Elementary K-5 Instructional Coach

ELEMENTARY (K-5) INSTRUCTIONAL COACH

About Lotus School for Excellence:

Lotus School for Excellence is a K-12, college-prep public charter school with a S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) focus.

All employees at Lotus School for Excellence (LSE) work together to create academic, social, and ethical leaders. The thoughts reflected in this description provide structure to the responsibilities and accountability for this position. However, LSE expects to employ professionals who will work beyond job descriptions, creating both a fulfilling career environment and successful outcomes for our students.

Position Summary:

The Instructional Coach's job is to build the capacity of Lotus teachers to consistently deliver engaging, relevant and challenging instruction to students that results in achieving positive academic and social-emotional learning growth. Instructional coaches accomplish this goal at Lotus primarily through two levers: 1) Coaching teachers to master core behaviors outlined in essential duties 2) Supporting the implementation of all components of Lotus Academic System Framework (Coaching, Data-Driven Instruction, Instructional Planning and Professional Learning (PLC)).

Essential Duties:

1. Build own instructional knowledge of standards, curriculum, assessment and instructional practices (20% of time)

• Develops deep mastery of the academic standards in the subjects/grades for which he/she coaches, and strong understanding of academic standards for all subjects/grades. Understands the implications of standards on what a student should know and be able to do and therefore what a teacher needs to know and be able to do to facilitate student mastery

• Studies curriculum and assessment content and further develops understanding of how assessments map to content mastery, and what is required of students and teachers to accomplish mastery on the assessments

• Develops own knowledge of best practices in instructional methods and teaches teachers how to match particular strategies to gaps in student mastery

• Manages personal calendar to allow for sufficient time to plan for high-quality instructional coaching, PLC facilitation and the completion of other core duties

2. Develop teachers' capacity to master APS' Definition of Teaching Excellence via implementing all components of APS' Academic System Framework (70% of time)

Instructional Coaching

• Establishes strong relationships and a culture of safety and support with assigned teachers

• Sets measurable goals, in partnership with each teacher, for each coaching cycle

• Provides weekly to bi-weekly content/curriculum-specific coaching using a structured coaching cycle (e.g., observations, student data analysis, debrief, practice/modeling, follow-up)

• Identifies the highest-leverage teacher skills and bite-sized action steps to focus coaching cycles

• Utilizes a diverse range of coaching strategies (co-teaching, co-planning, modeling, scripted practice, lesson internalization, data-analysis, etc.) to effectively develop teacher skill and accelerate student achievement

• Links the work of PLCs to coaching (e.g., observing for agreed upon next steps from PLC meeting, providing feedback on instructional practice discussed with PLC members)

• Conducts regular step-backs with teachers to assess strengths and areas for improvement in the coaching relationship and overall progress towards achieving coaching goals; revises coaching frequency, structures and plan as needed

Data-Driven Instruction

• Builds the capacity of teachers to plan for, gather and utilize high-quality data to inform teaching and re-teaching during the lesson (e.g., establishing monitoring pathways, administering high-quality checks for understanding)

• Builds the capacity of teachers to gather, analyze and utilize formative and summative data to inform teaching and re-teaching after assessments (e.g., collaboratively reviewing daily exit ticket data to identify common student misconceptions and plan re-teach, co-analyzing end of unit assessment data to identify trends and specific strategies by student sub-groups)

• Links data-analysis trends and next steps from PLC meetings to daily instruction via observation and high-quality feedback

Instructional Planning

• Builds the capacity of teachers to strategically prepare and plan for upcoming units/modules (e.g., taking end of unit student assessment with teacher and proactively planning for student misconceptions, deconstructing standards, calendaring lessons, integrating SEL competencies, building in time for re-teaching)

• Builds the capacity of teachers to intellectually prepare and plan for upcoming lessons ( e.g., taking exit ticket with teacher and proactively planning for misconceptions, create/deconstruct lesson objectives, create/modify curricular resources, rehearse challenging portions of the lesson, execute daily lesson planning protocol)

• Build the capacity of teachers to implement standard-based instruction

Professional Learning

• Facilitates or actively participates in grade-level/department PLC meetings, ensuring that all teachers actively deepen content knowledge and knowledge of curriculum/curricular resources

• Facilitates or actively participates in instructional planning (unit or lesson), data analysis, skill building or other PLC structures

• Links work of PLC to daily/weekly coaching of teachers

• Facilitates or supports grade/department/school-wide professional learning

3. Other Duties (10% or less of time)

Performs other instructional and school support duties at the direction of the

principal

Requirements:

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Commitment to Lotus’ Core Values, mission, and vision

• Demonstrated belief that all students, regardless of background, can achieve at the highest levels in college and in their careers; demonstrated commitment to the school's unique community

• Demonstrated resilience and focus on student outcomes

Lead Academics

• Demonstrated student achievement results in own classroom and from teachers that he/she supports

• Demonstrated ability to drive student achievement results through others (direct reports have improved student achievement results)

• Demonstrated expertise in standard-based instruction and what the grade/department or school-wide academic standards and state assessments require of students' knowledge and skills to demonstrate mastery

• Demonstrated understanding of appropriate application and differentiation of high-leverage instructional strategies (e.g. pacing, checks for understanding, students doing the heavy lifting, etc.) based on comprehension of child development and pedagogy

• Demonstrated investment in and understanding of appropriate application of social emotional strategies to promote the development of the whole child

• Demonstrated ability to translate student mastery requirements into instructional plans and strategies

• Demonstrated expertise across a grade/department's standards and how student mastery will be assessed; developing an understanding of instructional design

• Demonstrated skill in data analysis; ability to extract meaningful insights from classroom, team or grade-level data

• Demonstrated ability to facilitate and ensure positive outcomes of teacher teams and/or professional learning communities

Build Culture

• Demonstrated track record of developing a positive learning culture for adults and students across his/her entire grade/department

• Demonstrated ability to create inclusive environments that honors and supports a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives

Develop Talent

• Demonstrated ability to develop teachers through providing helpful feedback and/or professional learning opportunities

• Demonstrated ability to retain the highest performers on his/her team

Education: Master's degree in Education or related field required.

Work Experience: At least 3 years of successful experience as a teacher, instructional coach or similar role in a K-12 educational setting.

Licenses, Registrations or Certification:

• Achieve Qualified English Language Arts Teacher status (teacher’s license not required) within six weeks of starting through one of the following channels outlined by the Colorado Department of Education:

• A valid Colorado Teacher License in the applicable endorsement area;

• Sufficient college coursework (or degree in the content area).

Condition of Employment

As a condition of employment, the individual selected for this position will be expected to complete the APS-sponsored Linguistically Diverse Educator (LDE) Certificate Program within the first three years of employment. New hires are expected to begin this program during the 2022-2023 school year.

Reports to: Principal

Job Type: Full-time (186-day schedule)

Compensation and Benefits:

• Salary Range 60K-90K per year

• Participation in CO PERA program, including a PERA 401k contribution option

• Funding of 100% of individual medical benefits and a wide range of insurance plans

• Approximately 9 weeks of summer vacation, 4 weeks of school holidays/vacations, and 8 days of PTO annually

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $60,000.00 - $90,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Professional development assistance
• Relocation assistance
• Tuition reimbursement
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift

Education:

• Master's (Preferred)

Experience:

• Teaching: 3 years (Preferred)

License/Certification:

• Teaching Certification (Preferred)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $60,000 - $90,000