Special Education Teacher: Moderate-Severe

At Rocketship Public Schools, we believe in the infinite possibility of human potential. We believe that every student deserves the right to dream, to discover, and to develop their unique potential and it is our responsibility and our privilege to unleash the potential inside every Rocketeer we serve. Our non-profit network of public elementary charter schools propels student achievement, develops exceptional educators, and partners with parents who enable high-quality public schools to thrive in their community. We are a collective of parents, teachers, leaders, and students working together to transform the future for underserved communities across our country. At Rocketship Public Schools, we are unleashing potential.

A Rocketship Special Educator, known as an Education Specialist, is a full time position that reports to the Principal. The Education Specialist will work with one school site, and will be responsible for managing the IEP caseload for Rocketship students who require special education services as outlined in their IEPs. The role of the Education Specialist is to improve student outcomes through targeted academic and behavioral support.

Partnering with FamiliesRocketship’s collaborative learning environment reaches well beyond the four walls of our classrooms. We are deeply committed to parent engagement. Teachers new to our network are always amazed by how deeply our Rocketeer parents are engaged in their school’s community. Annual teacher home visits, monthly parent community meetings, and a vibrant parent volunteer network create solid relationships, a rich school culture and a devoted community that propels student achievement.

Career PathwaysAt Rocketship, you are joining a network and a community committed to excellence. We have ambitious plans to scale our system to serve more communities in need every year. We prioritize developing leaders from within and have invested in multiple career pathway programs for our teachers and school leaders. If you are looking for the chance to drive transformative change in underserved communities and contribute to a national movement to eliminate the achievement gap in our lifetime, look no further than Rocketship.

This position reports to the Principal or Assistant Principal

The salary range for this position starts at $71,000.

Essential Functions:

• Ensure that all students realize rigorous academic goals outlined in their IEP along with our core content. Our goal is each Rocketeers grows at least 1.5 years.
• Support students in developing critical life, social and academic skills through targeted instruction
• Collaborate with school team, families, and related service providers for the purpose of improving the quality of student outcomes, developing solutions and planning curriculum.
• Provide one-to-one or small group instruction, direct services and push in or pull out instruction as required by IEP
• Co-teach with general educators and related service providers to ensure inclusive education practices for all students
• Coordinate referral and assessment procedures and facilitate the coordination of IEP team meetings and the implementation of special education services (Speech, Occupational therapy, etc.)
• Evaluate students’ academic abilities for the purpose of collaboration with team members to create and implement the best educational program like the diagnosis of learning disabilities, development of intervention plans for foundational needs and/or student progress
• Collaborate with Psychologists and Related Service Providers for evaluations and when needed, administer academic assessments. Review and interpret the results to determine our learners’ strengths and areas of need for initial, annual and triennial IEP meetings.
• In collaboration with general educators, provide accommodations and/or modifications to learners with disabilities to provide access to grade level content and demonstrate her or his true understanding on assessments as determined by the IEP team
• Instruct students for the purpose of improving their success in assigned basic academic subject areas of reading, writing and/or math
• Draft and write professional and compliant IEPs,facilitate IEP meetings and ensure our online IEP system and school based files are compliant and reflect a Rocketeer’s Individual Education Program
• Develop Behavior Support Plans (BSPs) or Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) as needed
• Manage student behavior for the purpose of providing a safe and optimal learning environment
• Collaborate with General Educators to engage families and school communities through various meetings (IEP, Parent Conferences, In Service Training, Staff Meetings etc.)
• Provide leadership for ensuring full compliance with legal requirements as prescribed by federal law under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act 1997) and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act, 2004) as well as state laws and regulations
• Collaborate with families as educational partners and provide ability awareness as needed

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree
• Valid Special Education Teaching Credential or ability to enroll in an accredited teacher preparation program to work towards a credential while teaching with Rocketship
• Preferred: knowledge of curriculum, education code and special education law/policies