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

• $120,000 annual salary, paid weekly, with full health, dental, and vision coverage starting day one
• On-site position at an Alpha campus: Beverly Hills, La Jolla (San Diego), Lake Forest (Orange County), Palo Alto, Piedmont, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, or South Bay (LA), CA; Greenwich, CT; Boca Raton or Miami Beach, FL; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; or New York City, NY (relocation assistance available)
• 40-hour workweek, 100% classroom-based with K-2 students
  
  

Your structured-literacy credential — Orton-Gillingham, LETRS, Wilson, IMSE, or a Master's in reading instruction — has opened the door to every K-2 reading position you've pursued. In most of those roles, it also defined your ceiling: you delivered someone else's curriculum and documented results. At Alpha, the credential is your entry point. If that difference resonates with you, continue reading.

Alpha has redefined traditional schooling. Students move through academic content independently using AI-adaptive applications. There are no lectures, textbooks, or district pacing calendars. Your position is where human expertise becomes irreplaceable. You build 20-minute small-group workshops using live app analytics; sessions are deliberately brief because targeted instruction outperforms duration. You also facilitate motivation sessions designed to bring 100% of your students to their weekly app targets through Alpha's motivational framework (school currency, leaderboards, age-appropriate gamification). When you catch a miscue during a session, you identify the phonemic deficit and have the next day's workshop recalibrated by close of business. That is the expectation.

Families enrolling at these campuses have selected Alpha for measurable results, not merely enrollment. Parents review weekly reports on their child's reading development and they engage directly. You will field specific questions about individual student progress, and vague reassurances will not suffice. You will reference the running record, identify the phonemic challenge, and describe your instructional response. That level of accountability should energize you, not burden you.

Your initial months focus on establishing credibility in the room. Workshops must be engaging, appropriately leveled, and demonstrably effective; student satisfaction and "love your Guide" survey scores (target 90% ) provide direct feedback. As you demonstrate success, your influence grows beyond your own classroom: effective strategies you develop become templates for other Alpha campuses, and your diagnostic precision informs reading instruction as Alpha scales. The impact you create extends well beyond your immediate environment.

Before an offer is extended, you will submit a brief video in which you tell a captivating story for young children, and you will complete a full on-campus day working directly with K-2 students. Low energy with children will disqualify you, regardless of credential strength. That is intentional. Apply today.

What You Will Be Doing

• Building small-group K-2 reading workshops using real-time adaptive-app analytics, anchored in structured-literacy frameworks (Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, LETRS, IMSE, or equivalent)
• Leading daily motivation sessions that drive 100% of your students toward their weekly app objectives through Alpha's motivational model (school currency, leaderboards, age-appropriate gamification)
• Analyzing AI-generated performance metrics (fluency trajectories, decoding precision, comprehension indicators) to refine instruction mid-day, not only during pre-planning
• Conducting running records, fluency probes, and decoding assessments to generate growth visible in weekly campus data reviews
• Serving as the engaging, energetic adult your K-2 students are excited to see each day
  
  

What You Won’t Be Doing

• Implementing a published reading curriculum, scripted lesson sequence, or district pacing guide; you create lessons directly from student performance data
• Delivering lectures to a full classroom; all teaching occurs in small, targeted groups while students engage with academic content through adaptive apps
• Serving as a reading consultant, instructional coach for other educators, or district-level specialist; you are in the classroom with students daily
• Managing a traditional classroom schedule: subject-by-subject lectures, homework correction, test preparation. Your scheduled time is dedicated to workshops, motivation sessions, and data-driven small groups
• Drafting IEPs, 504 plans, or formal diagnostic documentation; student advancement is tracked through app analytics and your running records, not through special-education compliance paperwork
  
  

Literacy Specialist Key Responsibilities

Deliver quantifiable K-2 reading growth across phonics, fluency, and comprehension within a campus culture where outcomes are evaluated weekly.

Basic Requirements

• Structured-literacy certification (Orton-Gillingham, LETRS, Wilson Reading System, IMSE, CERI, Neuhaus, UFLI, or equivalent) OR a Master's degree in reading instruction
• Bachelor's degree in any discipline, plus 2 years of full-time K-2 structured reading instruction in a school or clinical environment within the past 5 years, utilizing systematic phonics or structured literacy
• Proven ability to independently design reading lessons and clearly explain your instructional methods and content, without dependence on a published program
• Availability to work on-site full-time at one Alpha campus: Beverly Hills, La Jolla (San Diego), Lake Forest (Orange County), Palo Alto, Piedmont, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, or South Bay (LA), CA; Greenwich, CT; Boca Raton or Miami Beach, FL; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; or New York City, NY (relocation assistance available)
• Readiness to work with all K-2 students (not exclusively struggling readers) and incorporate AI and adaptive-learning technologies into daily instruction as these tools develop
• Legal authorization to work in the United States without requiring visa sponsorship
  
  

Nice-to-have Requirements

• Direct experience with AI-driven or adaptive reading platforms (e.g., Amira, Lexia, i-Ready, Reading Plus) for instructional planning or analyzing student performance data
• Documented reading outcomes (fluency gains in WCPM, accuracy growth, decoding progression) you can cite with specific numbers
• Familiarity with diagnostic reading assessments (DRA, DIBELS, AIMSweb) for creating differentiated instructional groups
• Experience in high-accountability educational settings (independent schools, elite charter networks, premium tutoring programs with outcome-focused families)
• Background in performance, youth sports coaching, or otherwise engaging a K-2 audience beyond the reading classroom
  
  

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-5632-US-RoundRoc-LiteracySpecia.015