Director Of University School

The University of Tulsa, a private, non-profit university, invites nominations, applications, and expressions of interest for the position of Director of the University School. Reporting to the Provost's Office, the Director serves as chief executive of the school and is responsible for its overall success, providing leadership for establishing and implementing its annual and long-range strategic goals and objectives.

The School

Founded in the spring of 1982 with the goal of developing a national model for the education of gifted and talented students, the school has been built on a foundation of core values that include the pursuit of excellence in scholarship, leadership, and citizenship; the development of critical thinking, problem solving, and responsibility; an environment that engages and empowers students to explore ideas prompting discovery and stimulating creativity; a culture where faculty actively model the philosophy and benefits of life-long learning; and a community of acceptance that understands and celebrates diversity and shares cross-cultural values. The mission of University School is to provide an innovative learning experience designed to challenge gifted students with a dynamic curriculum in a nurturing environment.

Academics

The University School is dedicated to providing students with a foundation for how they learn and apply knowledge throughout their lives. The University School believes in providing an individualized education plan with flexible pacing to adapt to each child's learning needs.

Education is driven by each student's individualized interests, allowing teachers to cater lessons to the innate abilities of children and nurture those special skills and abilities. The University School currently enrolls 186 students and 33 full time faculty members, with a student to faculty ratio of 5:1. This empowers our faculty to provide individualized attention to each student and enables them to reach their full learning potential.

University School's class designations do not conform to those traditionally found at other schools. Students are generally significantly more advanced in their academic level than their peers of the same age.

The school has flexibility to have a variety of ages in the same class and have purposefully chosen class names to reflect this philosophy and program. Interdisciplinary learning is encouraged, and thus a variety of disciplines often focus on a single theme. Students are also taught planning, decision-making, communication skills, and forecasting - all of which helps them to develop a variety of individual talents and thinking skills. Students at all levels participate in Spanish, music, art, age-appropriate computer classes, and perform annually in the drama festival on the University of Tulsa main campus.

Lower School

The University School's Lower School focuses on pushing intellectual curiosity in a natural and organic environment aligned with each child's individual interests. The Lower School is divided into Early Childhood (Ages 3 - 4) and the Primary Level (Ages 4 - 8).

Early Childhood is designed to maximize the social, emotional, physical, and intellectual development of the children. Children are encouraged to be active, independent, and creative learners while also learning to be responsible and cooperative.

The Primary Level flexibly groups children according to reading and math skills, social and emotional maturity, and intellectual interests. Reading is introduced in a personal, organic method so that the important aspects of each child's life are part of their first reading vocabulary.

Just as children select their first oral vocabulary, in our reading program they select their first reading vocabulary. A young child selects single words and short sentences while older primary students write and edit their own stories. As a way of sharing creative endeavors, children are encouraged to read their stories to classmates.

The Bridges in Mathematics curriculum encourages students to think conceptually, work together, gather evidence, explain answers, and then voice their opinions while treating classmates with differing opinions with respect. The math curriculum utilizes Kumon, a learning technique developed over 60 years ago in Japan by Toru Kumon to help his son. Kumon helps students internalize basic math skills, extend concentration, and develop task commitment.

Kumon is extremely sequential, thorough, and systematic. Students are given a diagnostic test to determine their level of mastery.

Mastery means the ability to complete a set of problems accurately within a specified time frame. If there are mistakes, the student corrects them. Worksheets are complete when the student scores 100%. Students master a concept before they move on to another concept.

Upper School

The University School's Upper School is a small community for children ages 8 - 14 that continues to support the principles of life-long learning while encouraging creativity, imagination, and independence. Students in the Intermediate Level are divided into Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2 and Older Intermediates (5-8). Intermediate 1 and 2, as well as Older Intermediate 5 and 6, are self-contained classes.

The Older Intermediate 7 and 8 classes are departmentalized and consist of a wide variety of language arts, science, math, physical education, computer, Spanish, music, art and social studies classes. Each class involves an independent research project to foster an environment of intellectual curiosity while instilling the skills necessary to draw conclusions and present information.

Older students also can earn the privilege of serving as University School Ambassadors, where they are trained to give tours to prospective families and students. The upper school has a variety of clubs including art, speech and debate, podcast, STUCO, Earth matters, junior robotics, and chess. It also supports competitive clubs including the Academic Bowl team, Robotics team, and Math Count team which are among the top in the state. The Odyssey of the Mind teams have competed at World competition the past two years as well.

Facilities and Finances

The School's facilities include large, safe outdoor spaces and playgrounds to complement the state of the art classrooms and resources available to students. The University School is a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Tulsa.

Children may visit classes and interact with professors, staff, and TU students, as well as attend exhibits and utilize university facilities. The University School's building is located on the University of Tulsa campus north of 4th Place between College and Evanston Avenues. The two-story building contains classrooms for all grade levels and specialty classes.

In addition to regular classrooms, highlights include a large gymnasium with a stage, a library boasting more than 10,000 volumes, an indoor play area for younger primary grades, five common areas with tables and comfortable seating, and paved and covered outdoor picnic areas. The University School also enjoys a Butterfly Garden that was completed in 2000 and revitalized in 2011 for parents, students, and staff. Adjacent to the Butterfly Garden is an outdoor performance area.

University School is self-sustaining from tuition dollars and would continue to be funded under that model. The University of Tulsa is responsible for human resources and back-office work for the school, but it is run as an independent organization from the University of Tulsa.

The University of Tulsa and University School seek to further integrate their connections and create a more mission-oriented community focused on achieving the same goals.

The Position

University School's next leader will be a forward and strategic thinker who relishes daily interactions with students, parents, and teachers. The school hopes that its next leader will be engaged and energetic in driving the school's academic mission and supporting the University School community.

University School believes that education must evolve in order to accommodate the needs of current society and an innovation economy. In response to these changing societal conditions, in 2018 University School set out to create a five-year strategic plan and designate priorities to drive our decisions and align with the University of Tulsa.

The strategic planning committee incorporated input from school-wide teacher and parent surveys, as well as current leading research in the field of gifted education. The plan was approved in the Spring of 2019. Below are the four main objectives of the 2019-2024 strategic plan. Work is ongoing for each of these objectives.

• Provide in-school support to meet the social and emotional needs of gifted students in a rapidly changing and diverse society.

• Reorient academic and co-curricular (i.e., clubs, Camp Incredible, and student enrichment) programs to catalyze a school-wide culture of innovation, research, and creativity as the best means to prepare students for our increasingly knowledge-based economy.

• Attract and retain high-quality, innovative faculty and staff who demonstrate a commitment to lifelong learning.

• Raise awareness of our leadership in gifted education.

Building upon the success of this executed 5-year plan, the University School is committed to furthering these initiatives and expanding in the ways they continue to adapt to 21st century education. In addition, the University School aspires to increase enrollment and explore expanding their educational offerings to additional grades over the coming years. The next leader will need to embrace and imbed a commitment to diversity and equity for all constituencies.

The school has achieved great success over the past 40 years, and through the last 4 years has been led by Debra Price. Prior, the school was led by Pat Hollingsworth, its founding director.

Following Price's departure, the University School seeks a dynamic and innovative leader to continue to enhance the school's reputation in the community and beyond. As the school continues to modernize and aspires to increase enrollment, they seek a forward-thinking leader to ignite the faculty, staff, students, parents, and greater University of Tulsa community around these initiatives. The School's next leader will work closely with Provost George Justice and the faculty, students, parents, and University of Tulsa community to enact a transformational vision that builds connections to the University and creates a genuinely connected community and institution.

Required Qualifications

Strong candidates will have academic leadership experience, such as serving as Head or Director of a private early childhood-8 or early childhood-12 institution. Ideally, this person will have experience in expanding a school from early childhood-8 to early childhood-12, although this is not required.

They should have a demonstrated track record of guiding faculty, staff, and students to the next level of excellence. Strong candidates should also demonstrate the following:

• An ability to recruit, retain, and develop faculty in education;

• An ability to recruit, retain, and develop high quality faculty across diverse disciplines;

• A record of successful administrative leadership, including budgeting experience and financial sophistication;

• A clear commitment to maintaining and increasing diversity at all levels of the University School and fostering an inclusive and equitable working and learning environment;

• Enthusiasm for working efficiently with faculty, students, staff, educators, and community leaders to advance the school's teaching, extracurriculars, and service missions across all programs;

• The ability to represent the University school effectively to parents, alumni, and all external constituencies, enhancing the visibility and impact of its work while i