Literacy Content Specialist

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is a district on the rise, serving over 320,000 students in 500 schools and employing over 44,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

The CPS Department of Literacy is committed to increasing equity of literacy outcomes across the district and ensuring that advanced literacy skills serve as a gateway to opportunity for all CPS students. Through the CPS PK-12 Vision for Advanced Literacy, the department sets clear expectations for what literacy learning should look like in our district and outlines the district-wide shifts and key practices we promote and support through universal and differentiated professional learning to ensure students have equitable opportunities to develop advanced literacy skills. Our departmental efforts are aligned with the CPS Instructional Core Vision and the Office of Teaching and Learning strategic priorities.

Job Summary:

Reporting to the Literacy Manager, the Literacy Content Specialist will collaborate closely with other Content and/or Program Support Specialists to ensure a coherent vision for PreK-12 Literacy teaching and learning is scaled throughout CPS. The primary objective of the Literacy Content Specialist will be to ensure that the support provided by the Office of Teaching and Learning improves the student experience and outcomes aligned to the CPS Instructional Core Vision. Content Specialists will be assigned to grade bands for their primary professional learning work streams, but may have responsibilities on PK-12 strategic priority teams

The Literacy Content Specialist will work to enact the CPS PK-12 Vision for Advanced Literacy through leadership on assigned departmental initiatives aligned with Specialists’ areas of expertise and educational experience. This is a full-time exempt position that will be paid for time worked on a salary basis.

The Literacy Content Specialist will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Participate in departmental strategic planning and continuous improvement related to curriculum, instruction, and assessment in alignment with the CPS PK-12 Vision for Advanced Literacy and District priorities outlined in CPS’s 5-year Strategic Plan
• Contribute expertise to the development of strategic initiatives designed to increase equity of literacy outcomes for Black and Latinx students, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities.
• Lead and/or collaborate on assigned work streams aligned to annual Literacy Vision strategic priorities
• Contribute to the development of district-wide resources and instructional guidance on key literacy practices including abundant reading of diverse, engaging texts; extensive discussion; engagement in the writing process; rigorous and authentic learning experiences; and creating content in a digital environment
• Contribute additional expertise in one or more of the following areas of the CPS Vision for Advanced Literacy: multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), pathways to post-secondary success, emerging technologies to strengthen communication for striving readers, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities; and/or family and community engagement.
• Design and facilitate professional learning for a variety of internal and external stakeholders that deepens their understanding of the CPS Instructional Core and content-specific practices to support it
• Ensure professional learning for CPS Network Chiefs/Deputies, Instructional Support Leaders (ISLs), school leaders, central office instructional leaders, external partners, and other educators successfully achieves the following:
• Leads educators in developing, implementing, and refining network-specific professional learning plans that ensure district-wide learning is prioritized and supported within each network
• Builds their capacity in supporting school leaders and teacher leaders with content-specific learning
• Prepares them to lead school-based learning through coaching, team meetings, workshops, etc.
• Ensure professional learning for Teacher Leaders successfully achieves the following:
• Supports them in effectively contributing to their schools’ Instructional Leadership Teams
• Builds their capacity to lead their colleagues in content-specific learning and reflection grounded in student learning
• Supports their professional growth as antiracist, collaborative, prepared, and responsive educators
• Design and facilitate professional learning for adopters of Skyline, the CPS universally available curriculum, including:
• Foundational learning to support new Skyline adopters in understanding the philosophy, design principles, components, and systems embedded within the curriculum
• Targeted and responsive professional learning to support more experienced Skyline ELA adopters in refining their use of the curriculum to engage students in rigorous and joyful learning
• Cross-departmental professional learning tailored to meet the needs of educators adopting Skyline in multiple content areas (e.g., ELA, science, and social science)
• Cross-Office collaborations supporting multilingual pathways and the rightful presence of students with disabilities in learning with Skyline ELA
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of Skyline through the completion of tasks such as:
• Evaluating professional learning outcome data to inform future professional learning needs
• Identifying, documenting, and offering solutions around barriers to successful implementation through common progress monitoring systems
• Participating in centralized feedback structures to inform curriculum revision
• Contribute to content-specific guidance, resources, and policy to ensure a consistent instructional vision is promoted within and across content areas
• Collaborate with other department Content Specialists to support shared initiatives
• Maintain content area expertise through staying abreast of current research, practices, and innovation in the field
• Other duties as assigned

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Literacy Content Specialist must possess the following qualifications:

Education Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field of study from an accredited college or university, required
• Valid teaching certificate issued by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) with appropriate grade level and content level endorsement is required. (Candidates with a valid out-of-state, reciprocal license will be considered but must obtain ISBE licensure within 6 months of hire.)
• LBSI, ESL, or Bilingual Endorsement, preferred
• Master’s degree in a relevant field of study, preferred

Experience Required:

• Minimum of five (5) years of relevant professional experience in education, including the following, is required:
• Minimum of five (5) years of classroom teaching experience, including English language arts instruction. Experience implementing high-quality, comprehensive ELA curricula, including the Skyline ELA curriculum, is a plus.
• Minimum of three (3) years of teacher leadership experience, such as leading school teams in the development of curriculum and assessments, analyzing student performance data, etc.
• Minimum of three (3) years working with adult learners, including creating, organizing, and facilitating professional learning experiences to meet the needs of participants.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Expertise in planning, designing, facilitating, and evaluating professional learning
• Success in working with culturally and linguistically diverse student populations; knowledge of culturally and linguistically sustaining language arts instructional practices and pedagogy; familiarity with strategies for supporting English learners, students with disabilities, and students with a wide range of reading and writing skills
• Deep knowledge of Literacy teaching and learning instructional best practices
• Exceptional organizational skills; ability to effectively manage several work streams simultaneously
• Capable of building and sustaining positive, productive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; comfortable collaborating and communicating across a diverse range of audiences, including network teams, principals, teachers, and support staff
• Commitment to CPS Instructional Core Vision
• Ability to build consensus and leverage expertise with educators across the district
• Excellent technology skills (Google Suite)

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.