Jacksonville North Pulaski School District

Position Title: Reading Specialist 

Department: Building Level

Reports To: Building Principal

Contract: 2024-2025 School Year (190 days)

Closing: Until Filled

SUMMARY: The Reading Specialist (RS) will create, implement, and monitor a variety of reading intervention activities for students who are below grade level or struggling to make adequate academic progress in reading. The RS will also be responsible for providing interventions to students who have been identified as showing markers for dyslexia, maintaining accurate records, meeting with parents, attending RTI meetings, and conducting Level 2 screeners with students. The RS will assist the instructional staff to understand how to best meet the reading and language comprehension learning needs of at-risk students through differentiated instruction and other methods. The RS will work with the school and district leadership in identifying and responding to the needs of reading at-risk students using all the resources available to the school.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provides intensive reading intervention in phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, comprehension, and fluency for students. 
• Plans, designs, and executes small group interventions for individual students that incorporate a wide range of reading instructional procedures and empower students to develop strategic behaviors when reading and writing.
• Develops intervention plans based on data collected, analyzed, and synthesized from careful observation of reading and writing behaviors.
• Engages in coaching and development tools and strategies that maximize teacher performance and that of their students.
• Provides continuous feedback and evaluation for students based on the development of individualized goals for performance that are specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic and time-bound.
• Implements the district’s research-based dyslexia intervention program for students demonstrating a need for this intense intervention 
• Monitors students who have been dismissed from a dyslexia intervention program and provides recommendations for the teachers through their accommodation plan/504 plan.
• Consults with teachers regarding dyslexia students’ progress in the general education curriculum.
• Conducts formal and informal reading assessments to monitor students’ progress on a regular basis
• Establishes and maintains professional relationships with principals, teachers, parents, and colleagues
• Attends and provides progress updates for Annual 504 Committee Meetings of dyslexia students
• Other duties as assigned.

EDUCATION/LICENSURE/EXPERIENCE: Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university. Valid Arkansas teaching certificate with required endorsements: Reading Specialist endorsement and dyslexia training/experience are preferred. Knowledge of curriculum design and implementation, the ability to evaluate instruction programs and teaching effectiveness, ability to develop and deliver training to adult learners, ability to interpret data and strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Successful completion of pre-employment background checks. Appropriate personal and professional conduct at all times around students, other staff members and the general public.

The Jacksonville North Pulaski School District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

It is the policy of the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District not to discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, color, religion, national origin or disability in its educational programs, activities or employment practices.