ELA School Support Specialist

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General Description

CUNY’s Office of K16 Initiatives creates innovative pathways for young New Yorkers to envision and achieve success, by engaging strategic partners in confronting systemic educational inequities.

CUNY K16 Initiatives leads and coordinates CUNY’s partnership with New York City Public Schools (NYCPS), including programs and direct services reaching over 100,000 NYCPS students annually. CUNY and New York City Public Schools – the two largest education systems of their kind in the country – are deeply connected by the students they serve and K16 Initiatives serves as a vital bridge, leveraging policy development and service delivery to address key drivers of student success. With a focus on equity, access, and economic mobility, K16 Initiatives harnesses unique CUNY resources – including students and curriculum – at scale to achieve shared goals.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The City University of New York's Office of K16 Initiatives seeks an ELA School Support Specialist to provide instructional and leadership coaching to CUNY's Early College secondary schools. The CUNY Early College program creates, grows, and supports schools committed to early college programs and college readiness outcomes for traditionally underrepresented students in higher education. The program supports strong outcomes for early college schools through professional development for high school teachers and leaders and oversight of campus partnerships.

The ELA School Support Specialist will serve as a thought partner, instructional and leadership coach, and program strategist to a small portfolio of the CUNY Early College Network schools, specifically within the 7-8 and 9-10 grade bands. In addition, the ELA School Support Specialist will be expected to design a network-wide professional learning series that deepens the work within the respective grade bands. Specialists are expected to collaborate with team members and contribute to the overall capacity of the CUNY Early College Team, being tapped to support schools across the entire network when appropriate. As a member of the Team, the ELA School Support Specialist will help shape priorities and be given ample opportunity for growth and development.

Typically, School Support Specialists will spend 3-4 days a week in the field, visiting schools, working with teachers, teacher team leaders, assistant principals, and/or principals.

The Specialist will:

• Develop positive working relationships with principals, assistant principals, teacher leaders, and teachers in order to support the achievement of school goals and growth within priority areas, especially as they relate to NYS Grades 7-8 English Language Arts Tests and ELA Regents performance;
• Coach, mentor, and thought-partner with various teachers and teacher leaders using both a dialogical and facilitative-based approach;
• Help to provide or coordinate access to all aspects of school support to assist school leaders in achieving their goals and addressing challenges. Areas of support and planning may include:
• Coach ELA teachers in grades 7-10 across a small portfolio of schools;
• Support/Liaise with the district and schools regarding ELA curriculum implementation and translation;
• Organize, analyze, and engage in effective partnership in the realm of action planning, especially as it pertains to student subgroups;
• Coordinate learning walks across subsets of schools;
• Support interim assessment/benchmark exam planning, guide on test administration, and partner on developing action plans towards intended end-of-year outcomes;
• Guide school leaders, inclusive of teacher leaders, on best practices within ELA, especially as they relate to programmatic supports and tools;
• Strengthen and monitor initiatives and efforts as they relate to NYS ELA State Exam performance and college readiness, as determined by the ELA Regents;

Other Duties

• Coordinate, organize, and operationalize support and plans by proactively communicating with key constituents within NYC Public Schools, CUNY, and the greater community of stakeholders;
• Serve as a key contributor to the CUNY Early College Team by communicating school needs to internal staff, and devising strategies to meet those needs in collaboration with the Early College Team, as well as tuning team members’ work and providing collegial feedback;
• Keep clear and concise records of communications with school staff and other support personnel;
• Co-construct and co-facilitate CUNY Early College network-wide professional development including within the assistant principal and teacher leadership forums, most often in collaboration with the district team.
• Perform special projects and other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• A minimum of five years of successful professional experience as an ELA department leader, instructional or leadership coach, curriculum specialist, mentor and/or professional developer/trainer;
• A background in teaching and coaching within the realm of ELA is required;
• Keen understanding of educational reforms and structures in New York City and New York State, including new accountability initiatives and shifts in state assessments;
• Proven ability in helping schools use student-level and school-based data to plan, implement, and monitor instructional programs;
• Outstanding organizational skills and attention to detail;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Ability to manage different domain-specific projects and to respond quickly to various requests;
• Attention to deadlines;
• Creativity, friendliness, and a sense of humor;
• Proven ability to work well with others and to develop relationship across various stakeholder groups;
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office;
• Openness to continued professional development and growth.

Preferred Qualifications

• A demonstrated commitment to preparing students at Title I public high schools to succeed in college;
• Familiarity with higher education, including an understanding of college and career readiness standards, skills, and practices;
• Experience working across schools, organizations, or teams in support of a larger mission.

Physical Requirements

• This is a 70/30 hybrid position, subject to change. Remote work arrangements are not a right or entitlement of employment and, as such, are discretionary and subject to operational needs unless otherwise provided by the CUNY Flexible Work Guidelines. Laptop will be provided to support field work and working remotely;
• While performing these duties, the employee is required to perform physical activities such as, but not limited to, lifting items (up to 20 pounds), bending, reaching, sitting for prolonged periods of time. Reasonable accommodations will be made for employees with disabilities or other needs per RFCUNY policies;
• Ability to travel to network schools throughout the city and other CUNY sites as needed.

RFCUNY Benefits

RFCUNY Employee Benefits and Accruals

About the Research Foundation

The Research Foundation of The City University of New York (RFCUNY) was established as a not-for-profit educational corporation chartered by the State of New York in 1963. RFCUNY supports CUNY faculty and staff in identifying and obtaining external support (pre-award) from government and private sponsors and is responsible for the administration of all such funded programs (post-award).

RFCUNY stands between CUNY’s principal investigators (PIs) and the sponsors who support them and strives to fulfill its essential responsibilities to both groups. Working closely with individual PIs and Grants Officers on the campuses, RFCUNY oversees employment, accounting, audit, reporting, purchasing, and special responsibilities that include management of a planned giving program; liaison with governmental agencies and foundations; negotiation of agreements; facility construction and renovation; protection and commercialization of intellectual property; and compliance with applicable standards in research involving human subjects, animal care, environmental and radiological safety, and conflicts of interest.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The Research Foundation of the City University of New York is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Americans with Disabilities Act/E-Verify Employer. It is the policy of the Research Foundation of CUNY to provide equal employment opportunities free of discrimination based on race, color, age, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, national origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic violence victim status, arrest record, criminal conviction history, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

RFCUNY Benefits

RFCUNY Employee Benefits and Accruals

About the Research Foundation

The Research Foundation of The City University of New York (RFCUNY) was established as a not-for-profit educational corporation chartered by the State of New York in 1963. RFCUNY supports CUNY faculty and staff in identifying and obtaining external support (pre-award) from government and private sponsors and is responsible for the administration of all such funded programs (post-award).

RFCUNY stands between CUNY’s principal investigators (PIs) and the sponsors who support them and strives to fulfill its essential responsibilities to both groups. Working closely with individual PIs and Grants Officers on the campuses, RFCUNY oversees employment, accounting, audit, reporting, purchasing, and special responsibilities that include management of a planned giving program; liaison with governmental agencies and foundations; negotiation of agreements; facility construction and renovation; protection and commercialization of intellectual property; and compliance with applicable standards in research involving human subjects, animal care, environmental and radiological safety, and conflicts of interest.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The Research Foundation of the City University of New York is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Americans with Disabilities Act/E-Verify Employer. It is the policy of the Research Foundation of CUNY to provide equal employment opportunities free of discrimination based on race, color, age, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, national origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic violence victim status, arrest record, criminal conviction history, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.