Learning Specialist

Overview: About Public Prep

The Public Prep Network is a nonprofit organization that develops single-sex elementary and middle public schools that pursue excellence through continuous learning and data-driven instruction. Our model is designed to empower each student to build strong character, demonstrate critical thinking, possess a core body of knowledge and be on a predictive path to earn a degree from a four-year university.

Public Prep is currently comprised of three tuition-free, all-girls charter schools centered on the core values of Scholarship, Merit, Community, and Responsibility.

Girls Prep Lower East Side Elementary, the first all-girls charter school in New York City and the inaugural school in our network, was launched in 2005 and serves 325 students in grades K-4. Girls Prep Lower East Side Middle School and Girls Prep Bronx Elementary School launched in 2009 and are both completing their fourth years of operation. Girls Prep Lower East Side Middle School serves 225 students in grades 5-8th. Girls Prep Bronx serves 375 students in grades K-4 and will serve 450 students in grades K-5 beginning in the fall of 2013.

Both Girls Prep Bronx Middle School and Boys Prep Elementary School will launch in the fall of 2014.

Joining our team at Public Prep

Public Prep is seeking an outstanding special education certified Learning Specialist to join our team at Girls Prep Bronx Elementary School in August 2013.

Learning Specialists work closely with the teachers on the grade levels they are assigned to in order to provide direct and indirect services to all students in need of academic support. Learning Specialists prioritize inclusion through a variety of co-teaching models, including teaming, parallel teaching and alternative teaching. Learning Specialists are strategically-assigned a caseload of students identified as needing a range of services on the continuum from intervention to IEP-mandates in different subjects. Learning Specialists use their expertise in special education to collaborate with all teachers and support staff in the school community at the direction of the Principal.

Responsibilities include:

• Collaborating with grade level teachers to individualize instruction and to discuss students' access to curriculum and learning goals.
• Instructing students and providing support through modifications, scaffolds and interventions to ensure students have access to grade-level content standards and in order to address students' individual needs and learning styles.
• Using coaching tools and strategies that maximize their own performance and their students' performance.
• Providing on-going feedback and evaluation to students based on the development of individualized goals for performance that are specific, measurable, action-oriented, rooted in data and time-bound including but not limited to students' formal IEP goals.
• Maintaining records of students' progress toward IEP goals.
• Fulfilling equitable schedules to serve at-risk students and students with IEPs.
• Communicate with families and building community with them through annual home visits and other school events.
• Attending IEP meetings.
• Providing assessment accommodations.
• Fulfilling additional responsibilities as they are assigned by the Principal.

The ideal candidate will have:

• A Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university
• An M.A., Ed.M or Master's degree in relevant content area
• New York State Dual Certification in Special Education and General Education required
• A minimum of 2 years of demonstrated success as a full-time special education teacher
• Demonstrated success working in a high-performing, urban school setting preferred
• Evidence of excellence in teaching through continuous learning and data analysis
• Exceptional organization and planning skills
• Superior communication skills
• An ability to work collaboratively
• A commitment to single-sex education
• Fluency in Spanish is a plus (but not required)