Dean of Academic Systems & Analytics - Upper School

The Nueva School

Dean of Academic Systems and Analytics

The Nueva School seeks a full-time Upper School Dean of Academic Systems and Analytics to play a pivotal role in designing and maintaining the educational framework that enables our gifted learners to thrive. By masterfully designing and managing the upper school course schedule and academic calendar, this strategic administrator directly impacts student learning experiences, academic pathways, and educational outcomes. Through thoughtful scheduling that balances student choice with institutional needs, this role ensures students can access the diverse coursework they need to reach their full potential. This key administrator also collects and analyzes academic data to help leadership make informed decisions about course offerings, program improvements, and schedule optimizations that enhance student engagement and success. The dean will leverage their educational experience, data acumen, and systems thinking to orchestrate these essential processes in our dynamic learning environment.

The dean reports to the Upper School head and is a key member of the four person Upper School leadership team. Along with the US Assistant Head and Dean of Students, they help lead our largest division. They work with the Assistant Upper School Head both to manage the Academic Council meetings (our body of Department Chairs) and to support all operations of the academic program. Together with the Dean of Students, they create a schedule and calendar that supports student wellness, holding the events that make our school dynamic. As a relatively new role, this dean continues to help the US leadership create systems to support the work of the school.

The ideal candidate will quickly demonstrate an appreciation of our complex curriculum and its rather personalized scheduling needs. They will work to keep diverse offerings and student choice at the heart of our scheduling priorities while balancing the need for consistency, clarity, and transparency. They will be curious to observe school operations in order to discover where, and how, they can improve while supporting the student experience. Ultimately, this key administrator will help the division meet our commitment to our gifted learners for a robust and diverse educational experience. 

We are seeking applicants who represent the full diversity of our community in the Bay Area. Our ideal candidate will possess a deep appreciation for the diverse socioeconomic, racial, cultural, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, academic, and ethnic backgrounds present in our community. In joining our team at Nueva, you will become a part of an inclusive, iterative and equity-minded community that recognizes that equity and social justice is a lens with which we examine all aspects of our school community in order to ensure an educational experience where all students and colleagues can thrive. In deciding whether to apply for a position at Nueva, you are strongly encouraged to consider whether your values align with Nueva’s Mission, Vision, and Values.

Responsibilities

Scheduling

• Build a comprehensive academic course schedule for each academic year, including
  • Collate, manage, and publish the course catalog 
  • Run the course proposal process for faculty via the Academic Council
  • Manage the yearly course elective fair in the spring
  • Design and oversee process of student course selection from preference survey, to enrollment, to course changes, including communication with faculty, students and families
  • Troubleshoot scheduling conflicts and develop creative solutions that balance student, faculty, and institutional needs
  • Coordinate with faculty on teaching preferences and constraints
• Work with multiple software platforms to manage student course information as required by the school’s Student Information System
• Create and manage daily school schedules, including assembly schedules, full day programming, in the SIS
• Create special schedules for signature day-long programs such as our annual intersession and monthly Wednesday workshop offerings
• Create schedules for special yearly programming such as student conferences, placement testing, and Back-to-School Night
• Identify and implement system improvements

Calendaring & Campus Space Stewardship 

• Propose and manage the academic calendar for the Upper School at the daily and yearly level
• Work with the PreK-12 calendaring team to advocate for the needs of the US in the calendaring process within the context of the larger institution
• Coordinate with an upper school specific team to confirm the US calendar across departments and divisions. Ex: athletics, admissions, development, college counseling
• Maintain the US Faculty Google Calendar
• Manage space reservations for the Upper School campus
• Contribute to ongoing campus space utilization analysis
• Develop contingency plans for space and calendar disruptions due to unforeseen circumstances

Academic Data and Analysis

• Run attendance systems, send attendance communications, and analyze trends
• Gather data to enable academic leadership to determine annual course offerings, staffing needs, and number of sections of courses for each semester 
• Build and implement a system to analyze student academic data for our standards based grading model
• Create feedback systems to gather information needed by the US admin team and provide actionable analysis of survey results for Upper School leadership
• In collaboration with the US Assistant Head, develop tools for academic advising 
• Contribute to ongoing campus space use analysis 
• Work closely with registrar to ensure student data is up-to-date

Community & Leadership

• Participate actively in student life: advise a student group, chaperone trips, attend after-school events as the administrator point person, and serve on committees
• Manage the agenda for and attend academic council meetings to advise on student course preference trends and curriculum needs

Position Qualifications

Technical Skills

• Ability to work with, manage, and analyze large and complex data sets, including:
  • Expertise with spreadsheets
  • Experience in writing custom programs (such as in Python or equivalent languages)
  • Experience with analytics platforms such as Tableau is beneficial
  • Familiarity working with databases
  • Skills in interfacing with platforms such as Survey Monkey, Blackbaud, etc.
• Ability to build tools to improve school processes for scheduling and course management

Administrator Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher
• Successful administrative experience in an educational setting
• Proven ability to motivate others and lead initiatives
• Proven organizational and project management skills
• Creative problem-solving abilities
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple responsibilities simultaneously
• Adaptability to navigate frequent or unexpected changes while remaining calm 
• Effective communication skills with diverse constituencies
• Relationship builder; able to develop and cultivate professional relationships and inspire trust and collaboration
• Personable, positive, and helpful
• Professionally mature with excellent judgment
• Discreet and able to maintain confidentiality
• Demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion 
• Genuine interest and excitement to support student learning, exploration, and aspirations
• Alignment with Nueva's mission: "Our school community inspires passion for lifelong learning, fosters social and emotional acuity, and develops the student's imaginative mind."

Compensation and Benefits

The full-time equivalent salary range for this position is $125,000 - $165,000. The starting salary is based upon, but not limited to, several factors that include type and years of experience, education level, and expertise.

We offer a compensation and benefits package that includes fully paid medical, dental, vision, life insurance for employees, employer contribution toward dependent insurance premium, a generous match on our retirement plan, long-term disability insurance, flexible spending account, and free lunch. Eligibility rules must be met.

To Apply

Please submit your application information to the Nueva Employment Website. To address specific questions, please email Liza Raynal, at lraynal@nuevaschool.org. 

The Nueva School is an Equal Opportunity Employer – we do not discriminate against any employee or job applicant on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability or sex. We welcome applications from people of color and those with experience outside the education field. 

About The Nueva School

The Nueva School, an internationally recognized, nonprofit, independent day school, has served gifted learners since 1967. Today, Nueva serves nearly 1000 students in grades PreK–12. Nueva is located in the neighboring towns of Hillsborough and San Mateo, equidistant between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, serving six counties throughout the Bay Area of Northern California.

A constructivist school, Nueva is known for its distinctive inquiry-based interdisciplinary studies, project-based learning, and pioneering work in social-emotional learning and design thinking. The Nueva community instills a passion for lifelong learning, fosters social and emotional acuity, and develops the imaginative mind. Our school has received the US Department of Education National Blue Ribbon Award, the US Department of Education National Green Ribbon Award, and the American Institute of Architects Award for School Design and Sustainability; has been recognized as an Apple Distinguished Program and appointed an Ashoka Changemaker School; co-founded the Common Ground Speaker Series; hosts the biennial Innovative Learning Conference, and was highlighted by the Pulitzer Prize–winning and New York Times best-selling author Thomas Friedman in his book That Used to Be Us in the chapter “Average Is Over.”

For more information about The Nueva School, visit our website: www.nuevaschool.org