POSITION OVERVIEW
Reporting to the Middle School Principal, the Middle School Vice Principal assists with the leadership of all educational and community matters in the Middle School on the Puxi Campus. The Vice Principal supports the Principal to ensure that all programs and practices of faculty and staff are guided by and support the School’s mission and core values as well as the Middle School’s identified priorities. Working in collaboration with the academic and operational leadership teams, faculty and staff, students, parents and the broader community, this leader supports a professional and academic environment in which all students have access to exceptional and diverse academic programs and opportunities as well as appropriate care for their social-emotional and learning needs.
APPLICATION DEADLINE
September 29, 2023, though applicants are strongly encouraged to apply as early as possible, as Shanghai American School reserves the right to close the selection process at any time.
START DATE: July 2024
CONTRACT: 210 Days
SALARY & BENEFITS
SAS Vice Principal salaries range from 772,000RMB to 922,000RMB (fully convertible to USD, CAD, AUD, Euros, GBP, etc.), plus SAS offers a generous benefits package that allows for a very comfortable lifestyle and incredible savings potential. We value our educators as professionals, and we compensate accordingly.
VALUE PROPOSITION
By signing with Shanghai American School, you join not only one of the oldest and most reputable international schools in Asia but also become a member of a dynamic and innovative learning community. Anchored in its mission and core values, SAS balances a focus on the distinctive needs of every student with a commitment to world-class learning outcomes. We value our diversity and are actively committed to ensuring our behaviors promote equity and inclusion to create a sense of belonging for all members of our community. Our strong financial standing affords a highly competitive compensation and benefits package and allows for a resource-rich learning environment. To lead at SAS is to collaborate, looking to set the standard for an international education that is caring, impactful and forward-driven.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Master’s or Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership or Curriculum/Instruction
- Experience with and commitment to supporting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging for all stakeholders.
- Excellent interpersonal skills which allow candidate to work effectively with students, parents, teachers, and other school leaders
- Demonstrated commitment to collaborative leadership practices
- Holds passport or university degree from US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or UK (as required by Chinese government for Visa issuance) and have a criminal record that is completely free of criminal activity regardless of the outcome of the charges.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Middle school teaching and/or leadership experience (Assistant Principal or equivalent strongly preferred)
- Strong written and oral communication skills
- Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills
- Experience with
- developing and leading professional learning, including curriculum development (US Curricular Standards, assessment practices, UbD, etc.)
- leading student life and/or pastoral programs
- creating master schedules
- Restorative Justice practices or equivalent
- Project Based Learning or equivalent
- developing and supporting innovative & contemporary approaches to teaching and learning
SKILLS, EXPERIENCES, & ATTRIBUTES SOUGHT
Working with Adult Learners
- Develop trusting relationships where participants feel safe and motivated to take risks, to learn and to share
- Develop and facilitate a professional learning environment that is grounded in student learning
- Accept and act on constructive feedback
- Demonstrate excellence in effective instructional coaching strategies
- Demonstrate and support reflective practice
- Lead data driven dialogue to develop common understandings and inform action
Collaborative Work
- Develop a collaborative culture (norms, protocols)
- Embrace opportunities to draw on the collective efficacy of the group
- Foster mutual responsibility for all group members’ learning
- Demonstrate high levels of emotional intelligence
- Collaborate and build strong relationships with fellow divisional leaders in the various academic (PK-12) and operational leadership teams cross-campus to ensure alignment and consistency of student learning experiences
Communication
- Use effective communication strategies to bring clarity and allow the participants to accomplish tasks
- Give feedback honestly, openly, and constructively
Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy
- Ensure the alignment of the curriculum standards and expectations in the High School
- Support teachers to develop standards-based assessments, evaluate multiple sources of data, and differentiate to meet all students’ learning needs
- Demonstrate excellence in instructional contexts through a repertoire of current effective instructional strategies to engage students in learning
- Provide leadership in the areas of interdisciplinary and inquiry-based learning, unit design (based on UbD), and other SAS instructional frameworks and strategies
- Support use of a variety of instructional technologies to transform student learning
Systems Thinking
- Create and implement plans to meet system goals and sustainability
PERFORMANCE RESPONSIBILITIES
- Assume primary responsibility for:
- assisting the principal with leadership in the areas of curriculum, instruction, and professional learning
- development of a school wide master schedule and managing the entire scheduling process, from course selection to the scheduling of teachers
- academic monitoring and reporting
- handling disciplinary concerns through Restorative Justice practices or equivalent
- open house and parent teacher conference programing
- maintaining student and faculty handbooks
- Partner with principal to:
- support and develop specialty programs, including learning that occurs off campus
- research, develop and lead new teaching, learning, innovation, and academic pathways at SAS
- build strong rapport with the parent community in a way that empowers parents and serves their desires for involvement
- supervise and evaluate faculty and staff as determined by the Principal
- support counselors and administrators with monitoring students who present academic concern or are on academic probation
- the monitoring of attendance
- Assist with:
- the management of student exploratory and extended learning
- the organization and running of special academic school-wide programs or events
- the management of school experiential learning programs
- the supervision of school events
- faculty and staff recruiting as requested
- working with the Heads of Department, Team Coordinators, and Counselors
- Serve on Puxi Leadership Team and SAS Academic Leadership Team
- Serve as Acting Principal in Principal’s absence, as requested
- Other duties as assigned by the Principal
THE SCHOOL
Shanghai American School (SAS) is an American non-profit PreK-12 educational institution serving the English-speaking expatriate community of Shanghai, China. We are accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in the U.S and offer both the AP and IB programs in the high school. SAS currently enrolls about 1,800 students on our Puxi campus (where this position would be located) and an additional 1,070 students on our Pudong campus. We offer an educational program on par with the leading private schools in the United States with 100% of our graduates attending university, many at universities considered among the most prestigious in the world. We are widely considered to be among the premier international schools for students and faculty in Asia due to our outstanding academic program, facilities, and compensation package that places us at or near the top of K-12 schools worldwide…not to mention that Shanghai itself is an incredible city.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Application Deadline: September 29, 2023, though applicants are strongly encouraged to apply as early as possible, as Shanghai American School reserves the right to close the selection process at any time.
Starting Date: July 2024
For additional information about SAS and this particular position, please visit: https://www.saschina.org/uploaded/employment/2023-24/PXMS_Vice_Principal_0905.pdf
Dr. Theron J. Mott, Faculty & Leadership Recruiter and former SAS Middle School Principal, will serve as the facilitator for the Shanghai American School Middle School Vice Principal-Puxi Campus search. All applications packets should be sent directly to Theron.Mott@saschina.org, noting that applications will not be accepted through APLi/Search Associates.
Instructions for Candidates
Highly qualified candidates who are interested in leading in a world-class school should submit an application packet as a single PDF file that consists of the following:
- Letter explaining your interest and qualifications for this position
- Resume/CV including all relevant professional experience (not to exceed 3 pages)
- List of at least five supervisory references with position at time of supervision, current position & location, e-mail, and phone. List must include current direct supervisor and Head of School noting that references will only be contacted after initial screening interviews for candidates who advance to the semi-finalist round.