Job Description
Engaging Schools seeks a student support professional to partner with district administrators, school leaders, and staff members to recalibrate District Codes of Character, Conduct, and Support and implement schoolwide climate and culture initiatives. Program Associates provide professional learning that includes coaching and consultation and facilitate change processes with a focus on middle and high schools in urban districts.
We envision school communities where all adults support each and every student to strengthen skills and mindsets needed to thrive and make positive contributions in school, work, and life. To achieve this, Engaging Schools collaborates with educators to create equitable and engaging classrooms and schools that support students’ social, emotional, and academic learning and development.
Our organization is dedicated to building an antiracist and inclusive culture and an increasingly diverse staff. We are supporting change and working to dismantle systemic racism in the districts with whom we partner. Given the diversity within and among these districts, we strongly encourage applicants with lived experience of racism and other forms of oppression/discrimination.
Key Responsibilities:
- Conduct school and/or district needs assessments
- Co-develop work plans for delivery of services aligned to project outcomes
- Facilitate districtwide processes to create or revise Codes of Character, Conduct, and Support
- Provide in-person and virtual client consultation, professional learning, coaching, and technical assistance
- Contribute to program development in school climate, culture, discipline, and student support
- Collaborate with and coach district and school leaders
- Facilitate the collection and use of data with student support staff and school and district leaders
- Create regular, written documentation of core client experiences, implementation successes, and progress on project outcomes for schools, districts, and Engaging Schools; develop recommendations
- Participate in a departmental professional learning community
Qualifications:
- Minimum six years’ experience in a student support role, such as social worker, counselor, or special education staff member in middle and/or high school settings
- Lived experience of racism and other forms of oppression/discrimination
- Experience designing and facilitating professional learning sessions and consulting in schools and other educational settings, and developing climate and culture and student support resources
- Advanced degree in counseling, social work, special education, or related field preferred
- Experience working in an urban environment
- Excellent communication skills (including writing, speaking, presenting, and interpersonal skills)
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, Smart Boards, Dropbox, Zoom, Google Platform, and other technology commonly used in classroom, school, and district environments
Critical Knowledge & Skills:
- Ability to build rapport and work effectively with educators from diverse backgrounds
- Experience planning, conferring, collaborating, and using data to inform decision-making with school and district leaders
- Knowledge and experience in the following areas:
- Multi-tiered systems of support, including structures and protocols for tier two and tier three interventions
- Social and emotional learning
- Bias, cultural competence, and addressing systemic racism and other forms of institutionalized discrimination
- School climate, culture, discipline, and student support with a restorative, accountable, and equitable lens
For more information about Engaging Schools, and to explore whether you might be the right match for this opportunity, please visit our website at www.engagingschools.org.
Location: We are looking for candidates who reside in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, or Midwest.
Travel: Some travel outside of one’s immediate geographical area will be required.
Compensation: Salary commensurate with experience, and generous benefits package.
Opportunity to advance within the organization.
Please send resume and cover letter to: https://engaging-schools.hiringthing.com/job/276848/program-associate
The application process will remain open until the position is filled.
Founded in 1982, Engaging Schools is a national non-profit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Salary
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Founded in 1982, Engaging Schools is a national nonprofit organization that works with educators to integrate academic, social, and emotional learning and development. Our strategic focus is middle and high school. We provide professional learning and resources for instructional practice, classroom management, discipline and student support, postsecondary readiness, and advisory programs.
Mission
Engaging Schools collaborates with educators to create equitable and engaging classrooms and schools that support students’ social, emotional, and academic learning and development.
Vision
School communities where all adults are empowered to support each and every student to strengthen the mindsets and skills needed to thrive and make positive contributions in school, work, and life.
Core Values
There are three core values tied to every aspect of Engaging Schools’ programming: equity, community, and democracy. These values provide a foundation for helping students learn, and they support schools to carry out a meaningful instructional program, create a stimulating professional culture for staff, and foster a respectful and responsible student body. They are also fundamental to creating a better society and a more hopeful future.
These core values and associated beliefs are listed below.
Equity
- A commitment to educational equity begins with the belief that all young people can learn and that they all deserve a high-quality education. Schools should help to level the playing field of opportunity for young people in our society.
- Equitable schools are committed to fairness. They identify and eliminate biases and barriers that are related to race, ethnic origin, socioeconomic background, home language, gender, sexual orientation, religion, geographical location, and physical or mental abilities. These schools recognize, normalize, and value differences across and within groups and do not allow those differences to predict student outcomes.
- Equitable schools create access. They create high-quality educational experiences — from excellent instruction and resources to a comprehensive array of learning programs, supports, and opportunities — universally available to all students. Staff members communicate high expectations and provide high levels of support for each and every student.
- Equitable schools close gaps. They understand and actively work to eliminate gaps in school success between different groups of students, as measured by academic achievement, high school graduation rates, and preparation for college and other postsecondary pursuits.
- Equitable schools see themselves as professional learning communities. Leaders set expectations, create professional learning opportunities, and provide support so that all staff members are able to work together to ensure that each and every young person can succeed.
Community
- Schools that create community welcome all individuals and help them learn to work together.
- Schools that create community are caring and personalized. They meet students’ needs for emotional and physical safety, belonging, and connection. Close, supportive relationships marked by meaningful connections between and among educators and students distinguish a caring school.
- In caring learning communities, educators use power ethically and collaboratively to address group and individual needs with respect, interest, and kindness. They also look at students in terms of their assets rather than their deficits.
- When administrators, teachers, and school staff members build a culture of caring, respect, and relational trust, students are more likely to demonstrate these attributes toward adults, their fellow students, and the community at large.
Democracy
- It is a basic purpose of education to prepare young people to actively participate in our democratic society.
- Schools that educate for democracy encourage student voice, participation, leadership, and responsible decision-making, and they provide opportunities to make a positive difference.
- To participate effectively, students need skills such as appreciating differences, listening, problem solving, managing and resolving conflict, and interrupting bias. They also need to cultivate skills in the areas of empathy, caring, respect, and civility.
- Education should help young people develop a commitment to the well-being of others and the courage to act on one’s convictions.