Director of ESL and Related Services

Company Description

About KIPP Texas Public Schools

KIPP Texas Public Schools is a free, public charter school network with more than 45 Pre-K – 12 schools across Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. With over 30 years in Texas, we work together with our families and communities to prepare students for college, career, and beyond! Our schools provide a high-quality, well-rounded education built on academic success and personal growth, where all students learn and thrive in a productive, safe, and joyful way!

As one of the earliest charter networks in Texas—founded in Houston in 1994 and operating as KIPP Texas since 2018—we hire dynamic, collaborative, and dedicated individuals with an unyielding belief that every child will succeed. Join a Team and Family with an unwavering commitment to creating classrooms, offices, and communities rooted in academic success and joy. If you are passionate about joining a mission-driven community that wants every child to “run to school,” the KIPP Texas Team and Family is for you!

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 278 schools with nearly 16,500 educators and 190,000 students and alumni.

Job Description

The Director of ESL and Related Programs is a statewide systems leader responsible for driving transformational academic, linguistic, and graduation outcomes for emergent bilingual (EB) KIPPsters in grades 6–12, including newcomer and Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) populations.

This role owns the strategic design, coherence, and execution of KIPP Texas’ secondary ESL ecosystem, including:

• Secondary ESL and Content-Based Language Instruction (CBLI)
• Newcomer programming (middle and high school)
• SIFE acceleration systems
• ELDA/ESOL program structures
• International transcript analysis and placement systems
• Graduation planning and credit alignment for multilingual learners
• Title III programming and family engagement
• TELPAS systems and Domain III growth

Through leadership, this role ensures that ESL services strengthen Tier 1 instruction, accelerate credit attainment, protect graduation pathways, and are fully aligned to KIPP Texas academic priorities.

This is not a compliance-driven role. It is a high-impact academic leadership position responsible for building durable systems that produce predictable academic growth and measurable language development across secondary campuses.

The Director of ESL and Related Programs is accountable for statewide secondary emergent bilingual outcomes and ESL system integrity. You know you are successful when:

• EB students demonstrate significant year-over-year growth in language proficiency and academic achievement
• Newcomer and SIFE students accelerate toward grade-level access and credit attainment
• 100% of schools in your portfolio achieve an A or B accountability rating
• 100% of schools achieve the Domain III TELPAS growth measure
• 100% of schools achieve 90/75/40 on Reading and Math STAAR, with minimal EB/non-EB gaps
• Graduation plans for EB students are viable, accelerated, and aligned to CCMR pathways
• Newcomer onboarding and transcript systems prevent credit loss and placement errors
• ESL programming is integrated into the academic core rather than operating as a stand-alone support

This role builds infrastructure and sustainable systems, not isolated programs.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES:

Statewide Strategy & Systems Architecture

• Design and continuously refine the statewide ESL strategy for grades 6–12.
• Build coherent systems for newcomer intake, international transcript analysis, placement, and graduation planning.
• Establish acceleration frameworks for SIFE students that balance language development with credit attainment.
• Align ESL systems to graduation requirements, accountability frameworks, and CCMR indicators.
• Develop clear non-negotiables for high-quality secondary CBLI implementation.

Outcomes-Driven Leadership

• Lead Managers of Multilingual Programs to deliver measurable academic, linguistic, and graduation outcomes.
• Establish performance dashboards across TELPAS, STAAR, credit accrual, course completion, and graduation indicators.
• Conduct root cause analyses when performance stalls and drive corrective action plans.
• Regularly communicate multilingual performance trends and strategy adjustments to executive leadership.
• Ensure ESL strategy aligns to broader academic priorities.

Strengthening Tier 1 Instruction Through Language Integration

• Ensure content-based language instruction strengthens academic rigor rather than lowers expectations.
• Build systems that integrate language objectives into secondary math, science, social studies, and ELA classrooms.
• Support effective implementation of high-quality instructional materials, including:
  • Eureka Texas
  • Carnegie Learning
  • Amplify Texas / Amplify ELAR Texas
  • HMH Into Learning
• Ensure multilingual learners have equitable access to advanced coursework and graduation pathways.

Newcomer & SIFE Program Excellence

• Oversee the organization’s Secondary Newcomer Program framework.
• Establish strong onboarding systems including ELDA/ESOL placement, language diagnostics, and academic screening.
• Design transcript analysis protocols to ensure accurate credit transfer and appropriate placement.
• Ensure graduation planning begins immediately upon enrollment.
• Develop acceleration pathways that protect long-term graduation viability.

Organizational Coherence & Compliance Integrity

• Ensure all state and federal ESL requirements are implemented with fidelity across secondary campuses.
• Partner with compliance leadership to maintain strong LPAC systems, reclassification processes, and post-exit monitoring.
• Oversee Title III engagement strategy for secondary families.
• Collaborate with the Senior Director of Assessments to ensure strong TELPAS implementation and analysis.

Talent & Capacity Building

• Develop Managers of Multilingual Programs into strong instructional leaders.
• Build campus leader capacity around multilingual scheduling, placement, and credit monitoring systems.
• Partner with HR and Talent to increase bilingual/ESL certification pipelines.
• Establish professional learning systems that elevate ESL expertise across secondary content areas.

Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree or higher preferred
• Minimum 5+ years of leadership experience in secondary ESL or multilingual education
• Experience leading newcomer and secondary ESL/CBLI programs at scale
• Experience with international transcript analysis and graduation planning strongly preferred
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

COMPETENCY AND SKILLS:

Systems & Strategic Leadership

• Demonstrated experience building and strengthening multi-campus secondary instructional systems.
• Proven track record of improving outcomes for secondary emergent bilingual and newcomer students.
• Strong strategic planning and execution skills.
• Deep understanding of graduation pathways, transcript analysis, and secondary scheduling structures.
• Strong analytical ability with experience interpreting performance and credit attainment data.

Multilingual & ESL Expertise

• Expertise in secondary ESL, newcomer, and SIFE program design.
• Strong knowledge of LPAC systems, reclassification requirements, and multilingual policy.
• Experience integrating language development into rigorous secondary instruction.
• Ability to translate research into scalable systems and coaching frameworks.

Physical Requirements:

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• The person in this position needs to be able to move about inside and outside the school throughout the workday.
• The candidate is expected to attend conferences, meetings and training sessions both virtually and in person within the Region.

Additional Requirements:

• Reliable transportation is needed for travel between campuses
• Ability to maintain emotional control under stress.
• Work with frequent interruptions.

Work Environment:

Hybrid work – This role will spend significant time in KIPP Texas schools with hybrid work options when not in classrooms.

Travel Requirements:

Moderate travel: Regular travel to school sites, regional offices or external locations for professional learning, meetings and other work related activities. Travel frequency may increase based on time of year. Travel time will range between 20% – 60% depending on the candidate’s location.

Additional Information

What We Bring to the Table:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans with coverage options for employees and their families.
• Competitive vacation and flexible paid time off (PTO) policies.
• Paid family leave.
• Flexible spending account or high-yield HSA.
• Employee assistance programs.
• KIPP also offers the following employee-paid benefits: legal plans, LifeLock identity protection, life insurance and disability insurance.

EEO:

KIPP Texas is an Equal Opportunity Employer. KIPP Texas ensures equal employment opportunities regardless of race, creed, gender, color, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, or disability. Any individual needing assistance in making an application for any opening should contact the Talent Team.

Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job or to perform your job duties. Examples of reasonable accommodation include making a change to the application process or work procedures, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment.

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