The Spence School, one of the finest independent K–12 girls schools in the country, seeks senior leadership applicants for the opportunity to lead its vibrant and strategic equity, diversity, and inclusivity efforts.
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITY NEW YORK, NY director of institutional equity
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITY
Our power comes from our ability to learn from the wide range of experiences and perspectives in our community. This is a school that thrives because it seeks to be a place where we each know we belong. We can each teach and we can each learn from one other.
— Felicia Wilks, Head of School
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITY leadership opportunity
The Spence School, one of the finest independent K–12 girls schools in the country, seeks senior leadership applicants for the opportunity to lead its vibrant and strategic equity, diversity, and inclusivity efforts.
The Director of Institutional Equity is a vital thought partner and resource whose purview and partnerships benefit the School’s entire operation. Spence’s leadership and the Board of Trustees have continued to prioritize DEI as essential to the future of the School and its commitment to academic excellence. Spence seeks to continue its robust and ongoing commitment to DEI and build on its intentional and community-focused thinking about ensuring equity. The addition of this position to the senior leadership team six years ago established the critical role the Director plays in strategic and institution-wide focus
on equity. Spence’s national leadership in DEI work, and the strong desire to build on the strength of its program make this a unique opportunity for a highly skilled, strategic leader to raise the bar further. A community as vibrant as Spence does not happen by accident. It takes true community-wide engagement and a commitment for success. A strategic, long- view approach and faithful devotion to building a program that prepares girls and young women for the world’s complexities, while also mirroring the unique, rich diversity of New York City that surrounds it is necessary.
The Director of Institutional Equity is a senior administrator who reports to the Head of School, and stewards the equity, diversity, and inclusivity efforts of the School while leading collaboration with multiple constituencies including trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumnae and parents. The Director will focus on work including, but not limited to: curricular mapping, supporting faculty and administrators, guiding divisions, departments, and programs, and in collaboration with the Upper School Dean of Students, the Middle School Assistant
Head, and the Lower School Assistant Head to create coherence for the K–12 scope and sequence of equity work. The Director will ensure that Spence is current with contemporary understandings of equity literacy for K–12 student development while at the forefront of understanding equity as academic excellence. The Director is responsive to community needs as a part of forging thoughtful strategic direction and ensures that the current life of Spence, and its efforts for inclusion and belonging, are shared consistently with the community.
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
The strategic priorities for the Director of Institutional Equity include the following: • Continuing to build an intentional community reflective of the world around Spence • Working with the Director of Teaching and Learning and divisional leadership to fully embed Spence’s equity competencies into the School’s new Professional Growth Model
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITY the position
• Developing opportunities for anti-bias education for all community members; tracking bias incidents, and working with the administrative team to reduce the number of bias incidents that occur • Continuing to explore how our girls’ school can support students who identify across the gender identity spectrum • Continuing to engage the parent community in deepening their understanding of and commitment to the School’s diversity, equity and inclusion goals • Building dialogue skills across constituencies • Continuing to review and improve outreach, hiring and onboarding practices across the School to attract and retain excellent, diverse employees
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
• Develop trusting relationships throughout the community by being attuned to the undercurrent of needs within all constituencies • Assist in building systems for student and faculty retention • Be an active, visible, and engaged presence for the students and in the life of the School • Facilitate student voice in the design of equity initiatives in the School • Further a welcoming and inclusive diverse community culture • Advise, contribute to, and help implement the Board’s strategic initiatives for the School • Facilitate and support the Head of School’s work on the Board Equity Committee, as well as serve on that Committee • Lead the Upper School Dean of Students, the Assistant Head of Middle School and the Assistant Head of the Lower School on equity curricular design for student life
The work of the Director of Institutional Equity is focused on two broad spheres: educational equity and institutional equity. Each sphere is a complex set of interrelated functions that represent both strategic thinking and planning as well as operational execution:
Educational Equity K–12
In cooperation with each Division Head, the Director of Teaching and Learning, and the Director of Curriculum, the Director of Institutional Equity will oversee the ongoing development of a well-delivered, planned, coordinated, sequential, and articulated developmentally appropriate equity curriculum. In this capacity, the Director of Institutional Equity will, among other duties: • Support the documentation and review of the curriculum to assure diversity and inclusion • Facilitate curriculum design work as it relates to equity literacy goals for students K–12 • Build faculty capacity for talking about identity in classrooms and other school spaces
Institutional Equity A school strong on equity will assure equity across the adult community and support faculty and staff to model strong community values. Thus, among other responsibilities, the Director of Institutional Equity will: • Serve on the senior Administrative Team and contribute to all leadership efforts of the School • Support the Administrative Team in setting leadership priorities for equity at Spence • Partner with leaders across the School to gather and analyze data that will help the school track and improve equity efforts • Build strong relationships between and among parents and faculty, fostering trust, rapport, and collegiality across the School community • Help draft, revise, and review publications related to equity and service learning • Work with the Parents’ Association on ongoing equity and service-related programming • Lead professional development for equity literacy for the entire school • Support staff in their professional growth • Facilitate effective collective thinking on identity- specific opportunities and challenges in the School • Support administrative leadership in staff development • Build strong relationships with diversity leaders locally and nationally and remain well-versed in current research and thinking about diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in schools and other settings
Teaching Responsibilities
• Yearly teaching in Director’s academic discipline
the position
QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS
Spence seeks a leader who can envision and activate institutional change at the policy, cultural, interpersonal, and individual levels while holding a student-centered approach. At their heart, the Director must be a teacher and facilitator of understanding and growth. Spence is a warm and engaging place and the Director must be approachable and inviting to advance important dialogue around equity issues. As someone who teachers, administrators, and parents look to for guidance, the Director must have deep expertise in current trends and research, as well as the experience and wisdom to provide advice on a myriad of DEI issues. In addition, the successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following qualities and characteristics:
Institutional Leadership
• Readiness to serve on the senior leadership team of a K–12 school • Ability to act as a strategic thinker and an expert on equity and diversity • Skill in working collaboratively while insisting on progress • Successful leadership experience in a complex organization • Experience as a teacher and teacher-leader • Deep knowledge of instruction, curriculum, and child and adolescent development Successful Equity and Diversity Experience • An experienced educational leader whose strategic thinking, background and passion are centered in a diverse and inclusive community • An exceptional facilitator • Strong presence and gravitas, ability to challenge and motivate others
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITY
• Ability to help people engage in difficult equity topics • An excellent recruiter of diverse, professional talent • Knowledge of research and successful strategies around increasing equity, diversity, and inclusion Management Ability • A highly capable decision-maker who seeks broad input and whose hallmarks are transparency, collaboration, and communication • Success in carrying out strategic initiatives and in leading a team
• Strong, compassionate listener • Impeccable integrity and transparency • A genuine learner • A natural sense of humor • Ability to view situations from multiple perspectives
EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, AND SKILLS
• BA required; advanced degree preferred • Academic foundation in DEI work • Teaching experience in a K–12 or higher education setting • Successful experience working as a DEI practitioner in an educational or related setting
• Program development experience • A spirit of thoughtful anticipation
Personal Qualities • Interest and ability to communicate with the range of generations at the School
the school
In 2022, Felicia Wilks became The Spence School’s 15th Head of School, and the first Black woman to lead the School in its 130-year history. From its founding to its current life, The Spence School has championed the spirit of learning in a community of openness, virtue, warmth and joy. Built upon the foundations of intellectual inquiry and engagement, all constituencies of the community work in partnership toward furthering the enormous promise of every girl and every young woman in its fold. For Spence, learning is a behavior and not a means to an end. Since 1892, Spence’s dedication to a rigorous, liberal arts education has shaped their work. Liberal arts, often misunderstood in today’s world to include humanities only, lives for Spence in its original interpretation: a rich course of study free from any utilitarian goals and inclusive of all disciplines. Essential to the School’s enterprise is the understanding that meaningful and nuanced perspectives and multiple points of view fuel academic excellence: neither the world nor Spence is single or static. Spence’s community’s strength and their mission of “lifelong transformation of self and the world” are predicated on equity of voice in regard to race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic diversity and on the belief that a privileged education such as theirs requires an active commitment to their larger community. To learn more about The Spence School’s long range plan, visit their website.
TRUSTEE STATEMENT
“We commit to making Spence an inclusive, equitable and multi- identity community in which each student will build intellectual and moral capacity, not only for school but also for life. Spence young women enter the world as excellent scholars and engaged citizens, able to bridge differences and diverse points of view to meet the complex challenges of a changing world. Spence is an environment that embraces differences, honors identity and values full membership and belonging for all. Guided by our Community Standards, we stand up against exclusion, bias, racism and prejudice in all forms. While deepening our understanding and appreciation of a diverse community, we recognize the ongoing opportunities and the challenges inherent in learning from one another. Together, we find power and joy in working collaboratively to ensure that Spence is a place of ethical stance and substance, a place in which students, parents, faculty and administration cultivate personal integrity in service to the collective values of respect and trust.”
Not for school but for life we learn
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITY
MISSION STATEMENT With a commitment to academic excellence and personal integrity, The Spence School prepares a diverse community of girls and young women for the lifelong transformation of self and the world with purpose, passion and perspective. Philosophy Offering a rigorous, liberal arts study, The Spence School develops high standards and character while creating an environment that fosters self-confidence and the joy of learning. Charging their students to meet the demands of academic excellence and responsible citizenship in a changing world, they teach that diverse points of view fuel inquiry, engagement, and deeper understandings of complex truths. They believe in the strength, intellect, and vitality of women. DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION Highlights of Ongoing Work at Spence • Civil Discourse at Spence : In a powerful partnership, the Upper School Student Council and Upper School Student Equity Council took on the task of developing guidelines for civil discourse at Spence. Recognizing that partisan conflict is making respectful conversations harder in our public culture, these student leaders wanted to find language that could help their community have productive and respectful dialogue. They gathered input from students in the Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School, as well as from faculty and staff, to produce Talk it Out, ratified by the Equity Committee of the Board and the Head of School in May. • Equity In The Curriculum : Facilitated by the Director of Curriculum and the Director of Institutional Equity, this past year the Academic Leadership teams across three divisions worked to develop a framework to guide curricular innovation. The framework offers teachers a series of questions to foster alignment-focused equity conversations such as “Does this curriculum incorporate both academic and social/emotional skill development with an understanding of identity?” Teachers’
answers will help them provide learning experiences for Spence students to analyze, problem-solve, and create from multiple perspectives. • Middle School Identities Project : Spence offers the Middle School Identities Project, a new research-based, after-school curriculum to develop community leadership skills in their Middle School students beginning in fall 2022. The goal of the curriculum is to empower and educate students to explore the importance of identities so they can develop skills as thought leaders in a diverse world. • Professional Growth and K–12 Teaching : Under the direction of Director of Teaching and Learning and Director of Institutional Equity, the K–12 teachers have developed a list of research-based equity competencies, including self-awareness, embracing complexity, and cultural humility. Their 2022–2023 newly updated professional growth evaluation process will rely on these competencies to support teachers to focus on making sure all Spence students belong and thrive in the classroom. • The K–12 Bias Response Protocol : The School has been running a pilot test of a step-by-step process to address bias incidents, called the K–12 Bias Response Protocol. Teachers and administrators who are trained in a values-based approach to bias response have resoundingly affirmed the process as highly effective in creating predictability, accountability, and learning in their community, and students have named their appreciation of the concrete steps towards harm reduction. Next year the process will be fully operational. To read more about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Spence as well as their Non Discrimination Policy and Gender Statement, visit their website. LOWER SCHOOL “In the Lower School, children’s natural energy for learning finds momentum with their teachers’ passions for creating challenging experiences that meet them right where they are. Children are active learners, and when they learn by doing, they begin to connect one idea to another—a process that continues as they build foundational skills
PROCEDURE TO APPLY the school
775 Enrollment
for scholarship and develop into more abstract thinkers and problem solvers. Spence has high ambitions for their students as they discover what it means to be an active member of a learning community and to contribute to their classroom, their school and eventually to the greater world.” — Elizabeth Causey, Head of Lower School MIDDLE SCHOOL “We’re a noisy, messy school in really good ways. There is such joy in guiding our Middle Schoolers as they begin to define their talents and interests, develop important study skills and take on increased responsibility as members of the school community. We believe that deep, sustained learning is underpinned by relationships: students with their teachers who support and facilitate each individual’s progress, as well as students with their peers who work collaboratively in classrooms and advisory groups. With the support of teachers, advisors, grade deans and coaches, students become more independent in their learning, more critical in their thinking and they begin to exercise leadership skills.” — Karen Sullivan, Head of Middle School UPPER SCHOOL “In the Upper School, our connection to the school motto, Not for school but for life we learn , cultivates a value of engaging different perspectives, interests and academic and extracurricular pursuits to both honor where students are and the potential for how they grow in the future. We hold a deep commitment to fostering an environment in which students feel they can be their full selves as they make their way through the increasingly complex dimensions of today’s world. Our curriculum is designed to move beyond an accumulation of facts to promote thinking deeply and critically within and across disciplines. For many students, their passions emerge most profoundly through clubs and co-curricular opportunities that allow them to create their own experiences to explore, learn, and lead in service to our mission that inspires a lifelong transformation of self and the world through an education that is engaging, powerful and purposeful.” — Rachael Flores, Head of Upper School
220 (50% employees of color) Employees
6.6:1 Student-teacher ratio
20% Percent of student body receiving Financial Aid
$48,166 Average Financial Aid Grant
$7,374,718 Financial Aid budget
procedure to apply
Spence is committed to an equitable and inclusive program and a diverse faculty and student body. We actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds. Interested candidates are invited to submit the following materials confidentially as one PDF file through the dedicated application portal (https://bit. ly/Spence_Dir_Inst_Equity_AppForm): • Cover Letter expressing interest in the Spence School Director of Institutional Equity position • Résumé/CV • Statement of educational philosophy • Contact information for three references
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SEARCH CALENDAR
December 12, 2022 Applications Due Mid-January, 2023 Semifinalists Interviews Early February 2023 Finalists Interviews Mid-February, 2023 Hiring Announcement
The salary range for this position is $200,000–$220,000.
Please direct any questions via email to jobs@strategenius.org or by phone at 415-881-7105.
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