Work at YES

The Answer

We are currently hiring for the 2011-2012 school year. Check out our openings and to apply to help us prepare more Houston students for college graduation.

Teaching and Leading at YES Prep

If our theory about teachers is true, that teachers are the single greatest factor determining student achievment, then the only way that we will be able to create a new educational status quo is by attracting and developing our country's top classroom leaders. Our teachers come from diverse academic and professional backgrounds and are united in doing whatever it takes to ensure that more of our students are prepared for college graduation. Our focus at YES Prep is great instruction. To maximize our effectiveness in the classroom, we have built capcity around supporting teachers and built structures that allow our teachers to focus on teaching:

Common systems and beliefs about student management - Over the past decade, YES Prep's behavioral management systems have evolved to support our students in great decision making. In our middle schools, our teachers and school leaders use a behavioral tracking system that tracks poor and excellent decisions. When students recieve three marks for bad decisions in a given week, they get a note or phone call home. This allows us to inform the parents or gaurdians of some patterns in behvaior. If a student gets five marks in one week, they earn a spot in RISE. RISE stands for Restoring Individual Student Excellence. To read more about RISE, check out our Student Support Blog. The power of these systems is that they are executed effectively in every classroom and by every teacher at YES Prep. Because the system is unerstood and executed at every level, our teachers are ability to focus on teaching.
Common Assessments and Content Team Days - Our curriculum is driven by our teachers and developed in a structure called Content Team Days. Teachers in common grade levels and content areas will meet twice per six weeks to develop and grade common assessments. The common assessments are developed by teachers in a collaborative way that establishes a high bar of rigor for our students and drives planning and instruction for the upcoming six weeks grading period.
Early Dismissal Days - On most Wednesdays, students are dismissed early while teachers are able to focus on team planning, meetings and professional development. We build this time into our schedule because we believe that our teachers need the time to reflect and develop together.
Professional Learning Modules -
Deans of Instruction -
Instructional Excellence Rubric -
Teacher Career Continuum - YES Prep is revolutionizing the way that teachers are evaluated and compensated. Read more about our Teacher Career Continuum here.

Teaching Excellence Program

YES Prep invests in our teachers. Our year-long, first-year teacher induction program was recently recognized by the Texas Education Agency as a model teacher preparatory and training program for young educators. Teaching Excellence is a year-long professional development pathway that support teachers in three dimensions. First, new teachers complete a summer training induction that creates a foundation for new teacher success in the classroom. Secondly, teachers are paired with an instructional coach that observes your classroom once every two weeks, providing real time feedback to support your growth. Finally, new teachers attend monthly professional learning sessions that continues the training and development of our first year teachers. In combination, these structures and support allow our teachers to gain the knowledge, skills and mindsets necessary to immediately impact student achievement.

To read more about Teaching Excellence, follow our Teaching Excellence blog, visit the Teaching Excellence site or email a request for information at teach@yesprep.org.

Watch our Office parody about Teaching Excellence featuring Senior Director of Teacher Development, Nella Garcia and Phil Cimback, Teach For America Alum and YES Prep North Central teacher.

Leading Excellence Program

YES Prep seeks out the best leaders from within and outside of the organization to develop their skills and talents as future school leaders. The Leading Excellence program is a school leadership pipeline program that allows interested candidates to engage in training and development that sets candidates up for success as a school leader.

Rice Educational Entrepreneurial Program (REEP)

YES Prep works in conjunction with the Jesse H. Jones School of Management at Rice University that allows school leaders and aspiring leaders to work toward their MBA while continuing their service at their campuses. YES Prep currently has several school leaders enrolled in the program.

For more information on REEP, visit: http://business.rice.edu/reep.aspx
Read the profile of Matt Neal (Dean of Instruction at YES Prep Lee) & Keith Desrosiers (Manager, Career Teacher)

Living and Working in Houston

Bill White, in an interview with YES Prep, he described Houston as, "America's city of opportunity." Houston is the country's fourth largest city, but despite its size, it retains an intimate feel with all of the benefits of a metropolis. Boasting the largest medical district in the nation, Houston is a leader in medicine and medical research. Houston is home to the second largest theatre district in the country outside of New York City. Sports fans cheer on our four major teams (NFL: Texans, MLB: Astros, NBA: Rockets, MLS: Dynamo) in every season of the year. Housing the headquarters of 22 Fortune 500 companies and offices of many more, the region has long enjoyed prosperity with a low cost of living, great parks and restaurants and ease of travel. Houston is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse cities in the world.

For more information about Houston, check out some of our favorite links: