Example Job Description
Director of Secondary Education
A leader who connects district support for middle and high schools, principal development, instructional implementation, school improvement, and secondary transitions with trustworthy evidence, equitable opportunity, and accountable action.
Interview Planning Resource
Possible Interview Q&A: Director of Secondary Education
How to use this resource: Select questions that measure competencies established through the district’s current job analysis. Ask candidates the same predetermined questions under comparable conditions and evaluate responses against the same job-related criteria.
The indicators below describe evidence a strong response may contain; they are not required scripts or the only acceptable answers.
- Advanced-course access differs sharply by school. How would you investigate?
Strong response indicators: Examines eligibility, prerequisites, schedules, staffing, referrals, enrollment and completion with student context; identifies avoidable access barriers and tests changes.
- How would you review a proposed master-schedule change?
Strong response indicators: Models student demand, course conflicts, staffing and access across groups; validates source records and checks actual placements after implementation.
- Graduation increases while college eligibility declines. What would you do?
Strong response indicators: Verifies cohort and transcript definitions, separates indicators, examines course access and support and coordinates with readiness and curriculum leaders.
- How would you evaluate credit recovery across schools?
Strong response indicators: Reviews learning quality, eligibility, completion, sustained progress, access and implementation; tests alternative explanations and avoids equating credits with mastery.
- An early-warning tool misclassifies transfer students. How would you respond?
Strong response indicators: Checks missing historical records, enrollment dates and model assumptions; corrects alerts, protects students and requires validation and human review.
- How would you support a new secondary principal?
Strong response indicators: Uses listening, school observation, safety and records review, validates priority measures, aligns coaching to needs and checks agreed actions and student opportunity.
- The secondary course and cohort dashboard disagrees with source records. How would you resolve this?
Strong response indicators: Checks populations, dates, definitions, refreshes, joins and corrections for course access, credit attainment and secondary transitions; reconciles with accountable owners, documents fixes and adds preventive checks.
- What evidence would you require before recommending a secondary scheduling redesign?
Strong response indicators: Defines educational need, baseline, access and implementation measures, alternatives, cost and capacity; uses appropriate comparisons and uncertainty and specifies a review or exit decision.
- How would you protect sensitive records while helping teams act on course access, credit attainment and secondary transitions?
Strong response indicators: Defines purpose and authorized access, minimizes disclosure, protects small groups, uses approved systems and retention rules, and consults responsible privacy and legal owners.
- A vendor proposes AI to automate recommendations in this portfolio. How would you assess it?
Strong response indicators: Tests the proposed use against district support for middle and high schools, principal development, instructional implementation, school improvement, and secondary transitions; reviews accuracy, subgroup errors, privacy, security, accessibility and cost, and preserves authorized human decisions and challenge procedures.
- How would you build staff capability to use course access, credit attainment and secondary transitions well?
Strong response indicators: Uses authentic cases, verifies sources and denominators, explains missingness and uncertainty, coaches interpretation and checks whether evidence leads to useful changes in practice.
- What would your first 90 days as Director of Secondary Education include?
Strong response indicators: Listens to affected students, families, staff and partners; maps authority and obligations, validates course access, credit attainment and secondary transitions, identifies urgent gaps and proposes a focused plan with owners and review dates.
Position Description
The Director of Secondary Education leads district support for middle and high schools, principal development, instructional implementation, school improvement, and secondary transitions. The district or employing agency should define the final portfolio, delegated authority, and relationships with other program owners.
The position connects course access, credit progress, school climate and pathway evidence to leadership action; strengthens school systems and transcript quality while coordinating with curriculum and readiness directors.
Reports To
Illustrative reporting relationship: Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services or other designated administrator. Confirm the locally approved structure and delegated authority.
Required Education and Credentials
Required
- Illustrative district qualification for review: master's degree in secondary education, educational leadership, or a related field; confirm the local degree requirement and permitted equivalents.
- Hold a valid California Administrative Services Credential or other authorization appropriate to the actual assignment. District HR must verify current authorization and any additional credential requirements against the final duties.
- Complete district-required employment clearances and training in student privacy, nondiscrimination, accessibility, records, safety, and responsible use of technology.
Preferred
- Graduate coursework or sustained professional learning in applied statistics, program evaluation, improvement science, education data systems, or responsible AI for educational decision-making.
- Advanced preparation in secondary education, educational leadership, or a related field, inclusive leadership, family partnership, and coaching adults to use evidence effectively.
Required / Desired Experience
Required Experience
- Illustrative minimum for local review: five years of successful secondary teaching and school administration with cross-school improvement and principal leadership; confirm experience thresholds and permitted equivalents.
- Experience supervising assigned staff, coordinating partners, managing resources, and implementing improvement across the assigned portfolio.
- Demonstrated use of course access, credit attainment and secondary transitions to investigate needs, verify records, evaluate action, and explain findings and limitations.
Desired Experience
- Experience with California district or regional program requirements, implementation monitoring, and improvement with diverse communities.
- Experience with a secondary course and cohort dashboard, approved spreadsheets and tools such as Excel, Google Sheets, Power BI, Tableau, or equivalents; applied data-science literacy sufficient to collaborate with analysts.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Secondary School Leadership
- Support secondary principals in instruction, school culture, personnel supervision, family partnership and coordinated student supports.
- Coordinate district curriculum implementation, master scheduling and transitions with curriculum, student services and college/career leaders.
- Coach and evaluate assigned administrators under district procedures using observation, implementation evidence and school context.
Course Access and Student Progress
- Analyze course eligibility, enrollment, completion, credit attainment and transitions; identify scheduling and prerequisite barriers.
- Validate transcript, cohort and course records with registrars, counselors and data owners; distinguish graduation from college eligibility and broader readiness.
- Review early-warning and intervention evidence for subgroup errors, actual support delivery and sustained progress; protect students from automatic labels.
Compliance and Responsible Systems
- Support schools in current graduation, assessment, student-record, safety, discipline and accessibility requirements within the assignment.
- Coordinate data corrections, school implementation checks and compliance follow-through with authorized program and legal specialists.
- Review secondary learning and advising systems through district processes; require accurate definitions, privacy controls and human review of AI recommendations.
Resources and Improvement
- Align assigned school support and professional learning with evidence of student need, staffing capacity and district priorities.
- Develop leaders' practical analysis and communication skills; evaluate credit recovery, scheduling changes and school support strategies with relevant owners.
- Report verified access patterns, outcomes, limitations and corrective actions and perform related duties within the classification.
Required Skills and Abilities
Knowledge of
- Secondary instruction, adolescent development, principal coaching, master scheduling and school improvement.
- Course and transcript data, graduation cohorts, early-warning errors, pathway access and intervention evaluation.
- Applicable graduation, assessment, discipline, records, evaluation, accessibility and privacy requirements.
- SIS, scheduling, transcript and learning systems, approved dashboards and responsible AI advising tools.
Ability to
- Translate priorities in district support for middle and high schools, principal development, instructional implementation, school improvement, and secondary transitions into feasible plans, clear responsibilities and measurable follow-through.
- Validate course access, credit attainment and secondary transitions using accurate sources, definitions, populations and denominators before making decisions.
- Evaluate implementation and outcomes, examine subgroup opportunity, and distinguish association from causation with qualified analytical support.
- Use approved modern systems and accessible visualizations; partner with data specialists on complex linkage, statistical methods or reproducible analysis.
- Protect confidential information, document consequential decisions, maintain professional judgment and escalate unresolved legal or policy questions.
- Lead staff and partnerships, communicate evidence and uncertainty clearly, and revise ineffective practices with affected communities.
Work Environment
- Work is performed in district offices, classrooms, school grounds, meeting rooms, and other professional settings, with remote participation as authorized.
- The position involves computer use, school visits, observation, facilitation, and detailed review of records, dashboards, assessments, reports, and communications.
- Work requires frequent coordination with school and district leaders, program specialists, students and families as appropriate, data and technology teams, fiscal and legal owners, and external partners.
- The employee encounters interruptions, competing priorities, sensitive student and personnel matters, and urgent concerns requiring calm, documented judgment.
- Workload may increase during planning and budget cycles, program transitions, monitoring and reporting reviews, public meetings, and urgent service concerns.
Other Requirements
- Successfully complete required criminal-record, fingerprint, and employment clearances.
- Complete a tuberculosis risk assessment and any examination required by applicable law or district policy.
- Maintain required credentials and complete district-assigned training in privacy, cybersecurity, accessibility, nondiscrimination, mandated reporting, and workplace safety.
- Protect confidential student and employee records; follow approved access, sharing, retention, incident-reporting, and records-request procedures.
- Travel between district offices, schools, professional-learning locations, and community meetings as assigned.
- Possess a valid California driver's license and maintain insurability when driving is an essential function; confirm the district's actual travel requirements.
- Occasionally work evenings, weekends, or extended hours for school events, public meetings, reporting deadlines, or urgent student and operational matters.
- Perform office and school-based activities involving sitting, standing, walking, communication, and computer use; confirm any role-specific lifting or other physical requirements through local job analysis.
- Perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation.