Job Description

About DeKalb Brilliance AcademyDesigned with input from nearly 1,000 South DeKalb community members, DeKalb Brilliance Academy is a tuition-free, public K–8 charter school committed to building a fundamentally different kind of education. We currently serve grades K–6 and will add one grade per year (learn more about our founding journey here).

Our vision is that each child will know and leverage their unique brilliance to critically analyze the world around them and to design a better and more equitable future. We pursue this vision through our Real-world Project-based Learning, where students learn not only from their teachers and peers, but also directly from scientists, lawyers, engineers, and designers. Our model is ambitious by design—and built to challenge the status quo in service of our students and community.

DeKalb Brilliance Academy: where the strength of our community nurtures the brilliance of our children.

About the role: As an Assistant Principal at DeKalb Brilliance Academy, you will be one of the key instructional leaders responsible for translating our mission into daily practice. You will coach and develop teachers, analyze data, lead professional learning, support strong culture, and help ensure that classrooms are places where scholars are deeply known, intellectually challenged, and loved well.

This role is ideal for a leader who believes that excellent teaching changes life trajectories, that adult development is a central responsibility of school leadership, and that strong systems create the conditions for both rigor and care. You should be energized by being in classrooms, giving direct feedback, solving complex school challenges, and helping teachers grow quickly in service of students.

At DeKalb Brilliance, you will join a leadership team that is building something ambitious with and for the South DeKalb community: a school where children know and leverage their unique brilliance to critically analyze the world around them and design a better and more equitable future.

Responsibilities & duties (including but not limited to):

Coach and develop teachers to achieve excellent student outcomes

• Observe every teacher on your caseload of ~9 at least once weekly and provide clear, actionable, high-leverage feedback.
• Lead coaching meetings that help teachers improve planning, instruction, classroom culture, and student outcomes.
• Model strong instruction and support teachers in internalizing what excellent teaching looks and sounds like.
• Support teachers in using student work, exit tickets, interim assessments, and other data to adjust instruction.
• Help teachers build classrooms where scholars are engaged in rigorous thinking, strong discourse, and meaningful practice.
• Support teachers in creating high-impact plans for scholars who need additional academic or behavioral support.

Lead strong academic systems

• Analyze schoolwide, grade-level, and classroom-level data to identify trends and determine next steps.
• Lead weekly co-planning meetings in reading, math, science, and humanities (career-connected project-based learning), to ensure lesson internalization/intellectual preparation, student work analysis, reteach plans, and progress monitoring.
• Help ensure that instruction is aligned to Georgia Standards of Excellence and reflects the level of rigor scholars need to thrive.
• Support the implementation of strong Tier 1 instruction while helping coordinate responsive interventions when needed.

Build and protect a strong student culture

• Support consistent schoolwide systems for student joy, supervision, routines, and community expectations.
• Help teachers build warm, structured, joyful classrooms where scholars feel safe, known, and challenged.
• Partner with families and staff to respond to student needs with clarity, care, and urgency.
• Support restorative, developmentally appropriate responses that help students grow as leaders while maintaining a safe learning environment.
• Work closely with school leaders and the scholar support team to ensure that academic, behavioral, and social-emotional supports are aligned.

Facilitate excellent professional development

• Design and lead professional development aligned to school priorities and teacher needs.
• Facilitate summer professional development, beginning-of-year training, weekly professional learning, and data-driven instruction cycles.
• Build a culture where feedback, practice, reflection, and continuous improvement are normal parts of adult learning.

Serve as an active member of the school leadership team

• Communicate clearly and proactively with teachers, families, and school leaders.
• Lead with humility, urgency, follow-through, and a deep belief in the brilliance of our scholars and community.
• Take ownership of schoolwide priorities and help ensure strong execution from idea to implementation.

Other Duties

• Fulfill additional responsibilities aligned with the needs of a growing founding school, as assigned

Requirements

Experiences

• Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree preferred.
• At least 5 years of successful K–12 lead teaching experience with evidence of strong student achievement.
• At least 2 years of experience coaching, managing, or leading teachers with a track record of improving student year-over-year proficiency by at least 10%
• All candidates are required to be able to meet the physical demands of the role (including standing and walking for extended periods of time and lifting heavy objects up to 40lbs)

Who Thrives at DeKalb Brilliance

DeKalb Brilliance Academy is a great fit for individuals who are:

• Purpose-driven: have deep reverence for the brilliance of our children and unwavering commitment to empowering our children to have impactful legacies in our communities
• Community-minded: has ability work collaboratively with peers and manage up to improve the work of everyone around them
• Emotionally intelligent: knows how to care for themselves, collaborate with others, use tools to regulate their emotions under stress, and approach difficult situations with others with empathy and compassion
• Equity-minded: understand how specific behaviors, laws, and institutions limit the rights and freedoms of people and work with our community to take collective action to make our world fairer for everyone.
• Strong project and time managers: has ability to adapt and persevere to deliver consistent and timely results to reach our goals
• Have a founder’s mindset: is a creative problem solver, enjoys building from the ground up

This role is not for educators seeking comfort or predictability - it is for those who want to build something new, more just, and more powerful than what currently exists.

Benefits

While the work is harder than the status quo, leaders are not asked to build in isolation. We believe challenge should be purposeful, supported, and shared - and we invest accordingly.

We believe demanding work requires meaningful support. DeKalb Brilliance invests in its staff through competitive compensation, planning time, and high-quality coaching.

• Competitive salary schedule (please make sure you are on the correct tab)
• Compensation is based on 194-day calendar, 180 instructional days & 14 professional development days
• Paid sick and personal days
• Competitively-priced medical, dental, vision, short-term disability, and life insurance
• Contributions to the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) in accordance with Georgia state law, as well as an additional, optional 403(b) retirement account

Statement of Non-Discrimination:

DeKalb Brilliance Academy is committed to a policy of equal treatment for all individuals applying for employment. DeKalb Brilliance Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, handicap, age, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.