HEAD-ROYCE SCHOOL Oakland, California UPPER SCHOOL HEAD Start Date: July 2021 headroyce.org Mission The mission of the Head-Royce School is to inspire in our students a lifelong love of learning and pursuit of academic excellence, to promote understanding of and respect for the diversity that makes our society strong, and to encourage constructive and responsible global citizenship. OVERVIEW Head-Royce School is a diverse K-12, independent, coeducational college-preparatory day school that offers a challenging and transformative program to educate the whole child. For over 130 years, the School has offered outstanding academic and co-curricular programs. Nestled in the Oakland hills, Head-Royce strives to inspire in its students a lifelong love of learning, an exuberance for academic excellence, an understanding of and respect for the diversity that makes our society strong, and a commitment to global citizenship. The School is committed to a program of excellence, one that provides opportunities for the intellectual and personal development of each child. Its three core pillars of scholarship, diversity, and citizenship guide everything it does and helps cultivate lifelong learners who lead with joy, purpose, and compassion, and are well prepared to embrace the challenges and opportunities of the future. There are many reasons why the Head-Royce Upper School is such a stimulating place — engaging courses; incredible extracurriculars; leadership, travel, and service opportunities; and a passionate, dedicated faculty. The Upper School educational environment reflects the School’s core values and offers a program in which each student can thrive as they are prepared to be effective global citizens who can face and embrace the challenges and opportunities of the future. Head-Royce seeks a new Upper School Head to advance the philosophy and mission of the School’s Upper School for students in grades nine through twelve. The next Upper School Head will be an experienced, visionary leader with a passion for working with students in this age group. Responsibilities for the Upper School Head include overseeing day-to-day operations, academic and co-curricular programs, student life, faculty professional development, and other related aspects of the Upper School. As a member of the senior leadership team, the Upper School Head will work closely and collaboratively with colleagues across the school and in close/direct partnership with the Head of School. CARNEYSANDOE.COM 2 Fast Facts Founded: 1887 Total students: 900 Total students of color: 63.5% Students in Upper School: 385 Total faculty: 122 Total faculty of color: 39% Upper School faculty: 52 Faculty with advanced degrees: 65% Student/teacher ratio: 8:1 Financial aid awarded: $6.3 million in 2020-21 Students receiving financial aid: 27% SCHOOL HISTORY The School was founded in Berkeley in 1887 by Anna Head as Miss Head’s Preparatory School for Girls. In 1919, the School was renamed to the Anna Head School for Girls in honor of its founder. After the property was acquired by the University of California, Berkeley, the campus was relocated in 1964 to its current site on Lincoln Avenue in Oakland. In 1971, the School’s board of trustees opened The Josiah Royce School for Boys, named for Anna’s brother-in-law, in an adjacent site. The two schools merged into a coeducational school in 1979. The remarkable and innovative thinking launched by Anna Head over 130 years ago remains a source of pride and is the core of Head-Royce School today. As Head-Royce looks to the future, the School guided by a comprehensive strategic plan, Bridge to 2022, that aligns its work across five goals: teaching and learning, equity and inclusion, civic engagement, balance and well-being, and financial stewardship. These goals and initiatives are purposely aligned with its mission and intentionally centered on its students. THE SCHOOL AND UPPER SCHOOL DIVISION Firmly rooted in its mission and core values, Head-Royce continues to pursue the best possible education for its students as they enter a rapidly changing world. All members of the Head-Royce community—students, alumni, faculty, staff, administrators, parents, and trustees—strive for a balanced educational environment in which each student can thrive. CARNEYSANDOE.COM 3 Key to each student’s success is the Head-Royce faculty, a group of world-class educators who bring unique perspectives from a wide range of experiences. Their diversity of thought, coupled with their subject-matter mastery, positions them to provide transformative experiences to every student. Faculty are dedicated educators and inspired mentors, experts in their fields, eager to share their enthusiasm for their subjects—and it’s obvious they love their jobs. They take the extra time to discover the right approach for each child and inspire students to reach way beyond the mainstream. Students say the teachers really know and encourage them. “My four words to sum up Head-Royce are: Fantastic, capable, caring teachers!” enthused one current tenth-grader. Similarly, a parent commented, “The faculty met all three of my very different kids in the ways they needed and inspired their engagement in learning.” The Upper School has 52 teaching faculty members. Head-Royce enrolls approximately 900 students with 385 in the Upper School. Students come from Oakland, Berkeley, and over 30 other Bay Area communities. Students of color comprise more than 60% of the population. For the 2020-2021 academic year, the School has granted approximately $6 million in financial aid to 27% of its students. Admission is open to all students regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, physical ability, learning style, and national or ethnic origin. The school continues to seek diversity in students, faculty, administration, and staff. Thirty-nine percent of employees are people of color. The School’s diverse community reflects the city they call home. As such, Head-Royce is committed to respecting, nurturing, and promoting diversity and its importance in the development of students and the well-being of the community. Its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan, created this past summer, prioritizes action and accountability in addressing inequity issues, dismantling oppression, and creating a welcoming, open, and safe community. CARNEYSANDOE.COM 4 College Admission The following is a partial list of colleges and universities that have offered admission to members of the Classes of 2015-2019: Bowdoin College Brown University Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Carleton College Columbia University Duke University Emory University Georgia Institute of Technology Harvard University Haverford College Howard University Kenyon College Lehigh University Lewis & Clark College ACADEMICS Loyola Marymount University Massachusetts Institute of The academic experience in Upper School features Technology a stimulating liberal arts program combining both core New York University curricula and electives. To educate the best possible Northeastern University 21st-century citizens, the faculty regularly evaluate the Northwestern University pedagogy and program to best meet the needs of a Occidental College changing world and to best educate and inspire future Pomona College leaders. To that end, the Upper School program includes courses relevant to today’s world that cover topics Princeton University such as computer science, neurobiology, multivariable Stanford University calculus, Islamic studies, and women’s literature. Over The New School recent years, the Upper School has steadily moved Tufts University away from Advanced Placement (AP) courses in favor Tulane University of offering advanced-level courses that are as rigorous University of California, Berkeley, and allow for deeper and/or more specific exploration of Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, subject areas. Riverside, San Diego, Santa In the Upper School, all students take four years of Barbara & Santa Cruz English and at least three years each of math, history, University of Chicago science, and a world language (French, Mandarin University of Michigan Chinese, Spanish, or Latin). Electives include options University of Pennsylvania in the arts, humanities, a four-year computer science University of Southern California program, and more. Courses are designed to provide Wesleyan University learning opportunities in which students develop critical thinking skills, take intellectual risks, work in collaborative Washington University in St. Louis settings, engage in creative and imaginative learning, Yale University CARNEYSANDOE.COM 5 and practice ethical decision making. Many courses resemble college seminars in content, style, and expectations. Given the robust senior seminars in all departments, from Neurobiology to Oakland Through Many Lenses, or Poetry to Democracy in Action, seniors can craft an academically rigorous fourth-year curriculum that allows them to make deep connections to topics that inspire them. “Head- Royce students are amazing,” said an Upper School faculty member. “They’re motivated, hard-working, dynamic, diverse, inspired, and inspiring!” Other curricular highlights include the I-Search (an extensive ninth grade research project that includes a formal paper and TED Talk style presentation), senior projects (structured internships exploring an area of personal, academic, or professional interest), study abroad opportunities (Head-Royce partners with School Year Abroad), and Global Online Academy (interdisciplinary online courses; Head-Royce is a founding member