Inclusive and Responsive Education Specialist

Chicago Public Schools•Chicago, IL

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is a district on the rise, serving over 325,000 students in 500+ schools and employing over 45,000 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. Aligned with our transformed philosophy, we are steadfastly focused on ensuring that the District provides resources equitably to support every student, every school, and every community. Six core values guide the work we do every day for our students – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning. Each role in the district supports our vision that every student deserves a rigorous, joyful, and equitable learning experience. The Chicago Public School’s Instructional Core Vision centers identity, community, and relationships, which is called the “Inner Core.” Located within the Office of Teaching and Learning, the Department of Student Voice & Engagement (DSVE) leads the district's inclusive and responsive education strategy that aims to ensure all aspects of schooling in CPS are inclusive of and responsive to the lived experiences of students, and includes young people as key stakeholders in making decisions that impact them. Job Summary: Reporting to the Inclusive and Responsive Education Manager, the Inclusive and Responsive Education Specialist will collaborate closely with cross-departmental Content Specialists, as well as other CPS teams such as The Department of Professional Learning and the Department of Distributed Leadership to ensure a coherent vision for student-centered, responsive, and inclusive values and practices are scaled throughout CPS. This role will be responsible for leveraging experience and expertise in the areas of student voice, and responsive, participatory, inclusive, youth-adult partnership in support of the district’s Instructional Core vision. The primary objective of the Inclusive and Responsive Education Specialist will be to support the design and implementation of guidance, resources, policy, curriculum enrichment, and professional learning experiences that: Center responsive and affirming curriculum, instruction, and assessment across all content areas, and Uplift inclusive, responsive, and affirming practices across school teams and within decision-making structures in schools. This position will also support the implementation of the Instructional Core strategy and help inform and execute a focused “Inner Core” quality alignment process for all internal and external district-level curriculum and professional learning. This is a full-time, exempt position that will be paid for time worked on a salary basis.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field of study from an accredited college or university, required
Valid teaching certificate/Professional Educator’s License (PEL) issued by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) with appropriate content and/or grade level endorsement(s) is required
Minimum of five (5) years of relevant professional experience, including the following, is required:
Minimum of three (3) years of classroom teaching experience
Minimum of three (3) years of teacher or school 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
Deep commitment to equity, culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies, and transformative learning experiences for all students and adults in CPS
Strong knowledge of anti-racist practices in education; knowledge of anti-bias, anti-racist, and anti-adultist pedagogy; commitment to providing an educational environment free of discrimination and bias
Commitment to CPS Instructional Core Vision
Ability to build inclusive and participatory classrooms, schools, and learning experiences: including student voice in decision-making in any/all aspects of schooling
Strong understanding of the needs of adult learners and learning science, and practices that support all learners in the classroom, including English Language Learners and Diverse Learners.
Expertise in reimagining adult and youth learning experiences through planning, designing, facilitating, and evaluating transformative professional learning
Knowledge of research-based practices; maintains up-to-date knowledge of changing or emerging best practices, concepts and standards in the areas of identity work, anti-bias work, dialogue and deliberation; inquiry learning; and building inclusive systems and structures that elevate varied voices (including youth) in decision making in any/all aspect of schooling
Knowledge of: WIDA ELD Standards
Understanding by Design principles for curriculum design
Universal Design for Learning principles for instructional design
MTSS and SEL 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
Ability to build consensus and leverage expertise with educators across the district
Exceptional project management and time management capabilities
Strong analytic and critical thinking skills and strong ability to analyze data, define problems, and outline valid conclusions and action steps.
Capable of using data to identify development needs
Excellent technology skills (Google Suite)

Nice To Haves

LBSI, ESL, or Bilingual Endorsement, preferred
Master’s degree in a relevant field of study, preferred
Experience leading others in culturally responsive pedagogy, equity and inclusion, civic learning, and/or student voice and leadership is preferred
Experience designing and/or delivering human-centered professional learning and/or experience with human-centered design is preferred

Responsibilities

Design, develop, and facilitate universal and curriculum-based professional learning (PL) that advances culturally responsive and inclusive systems and structures across: All CPS content areas (Math, English Language Arts (ELA), Science, Social Science, World languages, PK, Spanish Language Arts (SLA), Computer Science, Arts, Health and Physical Education), grade levels (PreK-12), and All areas of schools: CPS teams (Instructional Leadership Teams, Administration, Content Departments, Behavior Leadership Teams, etc.); and continuous improvement decision-making systems and structures (continuous learning cycles, CIWP, SQRP, etc)
Ensure professional learning content created for internal and external stakeholders deepens their understanding of culturally responsive and inclusive culture, curriculum, and instruction, and the practices that support it
Work in collaboration with CPS academic and cross-content departments and external partners to ensure shared understanding and implementation of the Instructional Core vision centered in identity, community, and relationships. Maintain expertise in the fields of culturally responsive pedagogy, inclusive partnership, and student voice and leadership through staying abreast of current research, practices, and innovation in the field
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 professional learning plans that ensure the prioritization and support of district-wide learning and decision-making centered on the identities, relationships, and communities of our students, their families, and our teachers, Builds their capacity in supporting school leaders and teacher leaders with responsive and inclusive pedagogical values and practices., Prepares them to lead inclusive, responsive school-based learning through coaching, team meetings, workshops, etc.
Ensure professional learning for Teacher Leaders successfully achieves the following: Supports them in ensuring their contributions to their schools’ Instructional Leadership Teams are anchored in responsive and inclusive practices that promote identity work and strong relationships and community, Builds their capacity to lead their colleagues in content-specific learning and reflection grounded in student voice
Support the development of content-, school team-, and school context-specific guidance, resources, and policy to ensure a consistent representation of the “Inner Core” is promoted in all content areas, and within/across teams. Collaborate with cross-content teams (OLCE, ODLSS, OSEL, OECE) to design professional learning that is student-centered and promotes inclusive and responsive practices, incorporating best practices for supporting all students (English Learners, Diverse Learners, SEL perspectives) across all content areas and grade-levels, at scale
Model the intentional, effective use of culturally responsive and inclusive practices, values, and decision-making in professional learning contexts and daily work - including communications, organization, and management tasks
Other duties as assigned