Director, Special Education

School District of Philadelphia • Philadelphia, PA

4h • Onsite

About The Position

The School District of Philadelphia is committed to becoming the fastest improving District in the country and transforming the educational opportunities it offers to our city’s more than 198,405 students. The District seeks leaders who have a passion for working with schools and communities who are committed to ensuring all students achieve. Serving a population as diverse as ours requires creativity, commitment and vision. Will you join us? This role assists building level teams, provides direction with due process proceedings, and manages hearing office decisions and settlement agreements. It ensures that assigned schools are prepared for cyclical monitoring of special education programs and are implementing a corrective action plan, when required, because of monitoring and investigations conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The position designs strategic supports in special education that provide the necessary systemic processes and procedures as it relates to early intervention, secondary transition, and related services. It informs the work of staff who work directly in schools, in addition to serving as a liaison between Office of Specialized Services (OSS) field staff and central office. The role coordinates with other departmental leaders to ensure that the educational needs of all students are met in the areas of secondary transition, early intervention, and related services. It provides leadership, plans, and delivers high quality substantive training and consultative support to related services providers and OSS staff on early intervention, secondary transition, and related services to ensure foundational understanding of IDEA and adherence to the goals and objectives of the annual Intermediate Plan and the state and local special education plan. The position conducts data analysis and monitoring of department initiatives to ensure fidelity of implementation.

Requirements

• Master’s degree from an accredited college or university.
• Three years of full-time, paid, experience as an appointed school professional in the area of special education which has included experience outside of the classroom in a leadership role (e.g. mentor teacher, Administrative Assistant, or Assistant Principal).
• Valid Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Administrative certificate for K-12 or Elementary and Secondary Principal. AND Valid Commonwealth of Pennsylvania certificate to teach special education.
• OR Valid Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Special Education Supervisory certificate.
• Demonstrated knowledge of periodic assessments and ongoing informal assessments and strategies to support students based on the results.
• Demonstrated knowledge of site visit protocols for Walk Throughs.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the modern principles, practices and methods of educational administration.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the principles and theories of adult learning.
• Demonstrated knowledge of curriculum development and implementation as well as authentic assessment practices.
• Demonstrated knowledge of instructional strategies related to curriculum and content.
• Demonstrated knowledge of governmental statues and regulations relating to instruction and curriculum.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the effective use of technology in the delivery of staff development programs.
• Demonstrated knowledge of supervisory methods and techniques.
• Demonstrated knowledge of current research regarding communities of learners, instructional practices linked to student achievement, differentiated instruction, mentoring, coaching and emergent technologies.
• Demonstrated knowledge of project-based learning, blended learning and experiential learning.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Instructional practices which contribute to a college going culture among non traditional students.
• Demonstrated knowledge of national standards, the current trends, developments, practices, objectives and theories of staff development.
• Demonstrated knowledge of curriculum development and implementation and instructional strategies related to curriculum, content and problem solving.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the principles, practices and methods of education in Literacy, Math, Science, Social Studies, or World Languages.
• Demonstrated knowledge of a variety of pedagogical modalities.
• Demonstrated knowledge of standards and current curriculum frameworks.
• Demonstrated knowledge of research-based school improvement designs and current issues facing urban public education.
• Demonstrated knowledge of governmental mandates impacting special education.
• Demonstrated knowledge of differentiated instruction.
• Demonstrated knowledge of current best practices in curriculum, instruction and assessment.
• Demonstrated knowledge of research related to the field of expertise and the ability to apply this research to practical situations.
• Demonstrated skill in collecting, analyzing and using data.
• Demonstrated skill in the use of technology to access student assessment results for informing instruction.
• Demonstrated skill in data management including interpretation, solutions and applications.
• Demonstrated skill in coaching and modeling for school based staff and leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to supervise implementing interventions (strategy groups, conferencing, guided reading groups, etc) based on formal and informal assessment results.
• Demonstrated ability to design and facilitate school led workshops for staff development incorporating assessments and interventions into current curriculum.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships and help teachers and principals feel comfortable with and understand instruction.
• Demonstrated ability to provide leadership in professional development design and implementation.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate, facilitate and implement diversified professional development programs.
• Demonstrated ability to engage adult learners in meaningful, research-based staff development designs.
• Demonstrated ability to use disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress and help sustain continuous improvement.
• Demonstrated ability to use multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact.
• Demonstrated ability to prepare educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement.
• Demonstrated ability to deepen educators’ content knowledge and provide them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate, manage, and interpret data and prepare cogent recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, develop, conduct and oversee a comprehensive instructional support program and staff development program for a large urban school district.
• Demonstrated ability to review, select and adapt resources to better support schools in academic achievement.
• Demonstrated ability to assess staff development and instructional support needs.
• Demonstrated ability to review, select and adapt course materials for a variety of staff development sessions.
• Demonstrated ability to oversee and review formative assessment content and design.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret all relevant District and federal rules and regulations concerning program administration.
• Demonstrated ability to guide and channel resources, ideas for recommendations for problem solution and refinement.
• Demonstrated ability to manage and interpret data.
• Demonstrated ability to use a personal computer.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and effective working relationships.

Responsibilities

• Works with school teams to ensure that appropriate processes and procedures are being utilized to provide students with opportunities to engage in learning in the least restrictive environment and that instructional changes and supplementary aids and services are employed prior to the use of restrictive services and placements.
• Utilizes data to monitor the behavioral and academic progress of special education students and to identify areas where educators require additional support.
• Serves as a liaison between the Pennsylvania Department of Education Bureau of Special Education (PDE/BSE) and school teams to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations and District policies and practices.
• Provides accurate and timely information on building specific programs to support large scale operational functions including but not limited to student transitions, Extended School Year (ESY) programming, program and population forecasting.
• Performs other duties as assigned to support with the advancement of student learning.
• Ensures that all due process procedures and timelines are met; ensures that parents/guardians are notified of the meetings.
• Performs related duties as required.

What This Job Offers

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