Early Literacy Specialist, Alpha - $120,000/year USD

• Based in New York City, NY (on-site position)
• $120,000 annual compensation, distributed weekly. Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage begins on your first day.
• Relocating to join us? We provide relocation assistance.
  
  

Do you see authentic learning as rooted in joy, physical engagement, and secure relationships?

Alpha School is reimagining education—students excel academically at an accelerated pace, freeing up time to cultivate essential life competencies. At the Pre-K level, this begins with something even more foundational: a sense of safety, natural inquisitiveness, and the persistence to explore.

Your objective: guide an on-site NYC Pre-K group that develops a genuine love for learning while achieving early-learning gains at approximately twice the rate of conventional preschool programs. You will structure purposeful, sensory-engaged play sequences aligned with developmental benchmarks, then track outcomes on a weekly basis and iterate rapidly for individual learners.

New York City offers: green spaces for experiential outdoor instruction, culturally rich neighborhoods anchored by engaged family networks, a world-class public transportation system, and proximity to leading early childhood education communities.

Foster joy. Accelerate development. Submit your application today.

What You Will Be Doing

• Structure and lead play-based learning sessions lasting 30–60 minutes that cultivate joy, emotional security, and quantifiable developmental progress
• Build a classroom environment rich in movement and sensory input that sustains high engagement and supports learning across diverse modalities for four-year-olds
• Conduct live observation and documentation: Record same-day, evidence-based notes linked to developmental domains, then refresh each child's milestone tracker every week
• Leverage data to inform teaching: Review weekly documentation to pinpoint each child's immediate developmental opportunity and design targeted instructional responses
• Craft personalized, interest-driven activity modifications for individual children, embedding a single, explicit developmental objective, and reassess effectiveness within a two-week window
• Support children navigating frustration through composed co-regulation and emotional scaffolding instead of punitive or reactive behavior management
• Share student progress, daily routines, and emergent developmental considerations with families in a clear, proactive manner
  
  

What You Won’t Be Doing

• Approach Pre-K as custodial care instead of purposeful early learning
• Default to scripted worksheets or compliance-focused teaching methods
• Allocate the majority of your time supervising digital learning apps rather than facilitating live, tactile instruction
• Apply reactive behavior management strategies rather than employing calm co-regulation and emotional support
  
  

Early Literacy Specialist Key Responsibilities

Ensure NYC Pre-K students cultivate a love of school while achieving accelerated early-learning outcomes through structured, intentional play.

Basic Requirements

• Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education or Child Development, OR recognized CDA/Montessori/Reggio certification
• At least 2 years of hands-on experience with children aged 3–5 in a structured group environment (classroom-based, not exclusively individual care)
• Documented track record of facilitating play-based learning that produces measurable developmental outcomes
• Verified capacity to record developmental milestones objectively and reliably on a weekly basis using a systematic framework or assessment tool
• Advanced relational and emotional attunement skills: Ability to establish trust rapidly, interpret emotional signals with precision, and apply personalized motivational strategies to foster engagement
• Co-regulation and frustration support: Assist children through emotional escalation using composed modeling and intentional emotional coaching
• Authorized to work in the United States without requiring sponsorship
• Available to work full-time on-site in New York City, NY
  
  

About Alpha

Want to join a learning rebellion that’s transforming the traditional classroom?

Alpha School is on a mission to reshape education with a bold approach that harnesses AI to accelerate learning and unleash student potential.

They don’t play by the old rules.

Alpha is creating a new paradigm where students master core academics in just two hours a day, freeing up time for hands-on, passion-driven learning that truly prepares them for the real world.

Alpha School is rewriting the rules of education.

Sounds too good to be true? It’s not.

There is so much to cover for this exciting role, and space here is limited. Hit the Apply button if you found this interesting and want to learn more. We look forward to meeting you!

Working with us

This is a full-time (40 hours per week), long-term position. The position is immediately available and requires entering into an independent contractor agreement with Crossover as a Contractor of Record. The compensation level for this role is $60 USD/hour, which equates to $120,000 USD/year assuming 40 hours per week and 50 weeks per year. The payment period is weekly. Consult www.crossover.com/help-and-faqs for more details on this topic.

Crossover Job Code: LJ-5746-US-NewYork-EarlyLiteracyS.002