Academic Specialist - Math

KIPP METRO ATLANTA COLLABORATIVE INC • Atlanta, GA

4d • $75,000 - $125,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Reporting to the Director of Academics, the Academic Specialist drives instructional excellence by coaching and developing Assistant Principals, instructional leaders, coaches, and teacher leaders to ensure rigorous, standards-aligned instruction. The Academic Specialist plays a critical role in driving the academic strategy for continuous school improvement by ensuring instruction aligns with the Georgia Standards of Excellence, state/district expectations, One KIPP framework, and CCRPI accountability domains (Content Mastery, Progress, Closing the Gaps). The Specialist supports strong implementation of high-quality instruction aligned to KIPP Atlanta’s academic priorities. Depending on the focus area of their assignment—ELA/Literacy, Mathematics, or Humanities/Content—the Specialist provides targeted support to strengthen instructional practices within that discipline. For literacy-focused roles, this includes supporting the implementation of structured literacy in early grades aligned to the Georgia Early Literacy Act, while also ensuring rigorous reading, writing, discourse, and knowledge-building instruction across upper elementary, middle, and high school. For mathematics or humanities assignments, the Specialist supports rigorous, standards-aligned instruction that promotes strong content knowledge, analytical thinking, and meaningful student discourse across grade levels.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Education or related field
• Valid Georgia Teaching or Service Certificate (Level 4 or higher)
• Minimum 5 years of professional experience, including at least 3 years of successful classroom teaching with demonstrated impact (Math and/or Literacy and/or Content/Humanities).
• Experience in instructional coaching and/or school-based leadership.
• Demonstrated skill with data-driven instruction, progress monitoring, and translating data into adult action.
• Working knowledge of Georgia Standards of Excellence, and ability to support standards-aligned planning and rigorous task design.
• Working knowledge of CCRPI accountability domains and implications for academic strategy (Content Mastery, Progress, Closing the Gaps).
• Strong facilitation, coaching, and adult learning skills; ability to build trust and influence across stakeholders.
• Ability to manage complexity, ambiguity, and competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Content Expertise Requirement
• Demonstrated expertise in at least one primary content area (Math, ELA/Structured Literacy, or Science/Social Studies/Humanities) and the ability to support cross-content instructional coherence, especially around literacy demands (reading, writing, speaking grounded in text).

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Advanced literacy credentials (Reading Endorsement, Dyslexia Endorsement, or equivalent structured literacy training aligned to IDA guidance).
• Experience in charter and/or turnaround environments; experience leading cross-campus initiatives.
• Expertise in MTSS frameworks and intervention models.
• Valid Georgia educator leadership certification.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Planning & Execution
• Support execution of a cohesive, research-driven K–12 academic strategy aligned to KIPP Atlanta priorities and the Georgia Standards of Excellence across Math, ELA, Science, Social Studies, and Humanities/Non-Fiction.
• Ensure vertical and horizontal coherence across grade bands, with specific attention to key transition grades (5th→6th; 8th→9th) and K–12 progressions (reading/writing/vocabulary/discourse; math conceptual progressions; disciplinary literacy).
• Conduct classroom walkthroughs, learning walks, and school visits to evaluate rigor, curriculum fidelity, scholar access to grade-level work, and effectiveness of instructional routines (e.g., structured literacy, math discourse/problem solving, inquiry/document analysis).
• Analyze multi-source student performance data (iReady, MAP/NWEA, curriculum-embedded assessments, Georgia Milestones, performance tasks) to identify trends, root causes, and improvement priorities.
• Partner with Principals and APs to identify root causes of underperformance and set measurable action steps—especially in turnaround conditions (below grade level achievement, inconsistent Tier 1 instruction, weak writing from sources, limited text complexity, low task rigor).
• Ensure alignment between Tier I instruction and MTSS/intervention systems, including coherence between core instruction and supports for multilingual learners and scholars with disabilities.
• Support compliance with district, state, and federal academic accountability expectations; ensure day-to-day instructional systems position schools to improve CCRPI outcomes.
• Instructional Leadership, Coaching & Enablement
• Provide job-embedded coaching to Assistant Principals, instructional coaches, teacher leaders, and teachers through lesson internalization, modeling, rehearsal, observation/feedback, student work analysis, and data review cycles.
• Strengthen high-fidelity implementation of core curricula and aligned instructional routines across content areas (e.g., math HQIM; core ELA; content-area scopes and sequences), ensuring consistent planning quality and task rigor.
• Coach leaders/teachers on key content-specific instructional moves, including:
• Math: conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, application, discourse routines, modeling/representation, error analysis, standards-aligned task design
• ELA/Structured Literacy: explicit phonics/foundational skills (K–3), close reading, text-dependent questions, writing from sources, vocabulary development, academic discourse
• Science/Social Studies/Humanities (Non-Fiction): text-based instruction, knowledge-building, inquiry/labs, document analysis, disciplinary writing/DBQ, explicit vocabulary/knowledge development
• Build leaders’ capacity to conduct effective observations and feedback cycles across content areas with calibrated look-fors and consistent coaching expectations.
• Anchor coaching in equity-driven practices that ensure access to grade-level tasks and texts for all learners, including appropriate scaffolds without lowering rigor.
• In turnaround settings, lead rapid learning cycles (PD → implementation → coaching follow-up → data check → adjustment).
• Professional Development & Capacity Building
• Design and facilitate high-impact professional learning for teachers and leaders across Math, ELA, and Non-Fiction/Humanities content areas aligned to best practices and KIPP Atlanta priorities.
• Develop tools and frameworks that enable instructional leaders and coaches to observe, coach, and develop strong instruction (look-fors, walkthrough protocols, co-planning templates, feedback stems, calibration routines).
• Facilitate communities of practice to deepen content knowledge and pedagogy (structured literacy, math pedagogy, disciplinary literacy/knowledge building).
• Support school teams in developing and monitoring content-aligned action plans tied to improvement priorities and CCRPI levers.
• Curriculum, Assessment & Academic Programming
• Ensure alignment of formative, diagnostic, and summative assessments to Georgia standards and CCRPI expectations; support strong administration, analysis, and action planning routines.
• Support development and maintenance of K–12 progressions and benchmarks (writing progression, reading benchmarks, math learning progressions, disciplinary literacy expectations).
• Ensure curriculum resources/text selections reflect rigor, cultural relevance, and equitable access; identify gaps in enactment and provide actionable solutions.
• Partner with MTSS and Special Education teams to ensure accessibility, aligned scaffolds, and targeted interventions that protect grade-level access.

Benefits

• 20 days of Paid Time Off, in addition to identified holidays
• Comprehensive health insurance (medical and dental), life insurance and optional short and long term disability
• Counseling and Telehealth Options
• Paid Parental Leave
• Participation in Georgia retirement plan and an optional 403(b) retirement plan.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level