What are the responsibilities and job description for the Bilingual Counselor Assistant - Spanish/ English position at The School District of Philadelphia?
Summary
Serves as cultural broker and linguistic bridge between school staff, students, parents/guardians and community. Provides ongoing communication between student’s parents/guardians, teachers and other school staff. Acts as liaison between school staff, English Language Learners (ELLs), parents/guardians, and community organizations. Helps ensure equitable access to services and opportunities for multilingual students and their parents/guardians.
Position Requirements
Essential Functions
- Facilitates communication between school staff, students, and parents/guardians by providing accurate, impartial and complete interpretation of the Spoken Language message conveyed to the Target Language.
- Collaborates with ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and other teacher(s) by providing interpretation of rubrics and instructions for classroom activities, assignments and projects; and assist in the assessments of students’ educational strengths and challenges.
- Provides ongoing communication between student’s parents/guardians and school staff about student’s academic performance, attendance, and behavior.
- Participates in individual and group discussions with school counselor and limited English-proficient students and parents/guardians to assist them in defining and developing post-secondary educational, vocational and careers plans.
- Encourages, promote and support parent engagement by providing culturally-informed outreach activities, notices of school meetings and District-wide events and opportunities.
- Informs multilingual students and limited-English proficient parents/guardians about school expectations, rules, policies and procedures.
- Distributes District-wide translated documents to parents/guardians and ensure that all documents sent to parents/guardians are translated.
- Provides interpretation at psychological evaluations, Individualized Education Program (IEPs) meetings, parent/guardian/teacher conferences, and PSSA and Keystone tests.
- Meets with limited English-proficient students and parents/guardians to encourage, promote and support participation in the school counseling program.
- Enlists the support and cooperation of other school personnel; consult with school counselor(s) and other school staff to determine students’ ability and potential, and to ascertain and implement the necessary steps to bring the students’ interests and goals to fruition.
Minimum Requirements:
- High school diploma or equivalent. If you were educated outside of the US, please have you credentials verified through a PDE Evaluation service.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
Demonstrated knowledge of:
- Social, cultural and educational needs of students in the community in which the foreign language is spoken.
- Basic computer knowledge, i.e. Microsoft Suite.
Demonstrated ability to:
- Speak, read and write English and the appropriate foreign language fluently.
- Interpret oral and written information.
- Prepare and maintain records.
- Coordinate outreach services to immigrant and refugee families and communities.
- Build partnerships with immigrant/refugee-serving organizations.
- Establish and maintain effective working relationships.
Disclaimer
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified.
