Head of School

Since our inaugural year in Fall 2022, our campus has grown in tremendous ways. One of our points of pride has always been our exceptional faculty. They are dedicated educators who are passionate about the holistic growth of our students. From championing academic successes to running after-school clubs, our teachers are on the front lines of all our students’ achievements. This year, we are thrilled to announce 12 new additions to our school community. 

With this growth, a question we frequently receive is “What does the hiring process for teachers look like?” We are proud to have a robust and rigorous process for vetting our teachers well as ongoing professional development opportunities to help new and returning faculty feel confident and prepared for day one in the classroom. 

The Hiring Process 

A pillar of our model is to ensure that we have high standards for both our Learning Expert Teachers and Subject Expert Teachers. Achieving this means we must have an exhaustive hiring process where teachers can show us what makes them top-tier educators. Our approach includes several stages; 

• Candidate Sourcing: An advantage of our extensive network of schools is the ability to fill many of our roles with internal candidates. Positions are typically offered in-house first, allowing us to consider candidates with established successes within our network. When internal applicants are not available, we turn to our Talent Acquisition team, who leverage various platforms to identify and recruit premiere educators 

• Initial Screening: Once identified, candidates are invited to begin the initial interview and screening phase. In this stage, we are looking to see that the candidate holds exceptional credentials for their teaching role and can share with us a proven record of success in prior positions.  

• In-Person Interview: Qualified applicants that do make it past the first round of initial interviews then move on to an in-person interview with our Head of School, Dr. Thies. During this stage, Dr. Thies methodically evaluates a candidate’s teaching philosophy, classroom management techniques, and their fit within our campus community. She looks for teachers that demonstrate a high level of content knowledge along with a true passion for teaching that will keep students actively engaged in the learning process. 

• Demo Lesson: In the final stage, most candidates are asked to present a demo lesson for current students, Dr. Thies and other staff members. Oftentimes, this includes existing teachers working within the candidate’s subject area. This is a crucial stage where the hiring team is evaluating content knowledge, teaching strategies and lesson plans. We are looking for teachers that emulate the exceptional qualities of an educator at a BASIS Independent School. 

• Background and Reference Check: The safety and wellbeing of our students is of utmost importance. Before making any final offers to candidates, we are sure to conduct thorough background and reference checks. It is crucial that others can vouch for the same superb qualities we see during our interviews. 

The Training Process 

Our meticulous efforts do not end once the hiring process is complete! On the contrary, when offers are made and our new faculty are ready to join our community, we get to work onboarding them with all the tools and skills they need to deliver our internationally benchmarked curriculum at each grade level. 

Summer Onboarding 

Every new teacher is required to participate in a week-long onboarding process. During this week, our Head of School, and the Directors from each department in our Administration Team partner together to accomplish the following goals; 

1. Introduce our school culture, policies, and general expectations of a BASIS Independent Bellevue staff member 

2. Team building and making connections 

3. Provide targeted workshops for both curriculum and instruction 

4. Outline our SET/LET model  

5. Allocate time for lesson planning and syllabus creation 

As this week wraps up, our new teachers have begun to understand our model and campus expectations. This sets the stage for them to roll into the next week of training, where our veteran teachers join us for our In-Service, full staff training! 

In-Service Training 

After enjoying summer break, all faculty return to campus the week before school starts for In-Service training. Each member of our Administration Team works to prepare training courses for staff that focus on various needs within the school. These programs include comprehensive workshops on instructional techniques, best practices in classroom management, social-emotional learning and so much more!  

Crucially, this week also provides our faculty with the opportunity to collaborate. Teacher collaboration is essential to creating a dynamic and effective learning environment and our school leadership prioritizes these staff partnerships during In-Service week to set the standard for the coming year. During this week together, teachers coordinate assessment schedules, share resources, and begin their lesson plans together.  

This week of training reaffirms our school’s commitment to excellence and sets the stage for our teachers to continue their professional growth that we will foster throughout the school year.  

Ongoing Development 

Learning is a life-long process and to be a successful teacher, one must have a commitment to the on-going advancement of best practices in the classroom. This is why our professional development opportunities do not end after summer In-Service training.  

Throughout each school year, our teachers have regular access to our Subject Expert Advisors (SADs) who serve as network-wide mentors for Subject Expert Teachers on campus. SADs are both experienced teachers and experts in their field and can offer teachers valuable feedback about content and instruction. In the 2023-2024 school year, our campus was proud to have Mr. Grant Norcross win Subject Expert of the Year within our network! 

Our teachers also have on-campus guidance by way of our teacher mentors and our Student Affairs Team. New teachers are automatically assigned an on-campus teacher mentor who observes and guides new staff as they adjust to teaching within our program. Veteran teachers also receive regular feedback from mentor teachers who often observe and participate in classrooms. Having a frequent and positive administrative presence in the classroom helps to prepare teachers for their formal observations with our Head of School, Dr. Thies. 

Dr. Thies prioritizes her presence in the classroom as early as possible. Teachers know to expect her to conduct observations as early as the first week. While this may seem intimidating to some, she emphasizes that this is a critical part of teacher development, and her priority is to offer support to help teachers grow into the best educators possible. “I am a coach at heart.” she says. “I love the fact that conducting regular observations allows me to not only see the amazing things our teachers are doing firsthand, but it also provides me the opportunity to work with them and help them continue to improve throughout the course of the school year.” 

Our school leadership knows that fostering a culture of excellence within our school starts with the top. This is why we invest in the continuous and ongoing development of our top-notch teachers starting with their first week on campus. We are so proud of our faculty for their endless commitment to becoming masters at their craft and experts in our internationally benchmarked curriculum!