Special Education Teacher

• Champion the school's effort to effectively and successfully serve students with disabilities and act as a staunch advocate for students with disabilities
• Champion the school's efforts to deliver tiered academic, behavioral and social-emotional supports to students through the Response to Intervention (RTI) framework; implement the Boys Town Education Model (BTEM) Well Managed Classroom (WMC) program as the Tier I behavioral intervention
• Support the school's efforts to maintain compliance with all legal responsibilities for serving students with disabilities; assist with preparation for local, state, or federal audits as necessary
• Work as an active member of the IES Department by actively engaging a general case load of students and working in co-teaching, self-contained, and collaborative environments
• Write and enact high quality IEPs, based on accurate assessment of student needs
• Attend IEPs for all students on their caseload, adding creative insight and ideas to push each student to achieve.
• Act as a problem-solver for regular education teachers, examining student achievement, behavior, and concerns, then helping create meaningful and insightful interventions and recommendations
• Promote a widely shared institutional belief that every child deserves and can have expert instruction and that all team members must be advocates for students
• Work closely with course and departmental teams to analyze assessment data and devise effective instructional re-teaching plans around student learning gaps to ensure students' academic achievement
• Commit to teaching students social skills, as well as academic standards, on a regular basis to:
  1. build relationships with all students
  2. encourage a sense of connectedness to school
  3. establish a safe, positive climate for learning
  4. empower every student with the social skills needed to enjoy academic and personal success
• Understand and utilize wide range of evidence-based instructional strategies to optimize teaching and learning on a block schedule
• Appreciate that education is a holistic endeavor and reflect understanding of social and emotional development and demonstrate ongoing willingness and ability to support students in these ways
• Continually reflect on and document the effectiveness re-teaching plans and making mid-course adjustments when necessary
• Participate in all school-based professional development and faculty meetings as a full-time member of the school community
• Model excellent teaching and be willing to let others observe one's own teaching
• Fully participate in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process for students on assigned caseload; duties include, but are not limited to: development of IEPs, participation in IEP meetings, ongoing progress monitoring and tracking, completing IEP Report Cards, implementation of IEP, advocacy to re-visit and revise IEPs as necessary, communicating with parents/guardians about student progress, collaborating with general and special education colleagues to ensure effective implementation of IEP
• Maintain meticulous Consultation/Collaboration logs via the assigned method established by the school
• Ensure that all students on assigned caseload are scheduled into their appropriate LRE; conduct quarterly audits of student schedules; collaborate with the Case Manager to make adjustments as necessary
• Fully participate in grade level pod process to ensure that students with disabilities are served in this process and that students on assigned caseloads receive necessary supports

The ideal team member at Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy will passionately possess the following core beliefs:

All children can achieve at high academic levels as measured by college success

A growth mindset is a prerequisite to achieving greatness

Authentic collaboration is critical to the development of a healthy community

Maintaining a results orientation leads to effectively identifying root causes and creating meaningful solutions

All adults must take responsibility for the learning and achievement of the community

The belief that delivering high-quality public education to all students is critical to a just society

• Bachelor's degree in Special Education or a certification in Special Education and previous teaching experience is required; Master's degree highly desired
• A minimum of 2-3 years of highly successful related experience
• Strong working knowledge of local, state, and federal regulations and guidelines and best educational practices for serving students with disabilities
• Proficient with teamwork and collaborating with colleagues and administration
• Exhibit passion and the ability to thrive amidst change and challenging conditions while maintaining a positive outlook and forward looking perspective
• Predisposition to be proactive and a self-starter; ability to stay several steps ahead and to anticipate and address problems before they develop; ability to troubleshoot and to devise targeted, ad hoc solutions
• Committed to the profession of teaching and constantly seeking to learn more about the complexities of teaching and improve one's own ability to improve student achievement and enhance student well-being
• Strong leadership, collaboration, and communication skills; ability to work a diverse group of professionals around a clear goal
• Know how to use data to drive the instructional practice
• Proficient in evidence-based behavioral strategies and capable of effectively managing a classroom amidst challenging circumstances
• Willingness to take risks and propose solutions or strategies outside of traditional or current paradigms
• Ability to develop strong, empathetic relationships with students and their families; comfort with entire school community including home visits to at-risk students and their families and outreach to community-based organizations
• Attention to detail, highly organized
• Possess an attuned appreciation for cultural awareness and competency and a staunch commitment to continuously develop insight and proficiencies related to such matters
• Takes personal responsibility for mistakes and learns from them, while consistently following up with analysis and corrective action
• Demonstrated ability to keep up with fast paced environments and to multi-task
• Sound judgment and ethical practice
• Commitment to getting the job done and the extra work hours that may be required to ensure effective operations of the department
• Effective oral and written communication skills