Structured Literacy Specialist, Waypoint Academy - $100,000/year USD

Required: Master's degree in reading instruction OR structured literacy certification (Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, IMSE, CERI, LETRS, Neuhaus, UFLI, or equivalent)

• On-site at Waypoint Academy, Dripping Springs (Austin area), TX. Relocation assistance provided.
• $100,000 annual salary, paid weekly. Health, dental, and vision benefits begin day one.
• Nature-based school integrating structured academics with outdoor adventure
  
  

Most reading specialists work only with students already falling behind. You've built your career believing that's the wrong approach — that Science of Reading principles should be applied universally, not reserved for those flagged for intervention. If this conviction shapes your teaching practice, continue reading.

Waypoint Academy operates as a nature-based school where mornings center on rigorous academics and afternoons shift to archery, survival training, and Hill Country exploration. Your responsibility covers the morning component: delivering small-group structured literacy instruction that advances every K-2 student in phonics, decoding, fluency, and writing. You determine the instructional approach. You analyze the data. You reorganize groups and modify methods as needed. The remainder of your day involves guiding students through adaptive learning platforms, cultivating the relationships that ensure every student reaches 100% of their digital learning targets. No prescribed curriculum. No pull-out intervention model. You hold full accountability for literacy outcomes across the entire cohort.

You're entering a small, developing school. This means you'll construct the literacy framework rather than inherit an established one. As student enrollment expands, you'll determine how structured literacy scales to new cohorts and additional grade levels. If you seek a stable position with established procedures, look elsewhere. If you want to demonstrate that every child learns to read more effectively when instruction is individually designed, this is your opportunity.

What You Will Be Doing

• Delivering small-group structured literacy sessions: systematic phonics, decoding, fluency, and foundational writing for all K-2 students, not limited to those identified for intervention
• Interpreting student performance data from adaptive platforms and running records to reorganize groups and modify instruction between sessions
• Guiding students individually and in small groups through adaptive learning platforms, developing relationships that motivate goal achievement
• Creating your own lesson plans grounded in structured literacy principles, customized to each group's present skill level and learning pace
• Integrating occasional outdoor or hands-on activities to strengthen literacy concepts when they authentically support learning
  
  

What You Won’t Be Doing

• Developing IEPs or managing pull-out intervention schedules with classroom teachers. All students fall under your direct instruction.
• Passively monitoring students on learning platforms. You actively guide them toward goal completion, not simply observe their screen activity.
• Remaining in a conventional classroom throughout the day. Students transition outdoors in afternoons, making your literacy instruction blocks concentrated and high-intensity.
• Grading large volumes of worksheets — adaptive platforms manage practice volume and progress monitoring, allowing you to concentrate on direct teaching.
  
  

Structured Literacy Specialist Key Responsibilities

Drive reading and writing advancement across all K-2 students through structured literacy instruction and adaptive learning platforms.

Basic Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in any discipline
• Master's degree in reading instruction OR structured literacy certification including Orton-Gillingham, Wilson Reading System, IMSE, CERI, LETRS, Neuhaus, or UFLI. One of these credentials is mandatory, not optional.
• 2 years of full-time K-2 structured reading instruction utilizing systematic phonics in a school or clinical environment, within the past 5 years
• Experience creating your own reading lesson plans, and you can articulate what you teach and your instructional methods without citing a commercial program
• Willing to work on-site at Waypoint Academy, Dripping Springs (Austin area), TX
• Willing to instruct all K-2 students (not exclusively struggling readers) and utilize AI-powered adaptive learning platforms daily
• Legally authorized to work in the United States without requiring visa sponsorship
  
  

Nice-to-have Requirements

• Experience across multiple structured literacy frameworks (e.g., Orton-Gillingham and UFLI) with a defined rationale for when each framework is most appropriate
• Documented reading gains across an entire cohort, not solely intervention groups. You can specify the metrics and the results.
• Knowledge of adaptive reading platforms (Lexia, Amira, Reading Eggs, or comparable tools) and leveraging their data to inform instructional decisions
• Experience in alternative school environments: micro-schools, outdoor education programs, Montessori, or comparable settings
  
  

About Waypoint Academy

Nature-based school that blends rigorous academics with real-world challenges.

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 $50 USD/hour, which equates to $100,000 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-5780-US-Phoenix-StructuredLite.003