share responsibility for professional development, culture and behavior in common spaces, and special events. Rocketship principals are partners with parents and families and community leaders.
As a Principal, you will receive ongoing professional development in conducting rigorous observations, providing meaningful feedback, and strategically planning based on analysis of results. Additionally, since Rocketship is a growing network, our school leaders can access a number of career paths within our Network Support Team.
Our Ideal Candidate
- Understands that eliminating the achievement gap is hard, but deeply rewarding work
- Believes that adult preparation is essential to student success
- Has a track record as an instructional school leader of leading a group of adults to achieve excellent student outcomes
- Possesses elementary content expertise and is eager to use that knowledge to develop assistant principals and teachers’ instructional and leadership skills
- Has experienced success managing and coaching adults
- Values parents as partners in ensuring student achievement
Essential Functions: Developing Effective Educators
- Our Principals’ primary focus is around making sure all students receive an excellent education and that our teachers are prepared to deliver on this goal.
- Foster a rigorous and college preparatory culture of excellence in every classroom that ensures high levels of student achievement
- Work with teachers to build content expertise in humanities or STEM that is captured in units of study and daily plans
- Engage in cycles of data driven instruction and assessments to inform planning and personalize instruction to student needs
- Ensure significant progress for all Rocketeers annually through management, planning and coaching of grade level teams
- Support effective collaboration of Special Education Team, Enrichment Center Coordinators, and Operations staff so that all school staff are aligned towards common goals
Essential Functions: Parent Partnership
- Our families are very involved with their students’ education and, as a result, both parents and teachers own each child’s successes and challenges
- Build trusting relationships with all students and families embracing the knowledge parents have as their child’s first teacher
- Create a school community that frequently and proactively communicates with families and fully involves parents in student achievement through multiple outlets including home visits, regular community meetings, and parent/family meetings
Essential Functions: Rocketship Professional Culture
- Rocketship Principals are deeply committed to doing and being their best, and to growing their skills as professionals and as individuals, so our daily and annual expectations reflect that commitment.
- Exhibit a high level of honest and humble self-reflection owning good and bad outcomes. Effectively respond to and implement constructive feedback
- Create a healthy, high-achieving environment where staff and students feel challenged, and also fully supported and valued
- Promote and participate in collaborative opportunities across schools to share practice, problem solve, and gather feedback, including actively participating in the Rocketship principal cohort within their region
- Lead human capital activities for their school, including hiring, promotion, staffing, and termination decisions
Required Qualifications
- 3+ years of experience teaching in an urban school classroom delivering significant achievement gains
- 2+ years of experience as an Assistant Principal (or equivalent) or a similar administrative position at an urban elementary school serving a diverse student population with a track record of realizing significant achievement gains
- Prior experience as a school Principal preferred
- Experience managing, coaching and developing teachers
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire and motivate staff and families
- Personal drive for high expectations
- Results-oriented, using data to make decisions
- Adaptable and able to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment
- Experience with instruction of multilingual learners
- Experience in building and maintaining outstanding school culture
- Excellent time management and organizational skills
- Commitment to parent partnership
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Our Rocketship DC schools now have a COVID vaccination mandate. All new employees must have received their first shot prior to their 1st day of work. New employees are expected to receive their full vaccination series within one month of their start date. Failure to comply with this COVID mandate could result in termination of employment.
Education Requirements
- BA from an accredited university
Physical Demands:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk, hear, and communicate with both adults and children. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is frequently required to stand; walk; sit; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds and occasionally climb ladders. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is moderate to high.
Compensation:
Commensurate with qualifications and experience, plus excellent health and wellness benefits, 403b retirement plan, flexible spending account (FSA), and generous paid time off.
Rocketship Public Schools provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Rocketship Public Schools complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
Rocketship Public Schools expressly prohibits any form of unlawful employee harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of Rocketship Public Schools’ employees to perform their expected job duties is absolutely not tolerated. Click here for our Sexual Harassment Policy. For questions, concerns, or complaints, please contact Human Resources.
