Who We Are

Meeting Street Schools (MSS), a unique network of five schools across South Carolina, was founded in 2008 on the belief that all students can achieve at high levels and deserve the opportunity to receive a high-quality education, regardless of their socio-economic background. It is our belief that a student’s zip code should not determine a student’s access to quality educational opportunities. At Meeting Street Streets, we believe in a holistic approach to student development and work to provide the experience and resources that facilitate student success in the classroom and beyond. To provide this, we make a twenty-year commitment to students and families, from early childhood education to college access support and scholarships.

Do You Have What it Takes?

Who We're Looking For

We are searching for people who strongly align with our mission and believe all students — regardless of life circumstances– can and will succeed. We seek people who have the motivation, drive, compassion, and commitment to ensure that all students reach their full potential. We hold ourselves to high standards and embrace accountability in our pursuit of outcomes that change the lives of students. High-performing people who desire to join us in our mission to change the status quo of education in South Carolina and prove that higher learning is not only possible but expected are encouraged to apply.

The Role

This position reports to the CAO to develop the capacity and sharpen the teaching & learning skills of our school site leaders and teachers. This person will serve as an alignment bridge between the MSS network and school leadership teams, and act as an extended leadership team member and a semi-embedded leader & teacher coach for schools they are assigned. This person should be ready to roll up their sleeves and walk side by side with school leadership and the CAO to improve student outcomes, and bring to life our network wide vision for what joyfully rigorous instruction can look like. The core goal of this person’s job is to improve the quality of rigorous teaching & learning taking place everyday in MSS classrooms, with a particular focus on ELA/Literacy instruction. This person will spend the majority of their time coaching and supporting deans in their role, and also directly coaching a subset of teachers. This person will play a critical role in creating and refining our Academic vision, and will collaborate, give input, offer ideas, and be a creative thought partner alongside the CAO. This role is a good fit for someone who is results oriented, and most of all, a practitioner at heart. This is someone who craves directional alignment but who can also own their development and offer new ideas to improve student outcomes.

Key Goals for the Role

Key Input: Increase quality of teacher instructional practice and student cognitive engagement via coaching, in alignment with network Arcs of the Year

Key Outcome: Increase ELA proficiency and accelerate reading growth network wide and particularly within schools they are embedded in for priority grade levels of focus

Note: Although the focus of this role is ELA/Literacy instruction and results, this person should be able and ready to coach and drive results in ALL contents (e.g. Math, Science, Social Studies, Electives), and should be ready to grow their knowledge in other content areas, and execute on those content-specific visions and systems.

Location: This person can expect to be on school campuses on average 2-3 days each week, sometimes more or less, depending on location of the school campus and needs that arise. When not at school sites, this person will work from the network home office.

A Week in the Life of the Director, Teacher Excellence & Student Outcomes

• CAO & Academic Team Alignment Meetings, CAO Coaching Check-ins, Independent work time on key deliverables
• Walkthroughs and coaching at school sites; attending school-based Leadership Team meetings and/or PD (depending on school schedules)
• Coaching check-ins with teachers & deans (at school sites, some virtual)
• Independent work time on key deliverables
• All subject to change based on needs, time of year, data, school-specific constraints, etc.

• Collaborate with CAO to design a clear ELA/Literacy “flow of block” (e.g. time stamps, student actions, teacher actions) articulated to meet the needs of each grade level band and maximize student learning
• Collaborate with CAO to establish lesson internalization protocols, artifacts, and lesson exemplars for ELA/Literacy aligned to flow of block and CAO vision and guidelines
• Collaborate with school leadership teams to invest deans and teachers in and implement flow of blocks, lesson internalization expectations, system, and protocols
• As needed, provide targeted feedback on teacher’s lesson internalizations in ELA/Literacy, in collaboration with school leadership/coaches; ultimately, provide feedback to leaders/coaches on how to improve succinctness, quality, and impact of their lesson plan feedback to teachers
• Design and facilitate school site and network lesson internalization protocol(s) and planning-based PD (e.g. within a grade or ELA/Literacy content area)
• As needed, collaborate with CAO in vetting, investing, piloting, and roll out of potential new curricula related to ELA/Literacy, as needed
• As needed, collaborate with CAO in determining ELA/Literacy assessment suite

• Collaborate with CAO to develop and support implementation of school-based Leadership Team alignment systems, particularly Observation/Feedback and Professional Development (e.g. Arc of the Year progress monitoring dashboards, agendas, protocols, resources, PD calendars)
• Attend and partake in school-based Leadership team meetings (e.g. weekly or bi-weekly) to support schools in their use of Arc data and micro goal-setting (both observation/feedback Arc data and student outcome data)
• Directly coach a portfolio of teachers, a subset of which will be teachers demonstrating strong results who we want to coach to become network wide exemplars and to demonstrate not just student growth, but student proficiency
• Collaborate with CAO to build a library of exemplar teacher video for key instructional practices
• Directly support and coach Academic Deans on growing teacher skills day over day, via norming walkthroughs, modeling, lesson rehearsals, and significant real time coaching
• Progress monitor Arc data with Academic deans and school leadership through use of Arc progress monitoring dashboard
• Design and facilitate school site and network PD for teachers and leaders (e.g. focused on ELA/Literacy or best instructional & coaching practices)
• Support with design of school leadership PD plans and feedback on schools’ PD 

• Collaborate with CAO and school level data leads to establish effective student data tracking systems, particularly for ELA/Literacy growth and proficiency
• Design a comprehensive MTSS Literacy intervention vision, plan, and system for K-2 and/or 3-8 grade bands, including clearly articulated flow of blocks for literacy interventions
• Design accompanying resources and materials needed to ensure efficacy of interventions (e.g. lessons, libraries, etc.)
• Create a multi-year plan to implement literacy intervention vision & systems across schools, and monitor efficacy and progress of said interventions
• Invest and support schools and teachers in implementing literacy intervention vision & systems via PD, training and coaching 
• Progress monitor implementation of plan using data and walkthroughs, and use data to target PD design/facilitation as well as shifts to coaching and embedded supports at school sites 
• Support with planning and/or facilitation of Data Stepback Meetings and Looking At Student Work Protocols

• Bachelor’s degree required; Masters degree in special education, education administration, or a related field strongly preferred
• A minimum of 5 years of direct teaching experience and 2 years of coaching or district leadership experience in a K-8 educational setting; At least five years of successful prior experience teaching in under resourced communities, preferred 
• Proven track record of driving stellar results in the classroom as a teacher (ideally both in terms of students’ reading growth and proficiency on ELA state exam)
• Proven track record of driving other teachers to stellar results as a result of coaching & leadership (e.g. schoolwide, content, or department results in ELA/literacy growth and/or proficiency)
• Participation in the Relay Graduate School of Education is strongly preferred, but not required.
• Strong experience leading people and managing teams
• Ability to effectively plan and lead professional learning for a group of diverse stakeholders
• Strong understanding of K-8 education, curriculum design, and pedagogical practices, with particularly strong content knowledge of Science of Reading and literacy best practices. Preferred proficiency with South Carolina State Standards and/or Common Core State Standards
• Results-oriented mindset and willing to do what it takes
• Exceptional leadership and communication skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities

The salary for this position starts at $95,000 and is commensurate with experience. Additionally, Meeting Street Schools offers a comprehensive benefits package including and not limited to:

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Pet Insurance

Life Insurance and Disability

Employee Family Wellness

Tax Favored Spending Accounts (FSA/HSA)

Retirement Plans

Referral and Retention Bonuses

At Meeting Street Schools we are committed to building a talented team that reflects the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our students. As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or disability.