2024-2025 School Year

Primary Purposes:

Direct and manage overall campus operations. Responsible for leadership of the campus instructional program ensuring high standards of instruction and student achievement, compliance with district policies, application of instructional programs, and effective operation of all campus activities.

Qualifications:

Education/Certification:

Master’s degree in education

Texas principal or other appropriate Texas certificate

T-TESS Certified

Special Knowledge/Skills:

Working knowledge of curriculum and instruction

Ability to evaluate instructional program and teaching effectiveness

Ability to manage budget and personnel

Ability to implement policy and procedures

Ability to interpret data

Excellent organizational, communication, public relations, and interpersonal skills

Experience:

Five years experience as a classroom teacher

Campus principal experience required

Major Responsibilities and Duties:

The principal must believe in, value, and be committed to:

• Student learning as the fundamental purpose of schooling
• The proposition that all students can achieve high standards of learning
• Collaborative problem solving with staff and stakeholders
• Ongoing collection and analysis of data
• Data-driven decision making
• Life long learning for self and others
• Focus and alignment to achieve goals
• Doing the work required for high levels of personal and organization performance

The principal must have knowledge and understanding of:

• The relationship of assessment to improving student outcomes and strengthening instruction
• Information sources, data collection, and data analysis strategies
• The school improvement planning process
• Texas state content standards, core learning goals, and learner outcomes
• School district curriculum guidelines
• Evaluation and assessment strategies
• Strategies for classroom teachers to monitor student understanding and progress
• Research-based best practices
• Collaborative problem solving and consensus-building
• Systems thinking
• The change process for systems, organizations, and individuals
• Effective communication strategies
• Technology as a tool in organizing and analyzing data and in monitoring progress

Promoting collaborative problem solving and open communication.

            The principal…

• Collaborates with stakeholders in the school improvement process
• Shares student achievement data with all stakeholders
• Provides time for collaborative problem solving
• Demonstrates effective group-process and consensus-building skills in school improvement efforts
• Communicates the school vision, school goals and ongoing progress toward attainment of goals to staff, parents, students, and community members
• Recognizes and celebrates the contributions of school community members to school improvement efforts
• Nurtures and develops the leadership capabilities of others
• Evaluates the collaborative skills of staff and supports needs with staff development

Collecting, analyzing and using data to identify school needs

The principal…

• Ensures that multiple sources of data are collected and used to assess student performance
• Engages the entire staff in analyzing student achievement data
• Identifies discrepancies between current and desired outcomes
• Engages staff and other stakeholders in a collaborative process to clarify the problem(s)
• Facilitates the identification of priority needs, based on the data analysis, to address in a school-wide effort
• Models the use of data to make decisions
• Regularly asks staff to identify the data they used in making a decision
• Evaluates the assessment competencies of teachers and supports gaps with staff development
• Uses a variety of tools including technology to organize and analyze data

Using data to identify and plan for needed changes in the instructional program

The principal…

• Ensures that the school improvement plan is based on data analysis and problem clarification
• Facilitates the development of an improvement plan in which goals, evidence of attainment, objectives and strategies are clearly aligned and articulated
• Identifies with staff the knowledge and skills that teachers need to implement the school improvement instructional strategies
• Ensures that the school improvement plan has identified activities to support strategies, milestones to assess progress toward goals, staff development to support staff needs and staff responsible for each implementation step
• Ensures that assessment, curriculum, and instruction are aligned
• Provides opportunities for staff to learn about research-based strategies that address the identified problem(s)
• Provides opportunities for staff to seek successful strategies data from similar schools that have outperformed them

Implementing and monitoring the school improvement plan

The principal…

• Facilitates the development of a calendar of all school improvement activities and ensures that the calendar is shared and reviewed regularly
• Establishes a regular, predictable process to track the impact improvement efforts have on student achievement
• Closely monitors the systematic collection and analysis of data by staff to assess whether progress toward attainment of objectives is satisfactory for all groups of students
• Continuously collects and utilizes data to inform instructional decisions at the building and classroom level and provide academic interventions for individual and groups of students
• Uses a variety of tools including technology to monitor progress
• Facilitates the use of data to continuously evaluate and revise the school improvement plan
• Aligns all resources (monetary, staff, time, and staff development opportunities) to maximize attainment of school improvement priorities
• Uses regularly scheduled time with staff (e.g. staff meeting, team time, in-service time) to monitor, communicate, and provide staff development for school improvement efforts
• Supports staff in making the instructional changes necessary to support school improvement efforts

Using systems thinking to establish a clear focus on attaining student achievement goals

The principal…

• Aligns all school resources with school improvement priorities
• Aligns school improvement goals, classroom instruction, and classroom / school assessment
• Identifies key processes that impact results
• Identifies performance measures and indicators that link key instructional processes to instructional goals
• Communicates with decision makers outside the school
• Ensures that school goals are aligned to school district goals
• Helps inform district planning by articulating school needs
   

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Supervise, evaluate, and recommend the hiring and firing of staff assigned to campus including assistant principal(s), teachers, counselor(s), librarian(s), instructional aides, clerical support staff, and custodians.

Mental Demands/Physical Demands/Environmental Factors:

Tools/Equipment Used: Standard office equipment including personal computer and peripherals.

Posture: Frequent sitting and standing; occasional bending/stooping, pushing,/pulling, and twisting

Motion: Repetitive hand motions; frequent keyboarding and use of mouse; occasional reaching

Lifting: Occasional light lifting and carrying (less than 15 pounds); occasional physical restraint of students to control behavior

Environment: May work prolonged or irregular hours; work inside and outside (exposure to sun, heat, cold, and inclement weather), exposure to noise; occasional districtwide and statewide travel

Mental Demands: Work with frequent interruptions; maintain emotional control under stress

Days: 226 days

Salary Range: $76,200 - $101,400