Special Education Teaching Assistant / Paraprofessional

Mission: Conservatory Lab Charter School empowers a diverse range of children as scholars, artists, and leaders through a unique and rigorous academic and music education. We enrich the larger community through performance, service, and collaboration. As a laboratory school, we develop and disseminate innovative educational approaches that will positively impact children in other schools and programs.

Conservatory Lab Charter School seeks individuals who are passionate about supporting students to meet their full potential. We seek motivated, insightful individuals who are excited to collaborate with content teachers to plan and implement learning experiences that advance the intellectual, social, emotional and physical development of students. The ideal candidate will help to support a unique school culture and develop skills to support students through professional development, and coaching. Conservatory instructional support assistants work in teams with lead teachers to provide instructional and social-emotional support within the classroom. The School provides professional development integrated into the schedule every week to advance instructional practices and monitor student progress.

The Special Education Instructional Support Assistant is an individual with excellent classroom management skills. The ideal candidate is flexible and can adjust to the changing demands during the school year.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Partner with Lead Teacher and special education specialists to support an optimal learning environment for students either on an individual basis, small group or full classroom setting.
• Lead small group, individual, or whole group lessons based on teacher lesson plans
• Support implementation of individual behavior plan, providing prompted redirection in alignment with individual student plans
• Enforce school and class rules and routines to help students maintain scholarly behavior
• Assist with record keeping for your individual student, small group or classroom setting.
• Collaborate with across school teams to implement supports and accommodations for individual students
• Review you student caseload on a regular basis to understand the individual student’s needs.
• Assist with universal screening of students
• Assist with all testing accommodations
• Assist in maintaining two way communication with families, including attending team/parent meetings as required
• Supervise student groups, individuals or classrooms as assigned by the schedule
• Support students in successfully transitioning while maintaining standard expectations of behavior
• Support maintenance of classroom environment, including preparation for lessons and breakdown of activities
• Support individual student needs as designated by a child’s IEP
• Assist with administrative duties including but not limited arrival/ dismissal, lunch and recess.
• Utilize feedback to reflect on skills and improve performance to improve supports for students
• Substitute for another teacher during meetings, professional development as needed
• Supervise assigned lunch and recess duties
• Perform related duties as requested to support a safe learning environment

• Other duties as assigned

Job Requirements:

• Meet one of the educational requirements set by the state:
  • Obtain an associate's degree in the study program of your choice
  • Earn 48 credit hours at a higher learning institution, such as a community college or university.
  • Pass a state-approved exam, either ParaPro or ACT WorkKeys. Massachusetts requires a minimum score of 464 (on a scale of 420 to 480) to pass the ParaPro. For ACT WorkKeys, you must be graded at a skill level of 5 on reading for information, 4 for applied mathematics and 3 for business writing (or 4 for writing, depending on the district requirements).
• At least 2 years of relevant experience preferred
• Associate degree preferred
• Citizenship, residency or work visa required

• Early Childhood, Elementary, ESL or Special Education degree (Preferred)

• Bilingual - Spanish, Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole (Preferred)