Tempe Elementary School District, Principal Coach-District Shepherd in partnership with UVA

Principal Coach-District Shepherd
ESI opportunity in partnership with Tempe Elementary School District, in conjunction with University of Virginia (UVA)

JOB DESCRIPTION

Provide ongoing coaching, guidance, professional development, and mentoring for school principals to improve student achievement and strengthen instructional leadership, organizational learning, and academic outcomes for all students. The role prioritizes intensive support for three Learning Lab school leaders while cultivating cross-school learning, leadership team formation, and systems-level improvement.

QUALIFICATIONS

1. Master Degree in Education, Educational Administration, or related field
2. Arizona Administrative (Principal) Certification
3. Three (3) years of successful teaching experience in public schools
4. Minimum five (5) years of successful experience as a Principal required
5. Demonstrated success leading school improvement, adult learning, and instructional systems development
6. Evidence of building strong professional relationships and coaching leaders toward measurable growth and continuous improvement

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Create trusting, growth-oriented, strong relationships with principals that foster clear vision, strong culture, reflective practice, and candid feedback.
• Provide standards-based leadership coaching aligned to the district vision, mission, goals, and strategic plan, with an emphasis on strengthening principals as instructional and change leaders.
• Prioritize intensive coaching and development support for three Learning Lab school leaders through coaching sessions, leadership development meetings, site visits, and observation and feedback cycles focused on leadership in action.
• Collaborate with principals to develop and implement action steps and 90-day plan execution and adaptation that accelerate school improvement, instructional coherence, and student learning through evidence-based strategies and continuous improvement practices.
• Facilitate leadership learning communities that promote collaboration, shared problem-solving, and cross-school learning.
• Use qualitative and quantitative evidence of principal effectiveness, school performance, and instructional practice to adapt coaching, guide feedback, and strengthen leadership systems and leadership team practice across schools.
• Collaborate closely with principal supervisors and district leaders to ensure alignment among leadership coaching, school support, evaluation processes, and district improvement priorities.
• Serve as a member of the district’s core change team for transformation, aligning coaching to work of supervisors and big rocks of endeavors and contributing learning from schools to inform broader enhancement in system support and development of practices and systems to contribute to broader district transformation efforts.
• As part of being a core change team member, participate in executive education and leadership learning experiences alongside school leaders and members of the core change team to strengthen collective leadership capacity and coherence.
• Travel to three UVA executive education sessions each year during 2026-27 and again in 2027-28, starting in June 2026: summer sessions in Charlottesville, supervisor summit sessions in Indianapolis, and winter sessions in Oklahoma City.
• Design and deliver professional learning for principals using student learning evidence, leadership practice data, and field-based observations to strengthen leadership effectiveness and instructional outcomes.
• Remain current in educational research, leadership development, and evidence-based practices and create structures to share learning across collaborative teams of principals and district leaders.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

This position is an employment opportunity through ESI, in partnership with Tempe Elementary School District (in conjunction with UVA).

Resume submission required for consideration.

NOTE: Provide your personal email address in the application as this is how ESI will primarily communicate with you throughout the hiring process. Periodically check your spam/junk folder as these emails can sometimes get mis-categorized by your email service.

Serving Arizona for over 25 years, ESI is focused on helping solve the staffing crisis for public school districts, governments, and colleges. Our mission: "With integrity and heart, we support and serve those who educate and serve our community."

ESI's featured services include a return-to-work program and the largest substitute staffing program in the state. ESI has proudly served over 13,000 of Arizona's public retirees and actively employs over 7,000 substitute educators.