Middle School Head of School

Organization Overview

Excel Academy was founded in 2003 with the mission to provide a high-quality, free, and public education to students in East Boston and Chelsea Massachusetts, communities that are predominantly low-income and Latinx and historically have faced significant social and educational barriers. Our success in Massachusetts is proof that the opportunity gap can be closed and we opened a new school in Rhode Island in 2022.

At Excel Academy Charter Schools, we believe that when a student has the support and tools to pursue a productive post‑secondary pathway aligned to their personal identity and values, it can fundamentally change their life trajectory.

At Excel Academy we learn from our students, families, and staff and make improvements. We have increasingly adapted to provide a holistic education that values our community as collaborators in the learning process, social‑emotional support, equity for diverse learners, and fosters identity development. We prioritize an approach that is both rigorous and inclusive. Our team of passionate, intelligent, driven, and loving staff are at the core of the work we do.

The Head of School will set and drive the vision for the school and will have overall accountability for the success of the school. They will work closely with the administrative team to manage the school’s culture, academic program, and operations. Though the Head of School will lead a school that adheres to the core Excel systems, culture and philosophy, they will be empowered to innovate and adapt the model as needed.

Excel believes that its distinctive performance is rooted in the quality of its school leaders, and Excel’s organizational philosophy centers on investing in people—starting with and flowing from Excel school leaders.

• Strong collaboration with other middle school campuses to ensure alignment in intellectual leadership and programmatic vision; translate the big‑picture vision into measurable goalposts for day‑to‑day implementation.
• Creating the culture and conditions for productive adult learning.
• Modeling Excel norms, culture and behavior through their own actions.
• Acting as an effective leader and ambassador for the organization beyond the school’s walls.

• Understand how your identity markers (including race, class, and gender) impact your leadership.
• Demonstrates understanding and respect for the cultures and languages of our communities.
• Solicit and welcomes collaboration and feedback from colleagues, students, families and the surrounding community.
• Understand the impact of historical and structural racism and use this lens in your decision‑making.
• Take action to demonstrate personal reflections and growth/ be responsive to feedback and lessons learned.

• Support the Dean of Curriculum and Instruction (DCI) and Dean of Student Support (DoSS) to drive excellent teaching for all learners in Excel classrooms.
• Support the DCI and DoSS to ensure that they observe classes regularly and give written and verbal feedback to teachers.
• Ensure frequent points of contact with all direct reports. Develop structures to ensure presence in all classrooms weekly at a minimum. Meet with all direct reports bi‑weekly at a minimum, sending agendas in advance and supporting teachers to develop agendas to maximize the utility of meetings.
• Support the DCI and DoSS to ensure that Excel classes are engaging, challenging, and accessible to all learners.
• Support the Network Department heads, DCI and DoSS to ensure that the school’s mission and philosophy are reflected in instructional approach and curriculum.
• Support DCI and DoSS to drive purposeful use of assessment data and feedback.
• Collect, analyze, share and interpret internal and external school assessments and ensure DCI and DoSS use data strategically to improve student academic performance.

• Support the DCI and DoSS to ensure successful execution and analysis of intervention programs targeted at needs of diverse academic subgroups, whether remedial or enrichment; and
• Support the DCI and…