Eagle Rock School Seeks New Director of Curriculum — and a Teacher

Eagle Rock School & Professional Development Center is currently looking to hire an experienced leader to become our next Director of Curriculum, as well an English Language & Literacy instructional specialist to join our teaching staff.

The application deadline for the Director of Curriculum position is Feb. 26, 2018, while the deadline for the instructional specialist is March 2, 2018. Further details about the application and interview process for both openings can be found below.

Director of Curriculum

Our next Director of Curriculum will continue to support the development of Eagle Rock School’s academic curriculum, working with our Director of Students to insure continuity across the entire student experience. The successful candidate will also be asked to collaborate with our Director of Professional Development to continue Eagle Rock’s support of schools across the country that have an active and meaningful interest in engaging students in their own education.

From a 30,000-ft. perspective, the director of curriculum works with our leadership team and oversees the learning experience of our students. A little closer to our teaching spaces, the director works with our school’s instructional team to develop innovative and engaging learning opportunities, ensuring our curriculum aligns with Eagle Rock’s 5 Expectations.

Since we’re deeply committed to graduating confident and energized young people who are ready to make a difference in the world, this is an opportunity to work with a staff, instructors and students who are passionate about creating such change.

As the leader of Eagle Rock’s academic team— which includes nine instructors with individual specialization in math, science, world language, English, physical education, music and performing arts, visual arts, and societies and cultures — The director of curriculum supports two rotating positions within the team — a professional development Critical Friends Group coordinator, and an instructional coach.

Major areas of responsibility include oversight and direction of our academic program, study halls, workshops, tutoring, and academic support; instructional staff professional development and supervision; instructional coaching; and the collection and utilization of data to inform decision-making.

Director of Curriculum — requirements and experiences

Candidates for the opening should have a bachelor’s degree in education, curriculum and instruction or a related degree, with a master’s degree in education leadership preferred. You should also have five to 10 years of experience in an administrative or leadership capacity within the education spectrum.

Other experiences sought from candidates include work in a progressive residential or boarding school; extensive experience working with underserved, diverse adolescent populations; strong managerial, supervisory, and leadership skills; and experience planning and leading organization-wide initiatives.

There should also be experience with diversity, equity, and inclusion work; experience with restorative practices; experience with instructional coaching; experience with innovative, progressive, rigorous, experiential, learner-centered models of education (e.g., CES/EL/Big Picture); and experience with data informed decision-making.

Finally, those applying should have demonstrated results with design and implementation of competency-based high school graduation frameworks.

Most important for candidate consideration are the areas of responsibility that face our director of curriculum — sometimes on a daily basis — such as:

• Collaborate with other directors on organization-wide issues.
• Serve as part of the management team that focuses on the creation and execution of plans related to Eagle Rock’s goals and initiatives (as outlined in our institutional plan Vision 2020).
• Periodically run community meetings, staff meetings, and other school-wide

In regard to curriculum, some of the responsibilities include:

• Overall oversight of the Individualized Learning Plan (graduation requirements) and academic program, including all “traditional” academic disciplines, and in collaboration with our Student Services Department, supporting co-curricular experiences.
• Lead the instructional staff team in channeling their ideas into practical action that falls within the curricular framework.
• Oversee professional development for instructional staff, as well as the Professional Development Critical Friends Group (PDCFG), which plans and coordinates delivery of internal instructional professional development.
• Insure Eagle Rock School’s academic program meets standards for AdvancEd and the Association of Colorado Independent Schools accreditations.

Personnel duties include:

• Recruit, hire, train, directly supervise, support and mentor our teachers, and indirectly support seven “student teachers”
• Conduct annual performance appraisals of our teaching staff

Enthusiastic and Hands-on Involvement

As for enthusiastic, hands-on involvement with the school and its staff, the person we hire as our next Director of Curriculum must be ready to get their hands dirty and participate in a variety of schoolwide activities that include — among other things — intramural sports. You don’t have to be good at these activities, but you’ll find yourself playing soccer, softball, ultimate Frisbee, floor hockey and water polo.

The Director of Curriculum will most likely live on campus, which means being available to support students on a fulltime basis. And you can’t be shy about sharing your unique skills with the school community, which means if you can sing, perform yoga, hike or perform magic tricks, we’ll eventually want to see those skills.

There are a number of other financial and budgetary requirements, risk management tasks and logistics planning involved, and more information on those tasks is available in the Employment section of our website.

To apply

If this job looks like a fit for you, submit a cover letter, resume, brief skills self-assessment that indicates results produced in the major areas of responsibility listed above, and three professional references (be sure to include a phone number and email address for each) to info@eaglerockschool.org.

Clarifying questions can be sent to our Head of School, Jeff Liddle, by email: jliddle@eaglerockschool.org. No phone calls please.

Following the Feb. 26 application deadline, candidates will be interviewed by phone through early March, with onsite interviews scheduled from mid- to late March. The start date is June 1, although that date is flexible because our current director will finish up in July.

Next Up: English Language & Literacy Instructional Specialist

Moving on to the position for a language and literacy instructional specialist, Eagle Rock is looking for candidates who look forward to teaching students who have not found success in a traditional high school setting. Ours is a boarding school that places its emphasis on a disciplinary process based on mutual respect, and an education process that nurtures a student’s gifts and passions rather than teaching to standardized tests and curricula.

Our new Language & Literacy Instructional Specialist must have a bachelor’s degree in English — with a master’s degree preferred — as well as teaching experience in a range of course designs and program models. Eagle Rock teachers all come with the ability to work well with a diverse student body that includes LGBTQ students; those from low-income backgrounds; and students from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.

Language and Literacy Expertise

Specific to language and literature expertise, the successful candidate for the Language & Literacy Instructional Specialist position will have experience teaching high school English, and experience with CES/Big Picture/Expeditionary Learning or similar progressive schooling models. Also helpful is experience with interdisciplinary curriculum design, experiential education, project-based learning, literacy across the curriculum, and the Understanding by Design process.

While more information on the Language & Literacy Instructional Specialist opening is available via the Employment section of our website, it’s important to note here that interested candidates must be able to submit a brief skills self-assessment for each of the three major areas of responsibility listed on the jo opening, which include curriculum, student support, and schoolwide involvement.

How to apply

Interested applicants for our Language & Literacy Instructional Specialist opening should submit a brief cover letter, a resume, a brief skills self-assessment that indicates results produced in each of the three major areas of responsibility listed on the application prompt, and three professional references (phone number and email address) to info@eaglerockschool.org. Clarifying questions can be sent to jenfrickey@eaglerockschool.org. Again, we only accept electronic submissions. Please don’t call or forward paper or fax materials.

The application deadline for the Language & Literacy Instructional Specialist opening is March 2, 2018, and phone interviews will take place March 5 through 9, followed by onsite interviews in late-March. The start date is the summer or fall of 2018.

Editor’s Note: Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer and does not tolerate any form of unlawful discrimination. All employment decisions at Eagle Rock are based on merit and to the principle of equal employment opportunity. In keeping with both the letter and spirit of this policy, Eagle Rock will continue to recruit, hire, train, and promote into all job levels the most qualified persons without regard to race, color, religion, genetic information, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran’s status or any other protected characteristic. Therefore, members of racial/ethnic minorities and other protected classes are encouraged to apply.