Job Description

Job Summary

JOB TITLE: ARI Local Reading Specialist

REPORTS TO: Principal

EVALUATION: Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) local reading specialists will be evaluated according to quantitative and qualitative data measures. Summative and formative student assessment data, surveys, and site visit reports will be used in determining local reading specialists' effectiveness and that of the overall program and process effectiveness. This includes results-based coaching cycles and weekly schedules of planning.

PROVIDES SUPPORT TO: Teachers

DAYS: 197 Days

FLSA STATUS: Exempt

Minimum Qualifications:

An ARI local reading specialist shall have all the following minimum qualifications:

• The required Alabama Professional Educator Certificate.
• A bachelor's degree and advanced coursework or professional development in the science of reading, such as multisensory language instruction, or comparable alternative training approved by the Alabama State Board of Education.
• A minimum of two years of experience as a successful elementary or literacy teacher.
• A knowledge of scientifically based reading research, special expertise in quality reading instruction and intervention, dyslexia specific interventions, and data analysis.
• A strong knowledge base in the science of learning to read and the science of early childhood education.
• Excellent communication skills with outstanding presentation, interpersonal, and time management skills.

Duties and Responsibilities:

To ensure that all students are reading on or above grade level by the end of third grade, the job of the ARI-funded local reading specialist(s) outlined in the Alabama Literacy Act will include the following as evidenced by student reading achievement and growth:

• Collaborating with the principal to create a strategic plan for coaching to support and measure the impact of reading instruction according to the science of reading, school baseline data, and data from approved early reading assessment systems.
• Facilitating school wide professional development and monitoring and measuring the impact of transfer to practice.
• Modeling effective science of reading instruction for teachers that is explicit, systematic, inclusive of detailed explanations and more extensive opportunities for guided practice, error correction, and feedback.
• Coaching and mentoring teachers daily via planned coaching cycles based on data and gradually releasing responsibility to teachers.
• Facilitating data analysis discussions and supporting teachers by using data to differentiate instruction according to the needs of students by adhering to the framework of tiered instruction.
• Fostering multiple areas of teacher professional learning, including exceptional student education and content area knowledge, and adjusting based on data.
• Prioritizing time for those teachers, activities, and roles that will give the greatest impact on student reading achievement, such as coaching and mentoring in classrooms, as evidenced by coaching logs, student impact data, and site visit data.
• Monitoring the reading progress of all students a minimum of three times per year and making recommendations for the adjustment of instruction according to student specific needs identified from multiple data points and aligned with the science of reading as specified in the strategic plan for coaching.
• Collaborating with regional specialists and attending professional learning opportunities hosted by ARI, including all assigned Coaching Communities.

Background Check Required:

• Upon offer of employment, employees will be required to submit legible fingerprints for a background review by the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Physical Demands:

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk and use hands to finger, to handle, or feel objects, equipment, or controls. The employee frequently is required to talk and hear. The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms, climb stairs, bend, stoop, squat, crouch, and kneel. The employee must occasionally lift, push, pull, carry and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include near vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.
• Adequate physical and mental health documented with a signed statement from a physician.

Additional Details:

• Position will be subject to the Students First Act of 2011. Cullman City Schools reserves the right to fill this position by internal applicants by means of transfer.
• Under the Students First Act of 2011, no credit toward tenure or non-probationary status is earned in the initial year of employment if hired after September 30.

Cullman City Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities.

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