Elementary ELA Curriculum Specialist

Company Description

KIPP Texas Public Schools is a network of 59 public charter, open-enrollment, pre-k-12 schools educating nearly 34,000 students across Austin, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Together with families and communities, our mission is to create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose —college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world.

Founded in Houston in 1994, and operating as KIPP Texas since 2018, our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism in our classrooms, in our offices, and in the communities we serve is unwavering. We are looking to hire a diverse team of dynamic, collaborative, and dedicated individuals with an unyielding belief that every child will succeed. Join our Team and Family and champion equity, chase excellence, persist with purpose, bring joy, and help us rise together.

KIPP Texas is part of the national KIPP network of 255 college-preparatory public charter schools in 20 states and the District of Columbia. Nationwide, KIPP students complete four-year college at a rate of 36 percent, comparable to the national average for all students and approximately three times higher than the average of students from low-income communities.

Job Description

The Primary Academic Recovery, ELA Curriculum Specialist is an exciting opportunity for an individual who has deep content knowledge of K-4 ELA, has a passion for curriculum and instruction, is committed to advancing social justice and culturally relevant pedagogy, and is eager to influence the future of K-4 ELA instruction across KIPP Texas and beyond.

The Primary Academic Recovery, ELA Curriculum Specialist will play a critical role at the state-level in an effort to drive improved student results, including growth and achievement, college and career readiness, and closing the achievement gap, at KIPP schools in our Houston, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio regions.

Duties and Essential Job Functions:

1. Curriculum | Using the adopted primary ELA curricula, develop highest leverage lessons and materials to support student learning. This includes but is not limited to curriculum materials that are both teacher and student facing. 

2. Assessments| Create high quality, aligned, standards based assessments to evaluate student mastery to close the achievement gap.

3. Data Analysis | Regularly analyze a variety of qualitative and quantitative data at the school, region and state-levels to identify strengths and gaps in the curriculum itself and/or its implementation. Design strategic plans to close the student achievement gaps to meet the STAAR and MAP goals. 

4. Professional Development | Plan and facilitate virtual and in-person professional development on curriculum and instruction to ensure all regions are on a path to implement the curriculum with fidelity and achieve academic goals.

5. Instructional Coaching | Coach and support school administrators, teachers, and regional academic teams to set, make progress towards, and achieve ELA goals. This may include occasional travel to each KIPP Texas region (Houston, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio).

6. Performs other related job duties and training as assigned.

Qualifications

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

Content and Pedagogical Expertise

• Strong understanding of the college-ready bar for students in ELA, exceptionally high standards for students’ potential, and an unyielding belief that ALL students can achieve at high levels

• Deep knowledge of K-4 ELA (including both reading and writing TEKS), with a strong understanding of the full K-12 ELA continuum.

• Master ELA teacher and instructional leader (ideally at the primary school level) with proven student achievement results

• Strong understanding of and prior experience with curriculum development, including but not limited to: alignment between objectives, learning experiences and assessment; principles of backwards planning; essential questions to drive inquiry

• Experience coaching teachers and/or leaders to improve instruction through observation & feedback; can identify targeted impact statements (action steps) based on observations to improve instruction efficiently and effectively

Technical and Communication Skills

• Detail oriented, especially in the areas of curriculum and assessments to ensure that our students have access to the highest quality, error free, aligned with college ready bar curriculum

• Strong verbal and written communication skills; tailors message for the audience, context, and mode of communication

• Fosters relationships with various different organizational stakeholders to build consensus and resolve conflicts, thereby, moving in an aligned strategic direction

• Comfortable with ambiguity, exhibits flexibility, dons solution oriented mindsets,  and can translate abstract ideas into concrete work plans and products

• Advanced understanding of Microsoft Office suite and (preferred) Adobe Reader and Google Drive

Leadership Skills

• Motivates, inspires, and moves other adults to action to achieve ambitious goals

• Establishes clear expectations and builds coalitions and works collaboratively with diverse stakeholders at all levels, including but not limited to state leaders, regional leaders, school leaders, coaches, teachers and students

Empathy and Commitment to Cause

• Deep belief in the mission and values of KIPP and commitments to improving student achievement

• Passionately believes that all students can achieve at high levels

• Demonstrates cultural competencies via culturally responsive teaching and exhibits a deep understanding of and empathy for issues facing students

Required Education and/or Experience: 

• Bachelor's degree from accredited college or university

• At least 5 years of successful teaching experience

• Preferred: 1-2 years of coaching or instructional design experience

Additional Information

Funding:

The Primary Academic Recovery, ELA Curriculum Specialist will be funded directly from the Elementary and K-8 Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) grants awarded by the Texas Education Agency under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (ESSER II) and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ESSER III). This position will be funded solely (100%) from the ESSER II and III allocation for administrative expenses through September 30, 2023, and may continue to be funded through September 30, 2024, depending upon the availability of ESSER grant funds. At the end of the grant period this position may be eliminated unless other sources of funds are secured to maintain this position or a similar position. The employee must sign this job description acknowledging receipt of the job description and signing their acknowledgement that this position is grant funded and is temporarily aligning with the terms of the grant period.