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Great things are happening at Battle Creek Public Schools!
Battle Creek Public Schools (BCPS) is located in Calhoun County, Michigan (between Chicago and Detroit), serving the City of Battle Creek as well as parts of Emmett, Pennfield and Bedford townships, and the City of Springfield. With a bold goal of achieving 100% success for every Bearcat, we offer a broad range of educational experiences to meet the individual needs of students at all levels, including experiential learning, individualized instruction, advanced and accelerated curricula, and outdoor education.
In 2017, BCPS received an historic investment from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and we are continuing our transformation plan, advancing bold, top-to-bottom changes to provide a world-class career, college, and community-ready education for every student, in every grade, at every school. In May of 2023, we were thrilled to announce an average teacher pay increase of more than $10,000, positioning us as one of the best paying districts for teachers in Southwest Michigan.
We offer competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits (including up to $20k in home purchase assistance), and opportunities for professional development. Apply now and join the Bearcat family.

About BC STEM Innovation Center

The Battle Creek STEM Innovation Center is a sixth- through eighth-grade learning community built around the belief that students are innovators capable of transforming their world. Students are empowered to ask questions, explore possibilities, collaborate with others, and apply new ways of thinking to authentic problems that matter to them and their community. Through an integrated curriculum, students experience every subject through creative exploration, inquiry, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
 

At BC STEM, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are not limited to a particular class, program, or club. STEM is integrated throughout the student experience. Students engage in hands-on, project-based learning that asks them to investigate problems, apply an engineering and technology lens, design solutions, test their thinking, and improve their work.
 

BC STEM students learn traditional middle school contentincluding English language arts and social scienceswithin interdisciplinary STEM experiences. Students build reflective inquiry and problem-solving skills while gaining experience with engineering, design, coding, programming, physical computing, digital creation, and the development of working models and prototypes.
 

The next principal of BC STEM will be responsible for protecting, strengthening, and advancing this distinctive instructional model while ensuring that all students demonstrate strong academic growth and are prepared for future college, career, and community opportunities.
 

Position Summary:  
 

Battle Creek Public Schools is seeking an exceptional, inspired, equity-driven instructional leader to guide the Battle Creek STEM Innovation Center into its next chapter of academic excellence, innovation, and community impact.
 

The BC STEM Principal must believe that every student is an innovator and must be able to translate that belief into rigorous daily instruction across all classrooms and content areas. This leader will ensure that STEM is not treated as an isolated course or enrichment opportunity, but as the organizing framework through which students inquire, collaborate, design, create, solve problems, and demonstrate their learning.
 

The successful candidate will possess deep knowledge of highly effective middle school instruction and demonstrated experience leading interdisciplinary, student-centered, project-based learning. The principal will strengthen the integration of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, literacy, social sciences, and the arts while maintaining a clear focus on grade-level standards, academic achievement, student belonging, attendance, and positive behavior.
 

This leader will develop the capacity of teachers to facilitate authentic inquiry, engineering design, collaboration, productive struggle, and real-world problem-solving. The principal will also build meaningful partnerships with families, community organizations, higher education institutions, and employers to expand opportunities for students to see themselves in STEM-related college, career, and community pathways.
 

The transformation of BC STEM depends upon an inspired leader who can preserve the school's innovative identity while building the instructional coherence, adult accountability, and systems necessary to achieve 100% success for every Bearcat.

Position Responsibilities:
 

STEM Instructional and Innovation Leadership

• Establish and communicate a clear, compelling vision for BC STEM in which every student is viewed and developed as an innovator.
• Ensure that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are meaningfully integrated across all content areas rather than confined to individual courses, clubs, or special events.
• Lead the development and implementation of rigorous interdisciplinary units that connect grade-level academic standards with authentic problems, inquiry, engineering design, technology, and project-based learning.
• Ensure that students regularly research, collaborate, design, build, test, revise, communicate, and reflect as part of the instructional experience.
• Support teachers in designing learning experiences that require students to apply knowledge in new contexts and develop creative, evidence-based solutions to real-world and community-based challenges.
• Establish expectations for high-quality student products, presentations, exhibitions, demonstrations, prototypes, and other authentic demonstrations of learning.
• Monitor the quality and consistency of the BC STEM instructional model through classroom observations, learning walks, student work reviews, collaborative planning, and instructional feedback.
• Ensure that innovation and hands-on learning are grounded in academic standards and produce measurable growth in literacy, mathematics, science, and other core content areas.
• Develop teacher capacity in project-based learning, inquiry-based instruction, engineering and design processes, educational technology, interdisciplinary planning, and student-centered learning.
• Protect collaborative planning time and establish structures that allow teachers from different content areas to design and implement integrated learning experiences.
• Ensure that technology is used as a tool for research, collaboration, creation, problem-solving, communication, and responsible digital citizenshipnot simply content consumption.
• Create systems to evaluate the effectiveness, rigor, equity, and academic impact of STEM programming.
   
  

Community, Career, and Postsecondary Partnerships

• Build and sustain partnerships with local employers, STEM professionals, community organizations, colleges, universities, and technical education providers.
• Create opportunities for students to engage with mentors, experts, authentic audiences, workplace experiences, field studies, competitions, and community-based projects.
• Establish a BC STEM advisory structure that includes educators, students, families, business and industry representatives, higher education partners, and community leaders.
• Ensure that students understand the connection between their middle school learning and future STEM-related college, career, and community opportunities.
• Increase the visibility of BC STEM by regularly sharing student learning, projects, accomplishments, exhibitions, and community contributions.
   
  

Experiential and Outdoor Learning

• Preserve and strengthen experiential and outdoor learning opportunities as important components of the BC STEM student experience.
• Ensure that outdoor education experiences are intentionally connected to academic standards, scientific inquiry, field research, teamwork, decision-making, risk-taking, conflict resolution, and student reflection.
• Develop systems that allow students to apply classroom learning in laboratories, outdoor environments, community settings, and authentic problem-solving contexts.
• Ensure equitable access to hands-on, technology-rich, laboratory, field-based, and community-connected learning experiences for all students.
   
  

Positive School, Innovator, and Community Culture

• Create a school culture in which every student sees themselves as an innovator, problem-solver, collaborator, creator, and contributor.
• Establish high expectations for academic achievement, intellectual curiosity, perseverance, productive struggle, creativity, and continuous improvement.
• Build a culture where students and adults are willing to ask questions, test ideas, learn from unsuccessful attempts, revise their thinking, and persist through challenging work.
• Ensure that student voice and choice are meaningfully incorporated into projects, learning experiences, school decisions, and community problem-solving.
• Maintain a safe, welcoming, inclusive, and affirming middle school environment in which students experience strong relationships and a sense of belonging.
• Create opportunities for families to understand, experience, and participate in the BC STEM instructional model through showcases, exhibitions, demonstrations, family learning events, and community projects.
• Develop an adult culture characterized by interdisciplinary collaboration, shared ownership, instructional risk-taking, reflection, and collective responsibility for student success.
   
  

Additional Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

• Deep understanding of integrated STEM education and the ability to articulate what high-quality STEM instruction should look like across all middle school content areas.
• Demonstrated experience leading or supporting interdisciplinary, inquiry-based, project-based, experiential, or problem-based learning.
• Knowledge of the engineering design process and its application within student learning.
• Ability to distinguish engaging activities from academically rigorous STEM learning grounded in grade-level standards and measurable learning outcomes.
• Experience supporting teachers in the development of authentic problems, driving questions, student products, exhibitions, presentations, and performance-based assessments.
• Ability to use student achievement data, student work, classroom evidence, and implementation data to evaluate both academic outcomes and the quality of STEM programming.
• Knowledge of effective middle school practices, including adolescent development, student belonging, exploratory learning, intervention, acceleration, and family engagement.
• Understanding of how literacy, mathematics, science, social sciences, technology, engineering, and the arts can be integrated without weakening the integrity of individual content standards.
• Experience developing partnerships with business, industry, higher education, technical education, community organizations, and STEM professionals.
• Ability to lead technology-rich learning environments while establishing clear expectations for digital citizenship, equitable access, responsible use, and instructional impact.
• Demonstrated ability to expand access to advanced, innovative, and STEM-related learning for students who have historically been underrepresented in STEM fields.
• Ability to recruit, develop, inspire, and retain educators who embrace interdisciplinary planning, innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications:

• Master's degree in educational administration or related field
• Valid Michigan School Administrator Certificate required
• Five or more years of successful teaching experience
• Demonstration of successful use of data to improve student learning

• Experience contributing in an urban school district

Additional Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

• Deep understanding of integrated STEM education and the ability to articulate what high-quality STEM instruction should look like across all middle school content areas.
• Demonstrated experience leading or supporting interdisciplinary, inquiry-based, project-based, experiential, or problem-based learning.
• Knowledge of the engineering design process and its application within student learning.
• Ability to distinguish engaging activities from academically rigorous STEM learning grounded in grade-level standards and measurable learning outcomes.
• Experience supporting teachers in the development of authentic problems, driving questions, student products, exhibitions, presentations, and performance-based assessments.
• Ability to use student achievement data, student work, classroom evidence, and implementation data to evaluate both academic outcomes and the quality of STEM programming.
• Knowledge of effective middle school practices, including adolescent development, student belonging, exploratory learning, intervention, acceleration, and family engagement.
• Understanding of how literacy, mathematics, science, social sciences, technology, engineering, and the arts can be integrated without weakening the integrity of individual content standards.
• Experience developing partnerships with business, industry, higher education, technical education, community organizations, and STEM professionals.
• Ability to lead technology-rich learning environments while establishing clear expectations for digital citizenship, equitable access, responsible use, and instructional impact.
• Demonstrated ability to expand access to advanced, innovative, and STEM-related learning for students who have historica...