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Student Supports (Special Education) Coordinator (2018-2019)

Who We Are

RePublic Schools is a network of high-performing public charter schools based in Nashville, TN and Jackson, MS with a mission to reimagine public education in the South and prepare all of our scholars to graduate from college. In addition to providing a world-class traditional academic curriculum, we empower our students to be change-makers by teaching them to code – starting in the 5th grade.

Despite the fact that our scholars come from traditionally underserved communities (approximately 85% identify as low-income, and nearly 95% as students of color), we have seen them defy the odds to achieve outstanding results. RePublic’s schools have scored in the top 5% of all open-enrollment public schools across the state of Tennessee for both student growth and absolute achievement – making ours the first (and only) charter schools in state history to achieve this dual distinction.

At RePublic, we cultivate a cohesive community of families, staff, and scholars committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure our scholars succeed. We are looking for a Student Supports (Special Education) Coordinator in Jackson, MS for the 2018-19 school year in one of RePublic’s schools. Candidates must share our unwavering belief that all children can achieve at high levels and change the world. Sound like you?

What You’ll Do

Overview

At RePublic, we have a deep commitment to serving students who need us most. In any given year, anywhere from 12-20% of students in our schools require special education services, and we are serving a growing ESL/ELL population as Jackson’s community evolves. Our scholars require a diverse range of instructional supports to meet the highest of academic expectations. The school-based Student Supports Coordinator is responsible for designing, implementing, and managing a robust, compliant, and effective vision and strategy for serving scholars with diverse learning backgrounds - and ensuring that staff members have the training and development necessary to ensure all scholars have a rigorous and differentiated learning experience.The school-based Student Supports Coordinator reports directly to the Principal and serves as a critical internal and external-facing member of the school Student Supports team.

Responsibilities

  • Special Education Leadership + Services
      • Train Special Education + ELL/ESL Teachers to manage caseloads, and monitor compliance requirements.
      • Work with special education teachers to help them create rigorous, engaging, and differentiated instructional materials aligned to course and IEP goals, analyze student data, and ensure dramatic gains for all scholars.
      • Over time, plan and execute professional development at the school level for general education teachers re: how to best serve and differentiate instruction for students with special needs.
    •  Develop efficient and effective systems and processes that enable RePublic scholars to gain access to high-quality special education services, including designing a schedule for and managing logistics of school-wide Intervention blocks to ensure that this time is effectively used to provide differentiated supports to scholars at all levels of learning.
    • Directly manage a caseload of students to provide educational services to scholars with special needs (both co-teaching in general education classrooms and/or providing service minutes to students in small-group settings).
    • Support  the school's Special Education Teachers and ELL/ESL Teachers, and continually improve the effectiveness of teachers through implementing a variety of levers:
  • Reporting + Compliance
    • Ensure Special Education and ELL processes at the school are well-managed and compliant with all regulations from host districts and state departments of education.
    • Manage case management communications across teams, including content compilation, monthly compliance communication, weekly performance indicator data, and other communication needs that may arise.
    • Ensure 100% compliance of all IEPs on school caseload: ensure all IEPs are authentically compliant and written with excellence. This includes writing and collaborating with others to write high quality IEPs, as well as holding robust IEP meetings with all team members present and contributing.
    • Lead and build relationships with service providers (consultants and agencies) to ensure high quality, holistic services are in place for scholars on school caseload.
    • Organize regular check ins with teachers and service providers to ensure high quality IEP writing and service provision is happening for all scholars.
    • Work in conjunction with RePublic’s network Director of Special Education to manage relationships with host districts and state Departments of Education.
  • Academic Diagnostics + Progress Monitoring
    • Develop systems to track and monitor progress of students with special needs and communicate the progress with key stakeholders (students, staff, and families).
    • Develop systems and schedules to manage the implementation of all RTI (Response To Intervention) testing at the school level for all students, including diagnostic reading assessments, school-wide benchmark assessments, and high-stakes state assessments

Who You Are

Our ideal Student Supports Coordinator will have an unwavering belief that our students can achieve at an exceptionally high level. Beyond that, a successful candidate is:

    • Deeply committed to serving our kids. You have elected to work with historically underserved students, and do this work because you believe that all students, regardless of background, are capable of excellence - and that it’s on us as adults to get our kids there. You can speak about our mission, and demonstrate a commitment to our educational model. You understand that educational inequity is more pronounced in the South than anywhere else in the nation, and you want to work with RePublic in part because of our commitment to this region.
    • A special education guru. You have at least 3-5 years of teaching experience with a demonstrated track record of exceptional student outcomes. You have deep experience and a contagious passion for serving students with diverse special needs.
    • A laser-focused systems builder who designs airtight systems and processes that endure over time and maximize efficiency. You anticipate where a system will break down before it ever stands a chance, and you know that the systems you create are high-stakes from an instructional, legal, parent engagement, and compliance perspective.
    • A detail maven and masterful executor. Your personal organization system ensures you get things done. You sweat the smallest of stuff, communicate effectively in all forms, and plan fervently backwards to meet timelines, achieve big goals, and manage complex projects with many moving pieces (and lots of involved stakeholders) across a finish line.

    • A data fiend. You look for and are able to discern trends that drive your decision making, and you evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions based on how the data changes.
    • A people leader. Ideally, you’ve coached, directly managed, and demonstrably moved the effectiveness of other adults before taking this job. You build relationships across lines of difference, inspire and motivate others to buy into your vision, navigate challenging conversations with finesse, make tough calls, communicate effectively in all formats, give and receive feedback fluidly, and model/hold a high bar for adult excellence and exuberance.
    • A growth-minded tinkerer. You are self-aware and humble enough to understand where you rock, where you need to pick up your game, and how this impacts the people you lead. You seek feedback constantly because you’re hungry to get better, and you take extreme ownership of the outcomes of the people you coach and manage.
    • A gritty problem-solver. You keep it cool when things are crazy, approach problems with viable solutions, and know when you need to roll up your sleeves to support your team.
    • Other qualifications:
      • A bachelor’s degree with a preference for a graduate degree in a related field.
      • REQUIRED: valid Special Education teacher certification in TN, MS, or in states with reciprocity; endorsement in ESL/ELL strongly preferred.

Salary is competitive and commensurate based on experience. Compensation at RePublic includes comprehensive benefits package.