School Director in Training

Position: School Director in Training (2026-2027 School Year)
** POSITION****:
** School Director in Training (SDiT)
**** LOCATION**:*
* **** SALARY**:** $90,000-$ based on years of aligned experience, up to 10 years. We also offer a if you are moving from a location
** greater than 75 miles from Denver!
** greater than 75 miles from Denver!
**** STATUS**:
** Full time, benefits eligible, exempt, in-person position (Denver, CO)
**** In Year 1**,
** SDITs engage in rigorous professional development through intensive coaching, observation/debrief cycles tightly aligned to individual growth plans, targeted development sessions, and on-the-job stretch opportunities while working alongside a Mentor School Director as a school-based leader (typically taking on the responsibilities and ownership for instruction, student culture, and/or school operations).  SDITs serve as systems, culture, curriculum, and instructional leaders while coaching and managing teams towards exceptional results.

**** In Year 2**,
** SDITs continue to engage in the rigorous on-the-job and supplemental development of Year 1 while layering on additional opportunities designed to prepare them to assume the role of School Director.  These opportunities may include: rotating leadership placements to learn alongside new Mentor School Directors, excellent school observations, robust external professional development, and the opportunity to serve as an Interim School Director at a DSST school.  

After School Directors, SDITs serve as the most senior school-based leaders across the DSST network and assume exceptional responsibility for the results and success of a school.
* You want to lead a DSST middle or high school.  The core of DSST’s School Director in Training Program centers on preparing promising rising leaders (YOU!) to lead rigorous, vibrant, and equitable schools within 1 to 2 years.
* You are mission-driven at your core.  You are deeply connected and committed to DSST’s mission, and are unwavering in your belief that all students deserve access to an excellent education and can achieve at the highest level.
* You are an unrelenting champion for equity.  You believe rigor, access, and opportunity for all is education equity. You devote time to learning and reflection on critical concepts related to race, power, and identity.  You value and successfully develop relationships across lines of difference, and your unyielding commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion drives actions and decisions.
* You have a high bar for excellence and refuse to give up. You demonstrate the drive and aligned actions to take on more than is expected and never relent in pursuit of a challenging goal.  When things feel impossible, you innovate, iterate, and inspire your team to keep going with eagerness and optimism to achieve exceptional results.
* You love working with people. You believe in a school community where everyone can both belong and be themselves.  You have a strong understanding of and investment in people, an inclusive lens, and lead with a compassionate view of the human condition that can lead to transformative results.
* You are an eager and continuous learner.  You love a challenge, and feedback makes your heart grow fonder.  You seek and own opportunities to grow, and are deeply and comprehensively committed to being a school leader worth following.
* DSST Mission Driven:
Demonstrate a sense of urgency about achievement for ALL students and preparing every student for post secondary success
* Pursue solutions with tenacity that maximize student achievement. Is willing to do whatever it takes to get the work done right
* Model professional maturity; emotional constancy in stressful situations, bringing out the best in others, seek solutions and positively motivating
* Mentor and coach staff members to encourage growth and results
* Identify and systematically develop future leaders
* Acts as a strategic partner to the School Director; fully responsible for executing the vision of the leader in all areas
* Supervise a substantial portion of the team
* Cultivate school culture centered on core values that deeply care for each student and staff member and holds each student and staff member to the…