Title:Special Education Teacher

Division:Middle School (MS) or Upper School (US)

Location:Making Waves Academy Richmond

Reports to:Director of Special Education

Status:Full-time, Exempt, CalSTRS Retirement Eligible (During the Academic Year)

Position Summary

The role of the Special Education Teacheris to work with students who have special needs in their regular classroom or a separate, designated classroom. As a Special Education Teacher, you focus on providing extra help and individualized learning techniques to students with disabilities or special needs. Your job duties include collaborating with general education teachers to determine how to best accommodate and modify lessons based on each student’s individual needs, working with your students to enable them to learn at their pace, and communicating progress and challenges to parents. Students on IEPs are included in the general education environment for a majority of the school day.Teachers areexpected to actively engage and participate in culture building, including but not limited to the classroom, lunch and recess/break supervision, and hallway norm expectations. Teachers are also expected to invest and engage in the work of developing a results-oriented, data-informed, collegial, and productive, team-oriented approach to the work.

Primary Responsibilities

Instruction/Support

• Create and revise culturally relevant, effective, best practice, and MWA-compliant unit and lesson plans aligned with Common Coreand California State curricular standards; these lesson plans and unit plans are differentiated and designed to engage and challenge middle and high school students.
• Support students in a manner that enables them to learn at their pace, also communicating progress and challenges to parents/guardians.
• Plan, prepare and deliver differentiated curriculum based on content standards and grade-level expectations.
• Provide targeted academic intervention to support students’ progress toward IEP goals.
• Implement and maintain a positive behavior support program using appropriate techniques that complement treatment for the students.
• Participate in collaborative meetings with the SPED department and grade-level general education teachers to support the caseload of students with IEPs.
• Complete required documentation for IEPs and Progress Reports in a timely manner.
• Differentiate instruction according to varied learning styles, including child cognitive and social development.

Assessment

• Create and consistently use Formative and Summative Assessments that embed and provide students practice for unit tests, finals, and standardized tests such as the PSAT, SAT, and SBAC.
• Manage a formalized student and parent engagement plan that details engaging students and parents, as well as provides metrics to measure growth and development, socially and academically, on a quarterly basis.
• Administer, analyze and reflect upon quantitative and qualitative student data (school wide benchmark data and classroom data) to inform instructional practice.
• Administer academic assessments as part of education specialist duties pertaining to IEP evaluations (initial and triennial).

Additional Responsibilities and Expectations

Mission Alignment

• Communicate and build relationships with staff, faculty, students, and their families in the culturally and linguistically diverse MWA community.
• Commitment to become an active participant in the school community – attend weekly division-specific professional development sessions, school performances, school assemblies, extracurricular activities, and field trips if needed.

Other

• Perform additional duties as assigned.

Work Environment

Thisjoboperates ina classroom environment. Thisroleroutinelyusesstandardclassroom equipment such aslaptop computers, photocopiers, whiteboards, and Chromebooks.

Physical Demands

While performing theduties ofthisjob, the employee may be required to adhere to the following:

• Frequently walk across the middle and upper school campus.
• Participate in campus supervision duty each week – Monday through Friday frequency may vary based on the supervision assignment each semester.
• Lift files,openfiling cabinets, bend or standon astool as necessary, and sit for long periods.

Travel

Some travel is required for MWA-related events, such as workshops or conferences.

Qualifications

Experience

• Teaching experience is desirable, but related work experience may be considered
• Knowledge of child cognitive development and different learning styles
• Experience working with students and families from historically underserved communities
• Dedication, commitment, and resilience to succeed in an urban public school
• Ability to create lesson plans
• Familiarity with reading and analyzing data
• Previous mentorship experience desirable
• Understanding and ability to implement restorative justice practices
• Strong understanding of California’s A-G college readiness requirements

Skills

• Highly effective communication skills
• Skills in designing and revising authentic, culturally relevant, standards-based lesson plans for high school students
• Ability to adapt and align with school-related initiatives
• Highly organized, goal-oriented, and focused on outcomes
• Ability to communicate with, teach and build relationships with students and their families in the culturally and linguistically diverse MWA community
• Demonstrate an understanding of technology and literacy learning platforms (PowerSchool, Canvas, Blackboard, Google Drive and Calendar, Khan Academy, Newsela, Zinc/Springboard, etc.)
• Professional orientation – appearance, communication, organization, and attitude

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree required
• California Education Specialist Instruction Credential (Mild/Moderate)or current/eligible enrollment in a CTC-approved program required
• RICA Certifications
• English Learner Authorization Certificate - CLAD/BCLAD or current/eligible enrollment in a CTC-approved program required
• Passing scores on CBEST and CSET required
  • Read here for information on the alternate options to meet the CBEST requirement: https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/options-bsr
• California Commission on Teacher Credentialing Certificate of Clearance (COC) required
  • Read here for more information: https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/certificate-of-clearance-(cl-900)

Preferred

• Advanced Degree in Education or related field preferred
• Spanish language proficiency preferred but not required
• Strong desire to work in a team-first setting where colleagues hold one another accountable and support one another to be at their best in lesson preparation and instruction

Equal Employment Opportunity Is Our Policy

The School is an equal-opportunity employer. It is the policy of the School to afford equal employment and advancement opportunities to all qualified individuals without regard to their perceived or identified: race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and hairstyle, including but not limited to braids, locks, and twists); color; gender, (including gender identity, gender expression, and transgender identity, whether or not the employee is transitioning or has transitioned); sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and medical conditions related to such); religious creed (including religious dress and grooming practices); marital/registered domestic partner status; age (forty (40) and over); national origin or ancestry (including native language spoken and possession of a driver’s license issued to persons unable to prove their presence in the U.S. is authorized by federal law); physical or mental disability (including HIV and AIDS); medical condition (including cancer and genetic characteristics); taking of a leave of absence pursuant to the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), Pregnancy Disability Leave (“PDL”) law, Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”), the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), or laws related to domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking laws; genetic information; sexual orientation; military and veteran status; or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy extends to all job applicants and employees and to all aspects of the employment relationship, including the hiring of new employees and the training, transfer, promotion, discipline, termination, compensation and benefits of existing employees. For a full copy of our non-discrimination policy, visit: https://bit.ly/mwapublicnotices