POSITION SUMMARY:

Under the direction of the Principal, the Instructional Specialist will serve as the school's Testing Coordinator and leverage their experience as an early childhood instructional leader. The Instructional Specialist will collaborate with administrators, teachers, parents, and students to ensure that all students are successful and develop skills to help them succeed in the high school environment. The Instructional Specialist analyzes data and works with the school’s administration and faculty in understanding assessment data in order to generate effective responses to the school/students’ needs. Essential components to the position are the possession of substantive organizational skills and the ability to oversee/supervise the effective implementation of required state and county and district assessments. This individual must be able to provide training to school staff in using formative assessments to enhance and engage student learning as well as facilitate the administration of state-mandated assessments.

The ideal candidate has experience with leading and coaching adults to deliver highly-effective K-2 Foundational Literacy and Math Instruction. Is a pragmatic people leader, a strong communicator who can rally others around a vision, strong planners and project managers, and are strong at building inclusive and engaged teams. The candidate is comfortable with using technology too. 

DUTIES and RESPONSIBILITIES: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.

• Works with the Principal to design and run high-quality professional development sessions for faculty and staff;
• Works with the Principal to regularly analyze school-wide data, plan interventions, and make curricular adjustments;
• Works with Student Support Services Team to analyze county assessments to assist school leaders and college partners in data-driven decision-making;
• Observes lessons and provides targeted and actionable feedback to faculty;
• Counsels faculty on instructional, professional, or administrative matters; assisting with classroom teaching or behavior problems;
• Analyzes data to assist in the development of school improvement plans;
• Supervises organizing, managing, and implementing all standardized testing within the building, including training of staff, maintaining accurate and complete records, coordinating distribution and collection of secure test materials, and administering tests in accordance;
• Making meaning of multiple data sources in support of the data-driven decision-making efforts of school leadership; 
• Monitoring student achievement through the use of quarterly milestones and other formative data such as iReady, SPORK, Accelerated Reader, Panorama, and others; 
• Interpreting test results and providing written interpretation and analysis for school and individual teacher use; inclusive of the MSDE Web Sites (www.MDK12.org, www.MDReportcard.org , www.Marylandpublicschools.org ) and www.Edusoft.com; 
• Analyzing school level, county, and district assessments, i.e. SRI and OLSAT to assist school leaders in data-driven decision-making; 
• Analyzing data to assist in the development of school improvement plans; 
• Generating graphic visualizations of data in efforts to assist school leaders in making information meaningful and actionable; 
• Managing the implementation and certification of required state and county testing; 
• Organizing, managing, and implementing all standardized testing within the building, 
• including training of staff, maintaining accurate and complete records, coordinating distribution and collection of secure test materials, administering tests following the established test calendar, providing and completing all test documents to the Department of Testing by established deadlines; 
• Certifying the ethical testing practice within the school building and providing training to staff on ethical testing, test security, and data reporting procedures 
• Providing teachers and instructional support staff with assistance in developing and using local assessments to better align instruction to student needs; 
• May perform teacher responsibilities and duties; 
• Planning and conducting staff development activities that focus on the use of data and assessment to enhance learning and collaborative instructional planning; 
• Training staff in the use of MSDE resources to support the implementation of standardized assessments across subject areas within the grade levels, i.e. voluntary state curriculum, teacher tool kits, sample assessments, scoring rubrics, county curriculum frameworks, county pacing guides, county lesson plans, and county support materials; 
• Acting as the school-based lead in the implementation of district and school-based assessment programs (Performance Matters, EDUSOFT, NWEA, etc.); and 
• Maintain a high level of professionalism, commitment to supporting our local school community, and high academic student performance.
• Performing other duties as assigned.
• Plans, organizes and coordinates both instructional and operational support programs; and
• Performs other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS: The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• Thorough knowledge of the school system’s curriculum, including its Scope and Sequence documents;
• Proven track record of meeting extremely high standards for student achievement;
• Experience in a leadership position (i.e., Principal, Assistant Principal, Supervisor, grade-level, department, or committee chair);
• Experience in workshop presentations;
• Extensive knowledge of the school system’s instructional and supervision practices and trends;
• Successful experience providing training to personnel;
• Strong instructional, classroom management, and discipline skills;
• Ability to work in a team relationship with other school-based professionals;
• Ability to plan, organize and coordinate both instructional and operational support programs;
• Ability to analyze student performance and participation data for instructional implications;
• Computer literacy, including proficiency with Microsoft Word;
• Excellent organizational skills;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills; and
• Effective human relations and interpersonal skills.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

Master’s degree with an emphasis in supervision, educational administration, and secondary school curriculum.  Three years of teaching experience are required. Administrative/ Supervisory experience preferred.

CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Holds and or The ability to obtain an Advanced Professional Certificate; Administration I Certificate.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

No direct supervisory responsibilities.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, talk, hear, walk, sit, and use fingers, tools or controls. The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision such as to read handwritten or typed material, the ability to adjust focus, and depth perception. While performing the duties of this job, the employee may occasionally push or lift up to 25 lbs.
 

WORKING ENVIRONMENT:

The work environment characteristics are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of the job.
 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

None.