TITLE: Equitable Supports Coach

WHO WE ARE:

Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is a student-focused, innovative educational organization committed to academic excellence. Our mission is to empower and educate all students to think critically, creatively, and responsibly, to embrace diversity, and to pursue their dreams with a purpose. We are a family of excellent public schools in which every student has the opportunity to succeed and the power to create their own future.

Led by forward-thinking leadership and our commitment to prioritizing students, racial equity, and authentic engagement with our families, team members, and communities, our staff have diverse opportunities to develop their careers in a challenging but rewarding environment. We are an organization for people who are passionate about education and who are committed to the Indianapolis community.

SUMMARY OF OPPORTUNITY:

The Unified Student Supports team is looking for an experienced behavior/climate and culture coach with special education certification or a coach with significant experience in growing teachers’ seamless application of positive intervention and behavior supports in the instructional environment. The Equitable Supports Coach plays a key role in ensuring that the instructional environment, regardless of the least restrictive environment, is managed through clearly communicated systems and processes, fosters a sense of belonging and community for the children served, and minimizes distractions to engaging and rigorous content by way of effective and consistently implemented behavior interventions. As a member of the Unified Student Supports Team, you will receive excellent benefits, opportunities to grow within your role and the organization, and collaborative and supportive colleagues who put students first.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

The following outlines what your core duties and responsibilities will be for this position and provides a sample overview of what your day-to-day may look like.

Core Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as the first and strongest advocate for racial and ableness equity and student-centered approaches to instruction, intervention, and student engagement
• Utilize the IPS district coaching framework, with fidelity, to enhance teachers’ ability to foster high behavioral expectations, rigorous learning environments, and student achievement
• Demonstrate thorough knowledge of best practices relating to building positive culture and climate in the classroom for all types of learners (to include students with disabilities, students with 504 services, multilingual learners, etc.)
• Ability to problem-solve, support, and model behavioral systems, processes, and strategies
• Ability to work collaboratively with teachers, building leaders, and USS members
• Experience in aligning teachers’ systems and processes to student outcomes in order to translate the critical connection for teachers engaged in the coaching cycle
• Ability to relate, motivate, and inspire teachers to strive to new heights
• Provide weekly updates to USS admin on coaching data to inform systematic professional development (for the district, LC, or school)
• Mentor new teachers (or work with those who are supporting new teachers) on organizational and culture/climate systems and best practices that allow the teacher to maximize the learning environment
• Communicate effectively, and in a timely manner, with school staff, parents and guardians, USS and district staff
• Attend MTSS, 504, and/or case conference meetings, periodically or when requested, in order to provide behavioral intervention recommendations for the problem-solving teams
• Build teacher capacity by participating in and facilitating school, LC, and district professional learning opportunities that target the behavioral needs of assigned schools and teachers
• Support with student transitions (bridging) and transition planning
• Work with building leadership to discuss, strategize and problem solve trends in discipline and/or climate and culture classroom level data to support teachers’ use of research-based interventions and data-response
• Ensure MTSS is the backbone of all coaching, intervention planning and monitoring, strategic data response, etc.
• Assist in the coordination and articulation of the district’s special education programs and services across and between grade levels
• Advocate for and model strong school-family partnerships to ensure students have as few barriers to achievement as possible
• Consistently contribute to a positive team culture by being direct and transparent and helpful and collaborative, while prioritizing a customer service orientation
• Other duties as assigned by the USS administrative team

“Day In the Life” Overview

On a regular day, as the Equitable Supports Coach, you might:

• Respond to building-based requests for support with strategic interventions aligned to student attendance, discipline, culture and climate systems, etc.
• Identify, share, and model best practices aligned to whole child development
• Support teachers with their preparation of classroom-based systems and processes that maximize the learning environment, foster high expectations, and support the individual needs of all students
• Support building teams with ideas for incentives and inclusionary discipline responses that support safe, continuous access to the school environment
• Facilitate a walkthrough or paired observation to identify strengths and areas of development in teachers’ instructional practices with an eye on behavior management/support systems and processes that promote learning
• Engage in a debrief conversation with a teacher, highlighting instructional practices or moves to be implemented in future lessons while ensuring an opportunity for the teacher’s personal reflection, practice, and feedback
• Review student data (NWEA, class or content CFA, etc.) to draw correlations between student mastery and the teacher’s use of positive behavior systems and processes (or lack there of)
• Review coaching data (via the IPS district coaching framework) to determine priorities for professional learning opportunities
• Refer, or recommend that the school refers, individualized student concerns to the Behavior Supports Specialist for observation and problem-solving

WHAT YOU’ll BRING: SKILLS AND MINDSETS

As an ideal candidate for this role, you will be able to achieve the following:

• Highly-developed communications skills (written/verbal) and interpersonal savvy
• Results/action-orientation; project management skills
• Racial equity mindset and other critical indicators related to DEI
• Organizational agility; developed negotiation skills
• Unquestionable personal code of ethics, integrity, diversity and trust
• Able to successfully navigate within varying degrees of ambiguity in a fast-paced environment
• Strong strategic analysis skills
• Ability to be creative in developing alternatives to meet students’ iInstructional needs
• A track record of developing and maintaining strong working relationships with and among a diverse group of actors
• Close attention to detail coupled with the ability to exercise good judgment
• Proactive nature; able to anticipate conflicts before they arise
• Ability to work well independently as well as collaboratively
• Ability to execute meetings, calls and emails with professionalism, courtesy and accuracy
• Personal qualities of maturity, humility, strong work ethic, sense of humor, and diligence
• Ability to effectively allocate and prioritize time to several tasks to ensure completion of all

EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION, AND LICENSURE REQUIREMENTS

• Certification or ability to be fully certified by the Indiana Department of Education
• 5 to 7 years of experience as a skillful practitioner and evidence of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to execute this role at a high level
• Working knowledge of federal and state special education laws, rules, and practices including IDEA and Article 7

FLSA CLASSIFICATION:

Exempt

ELIGIBILITY FOR REMOTE WORK:

Not eligible

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

The physical requirements described here 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 individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel; talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand and walk. The employee is occasionally required to sit; reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

EEOC STATEMENT:

Indianapolis Public Schools, in accordance with its nondiscrimination policies, will not discriminate in its programs, facilities, or employment or educational opportunities on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, sex, age, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, familial status, domestic violence victim status, homelessness or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations, or ordinances. Indianapolis Public Schools does not tolerate any form of retaliation or bias-based intimidation, threat, or harassment that demeans individuals’ dignity or interferes with their ability to learn or work.

DISCLAIMER:

Essential functions, as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act, may include any of the above representative duties, knowledge, and skills. This job description is illustrative only, and is not a comprehensive list of all essential functions and duties performed by the occupant of this position. Factors such as regular and punctual attendance are not routinely listed in job descriptions, but are an essential function.