Jobs

Part Time Literacy Specialist

Acera is looking for a Literacy Specialist to become a support for our students and a member within our student support team. As a Literacy Specialist, you will assist students in their literacy development in small group and 1:1 instruction, some of whom may have a language-based learning disability such as dyslexia. Bring your highly collaborative spirit and deep commitment to high-engagement learning and join our school community!

About Acera

We envision a world in which schools engage students in meaningful learning, in which teachers are freed as entrepreneurs in their classrooms, and in which students can become the best version of themselves, given each students’ unique capacities, needs, and passions. The Acera school day program provides students with unbounded access to learning, offering high-capacity students opportunity according to their ability, not age. Acera’s enrichment programs (after school, summer, and vacation week camps) are open to the public, and our Education Innovation (EI) efforts are actively engaged in public school projects to support educational change. We also partner with organizations beyond our walls, creating programs rich in sciences, technology, engineering, creativity, and the arts. We operate both as a lab school and a microcosm of what is possible for other schools. We seek to grow students’ emotional intelligence and develop the next generation of innovators, leaders, and creative thinkers who can make a positive impact in the world.

Learn more about how we teach at www.aceraschool.org/how-we-teach.

Job Duties & Responsibilities

The successful candidate will have a highly collaborative and accountable approach to support, team with teachers, counseling staff and tutors, and intervene with good judgment. At Acera, we build relationships with each student as the cornerstone of our practice, and we partner with parents to help each child become the best version of themselves.

As a Literacy Specialist, use strong skills in listening, supporting, skill building, and facilitation to:

• Apply a strong understanding of the current research on literacy and its relevance to daily instructional practice
• Implement experience with systematic, sequential, multisensory approach (such as Orton Gillingham)
• Utilize track record of providing effective small group literacy intervention
• Use data to plan literacy content and provide small group instruction to t
• Maintain close communication with classroom teacher regarding small group activities and student progress
• Administer Fall, Winter, and Spring benchmark assessments for students
• Maintain written and verbal communication with parents/caregivers of students in the small literacy groups, as well as participate in parent/teacher conferences for students participating in small group literacy, twice per year (additional meetings scheduled as needed)
• Write progress reports two times per year for students participating in small group literacy
• Attend regular meetings with the Lower School literacy/learning specialist team
• Apply experience with screening tools such as DIBELS 8, Acadience, spelling inventories
• Proficiently and effectively  use data to determine and monitor progress, including using and creating spreadsheets or other relevant data tracking tools
• Work collaboratively and effectively with colleagues
• Give and receive constructive feedback
• Apply Growth mindset and a commitment to reflective practice

As a staff member at Acera, be a flexible member of our small school and high commitment team, helping out as needed. Ask for help, and escalate issues you see. Live and practice Acera’s core values of community, curiosity, openness, innovation, integrity, and leadership.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience supporting students with language-based learning disabilities (as tutor, writing coach, teacher, etc.)
• Literacy specialist license, special education license, and/or training in specific tools or programs for kids with language-based learning disabilities.
• Excellent organization, follow through, documentation, and project management skills in written and verbal formats.
• Mac proficiency.
• Experience with elementary and middle school learners.
• A bring-it-on, can-do, let’s make it happen, whatever it takes attitude!
• A kind heart, a thoughtful mind, and a generous spirit.
• Commitment to anti-racism and anti-bias in teaching.
• See challenges as opportunities for invention. Positive, the “glass is half full” orientation. Enables others to reframe their distress into seeing challenges as opportunities.
• Flexibility to step in, help and do whatever is needed to support our programs, our teachers, our parents, and our students.

Term & Anticipated Start Date

Part-time, exempt, school-year position. Available to start immediately.

In-person instruction five mornings a week; a literacy team check-in available via Zoom; planning time– weekly hours averaging around 20 hours. 

Salary & Benefits

• Paid federal/state holidays plus school-year breaks.
• SIMPLE IRA.
• Free after-school and summer programs for children of eligible employees.

Working Conditions

• Prolonged periods standing and walking throughout school, classroom, and campus, including climbing stairs.
• Must be able to assist students who have physical difficulties.
• Must be able to kneel, sit, stand, crawl, push, and pull to assist and teach children throughout the day.
• Must be able to traverse the space and adjust one’s tone and height, by bending or leaning, in order to teach each child.
• Prolonged periods sitting and working on computer to complete necessary planning, paperwork, etc
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Acera is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information, arrest record, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

Conditions of Offer

You must provide documentation of a completed COVID vaccination series.

All offers of employment are contingent upon CORI, SORI, and fingerprint-based background checks, as required by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), our company is required to verify the identity and work authorization of all newly hired employees. Therefore, if you accept this position, you will be required to complete a Form I-9 upon hire. Within 3 days of beginning employment, you will need to supply acceptable documentation days of beginning employment, you will need to supply acceptable documentation (as noted on the Form I-9) of your identity and work authorization.

Apply

Please submit the following to hiring@aceraschool.org:

• cover letter
• resume
• personal statement of educational philosophy
• salary expectations