Founding Executive Director
School Leader Performance Tasks
Purpose
These tasks are designed to assess your capacity to perform the most critical and high-leverage work of a Founding Executive Director in a pre-opening year.
They reflect the Rooted School Columbia Success Profile and the key areas of leadership we expect in this role:
While each task may draw more heavily on one or two of these domains, your responses should reflect your ability to think and lead across all of them, with particular attention to equity-centered decision-making and urgent action planning.
Instructions
You may complete these tasks in any format that communicates your thinking clearly: written narrative, visuals, audio or video, slides, or a combination. Assume your audience includes multiple stakeholders and decide how to engage them.
Submit all tasks together in a single email to opportunities.rsf@rootedschool.org by the stated deadline. Clearly label each task.
From Data to Action
Leadership Domains: Instructional Leadership, Talent Development, Strategic Execution, and Model Stewardship
You are in the planning year for Rooted School Columbia. Your first class of 9th graders will arrive in August 2026.
You've just received a feeder middle school profile for the 140 students projected to enroll. The data reveals critical gaps:
- 36% overall math proficiency
- Only 12% proficiency for ELL students (24-point gap)
- 24% chronic absenteeism rate
- Significant disparities across racial and socioeconomic subgroups
- Students with disabilities performing 30 points below grade level
The data shows significant variation across feeder schools, notable subgroup disparities, and multiple factors that could impact student readiness for high school.
Your challenge: Transform this data into an executable 90-day action plan using the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework that addresses both immediate needs and systemic inequities.
- 90-Day OKR Action Plan (2-3 pages):
- 2-3 Objectives: Ambitious, qualitative goals addressing root causes
- 3-4 Key Results per Objective: Measurable outcomes with specific targets
- Weekly Initiatives: Executable actions mapped to each key result
- Bi-weekly Check-ins: Data review and adjustment protocols
- Include stakeholder voice: At least one KR should document direct input from ELL students or families and students with IEPs to shape interventions
- Visual OKR Dashboard (1 page):
- Current baseline data by subgroup
- Target metrics for 30, 60, and 90 days
- Clear tracking mechanisms
- Equity Impact Statement (1 page):
- How each objective specifically targets the 24-point ELL achievement gap
- Strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism disparities
- Plan to disrupt systemic barriers, not just raise averages
Reference: You may consult John Doerr’s “Measure What Matters” for OKR framework guidance.
Data Set Provided: Incoming 9th Grade – Feeder Middle School Data, Class of 2026
(Attached separately – includes academic, attendance, discipline, feeder school, and community context tables with subgroup breakdowns)
Teacher Observation, Coaching, and Talent Development
Leadership Domains: Instructional Leadership, Talent Development, Culture Creation
You observe a short classroom video from a teacher in their first year at Rooted. You have some background information on the teacher’s strengths and growth areas.
Background: The teacher, Mr. November, is an 8th grade mathematics teacher in his 3rd year of teaching and first year at Rooted School Columbia. This lesson is adapted from a Success Academy sample math lesson and focuses on “I can find the surface area of a pyramid.” Students work from prior knowledge, use nets, collaborate in groups, and construct 3D models.
Critical Context: His classroom demographics mirror our school data:
- 67% students of color
- 42% qualify for FRL
- ELL students performing 24 points below grade level
- 6 students with IEPs in mathematics
- Wide range of mathematical readiness (3rd to 10th grade levels)
Your challenge: Design a coaching approach that explicitly addresses both instructional improvement and strategies for closing achievement gaps.
- Differentiated Coaching Plan (2 pages):
- 3-cycle progression addressing both management and differentiation
- Specific strategies for:
- Supporting ELL students currently at 12% proficiency
- Scaffolding for students with mathematics IEPs
- Maintaining high expectations while providing support
- Adaptations if teacher shows rapid growth or needs more support
- Connection to school-wide PD on equity
- Coaching Conversation Script (1 page):
- Focus on one high-leverage strategy for supporting ELL learners
- Include specific teacher moves and student outcomes
- Model how to maintain rigor while differentiating
- Recorded Coaching Session (3-5 minutes):
- Role-play coaching the teacher on differentiation strategies
- Demonstrate how you address both urgency and sustainability
- Show how you would handle potential resistance to equity-focused changes
Navigating Adult Culture & Building a DDO
Leadership Domains: Strategic Execution, Culture Creation, Equity-Centered Leadership
It is October 2026, three months into the launch year. Two high-performing teachers in different departments have a deteriorating relationship impacting:
- Cross-department collaboration
- Student interdisciplinary projects
- Overall staff morale
- Student experience
This conflict has surfaced deeper issues about communication norms and professional boundaries affecting the entire team.
Part A: Direct Intervention
Using Daring Leadership and DDO principles:
- Immediate intervention protocol
- Mediation process and timeline
- Key messages to each party
- Systems to prevent recurrence
- Success metrics for culture health
Part B: Collaborative Workshop Design
Design a 90-minute all-staff workshop that transforms this conflict into a learning opportunity where the team collectively develops norms to prevent future issues:
- Facilitator’s Guide:
- Framing as a growth opportunity, not a blame session
- Timeline with transitions
- Decision-making protocol if consensus is not reached
- Collaborative Activities (describe 2-3):
- Exercise for developing communication norms
- Activity for creating conflict resolution pathways
- Process for establishing accountability partnerships
- Stakeholder Engagement Strategy:
- How to ensure all voices are heard
- Methods for psychological safety
- Techniques for productive disagreement
- Follow-up Systems:
- How new norms will be reinforced
- Accountability structures
- Ongoing culture measurement
- Your mediation process and key messages
- Timeline and milestones for resolution
- Success metrics for culture health
- Facilitator’s guide with timing and transitions
- 2-3 collaborative activity descriptions
- Sample norms or agreements the team might develop
- Plan for making decisions if consensus is not reached
Stakeholder Engagement & Fund Development Simulation
Leadership Domains: Fund Development, Ecosystem Engagement, Strategic Storytelling
It is February 2026, six months before Rooted School Columbia opens. You have been invited to present to 20 of Columbia’s most influential leaders. You have 15 minutes to move this group to action.
Additional Context:
- Recent data shows only 36% of Columbia’s students are college-ready
- Local employers report difficulty finding skilled workers
- The community is divided on charter school expansion
Your challenge: Prepare and deliver a high-impact pitch that secures commitments for internships, funding, and political support while addressing potential concerns.
- Written Pitch Outline (1 page):
- Opening hook connected to Columbia’s specific context
- Clear articulation of Rooted’s both/and promise
- 1-2 compelling local workforce alignment examples
- Differentiated asks for each stakeholder type
- Addressing potential objections
- Presentation Slides (3-5 slides):
- Visual storytelling elements
- Data that resonates with business and civic leaders
- Clear call to action
- Follow-up Strategy (half page):
- How you will convert interest to formal commitments
- Timeline for follow-up actions
- Success metrics
- (Optional) Recorded Pitch (2-3 minutes):
- Demonstrate tone, presence, and storytelling ability
- Show how you would handle a skeptical question
Notes:
- Assume the audience has diverse priorities and perspectives.
- You may use any publicly available data or examples you choose.
- You will not be given a specific template. The structure and strategy are yours to design.
Submission Guidelines
- Submit all deliverables as PDFs or shared drive links
- Use visuals, charts, and templates to enhance clarity
- If referencing external frameworks such as OKRs or DDO, briefly explain them
- Ensure all materials are clearly labeled by task number
- Send all materials to opportunities.rsf@rootedschool.org by the stated deadline
Evaluation Criteria
Your submissions will be evaluated on:
- Equity Focus: Explicit attention to closing achievement gaps and addressing systemic barriers
- Urgency and Execution: Ability to translate analysis into immediate, measurable action
- Systems Thinking: Connecting individual interventions to organizational change
- Collaborative Leadership: Engaging diverse stakeholders in solution-building
- Cultural Responsiveness: Asset-based approaches that honor community strengths
- Strategic Communication: Ability to tailor messages to different audiences
- Innovation and Sustainability: Balancing quick wins with long-term transformation