Lead Coach (Math)

Chicago Public Schools•Chicago, IL

40d•Onsite

About The Position

One of the cornerstones of CPS’ recommitment to strengthening the district’s instructional core is investing in empowered and supported educators. CPS continues to deepen our support to ensure all schools have strong cultures of distributed leadership that include academically-focused instructional leadership teams (ILTs) made up of Teacher Leaders, teachers actively participating in Teacher Leader-led learning cycles, individualized feedback, and support to all teachers embedded within their learning cycle. In 2022, CPS launched Teachers Lead Chicago — our strategy to define school-based leadership roles so teachers can “lead without having to leave” the classroom. Teachers Lead Chicago (TLC) is a cross-office initiative with the Talent and Teaching and Learning Offices that formalizes teacher leadership pathways. TLC, located in the Talent Office as part of the Training and Leadership Development team, operates CPS’ formal teacher career pathway for teaching staff, which includes the qualification and selection process, guidance to principals and teachers, evaluation and record keeping, marketing and recruiting, and pipeline development. The Office of Teaching and Learning provides professional development and implementation of formal teacher leadership roles. Role Summary: A Lead Coach position is available at a subset of CPS schools. This teacher role has 80%25 release time to provide coaching and support to teacher leaders and teacher teams within the school community in support of the local instructional areas of need. The primary objective of the Lead Coach role is to build the capacity of other teacher leaders and teachers, as well as support the distributed and supportive leadership model within their school building. Lead Coaches have expertise in classroom pedagogy, team leadership, and coaching, and they use these skills to develop teacher capacity in classroom instruction and teacher leadership skills. This school-level support will help to improve instructional practice and improve student outcomes. Lead Coaches are critical members of the school’s Instructional Leadership Team (ILT).

Requirements

Hold a valid teaching license issued by the Illinois State Board of Education
Have four (4) years of service or commensurate experience
If CPS Candidate: Most recent REACH Professional Practice rating of 3.4 (340) or above or most recent REACH Summative score as Proficient
Have experience formally leading peers/adults effectively
Expertise in the school community's stated areas of instructional need
Complete the application with a specific school on the CPS Careers Jobs Board
Ability to set short and long-term goals aligned to school-wide vision for teacher leaders, teachers, and student success
Ability to use collaborative approaches and include multiple perspectives in the decision-making process
Analyzes data to examine current realities, including strengths, challenges, relationships, and/or underlying dynamics
Experience leading collaborative sessions that allow for active engagement with meeting objectives
Strong communication skills (speaking, listening, and writing)
Demonstrate high levels of instructional expertise, integrity, honesty, credibility, and the courage to make difficult yet necessary decisions, along with a deep knowledge of pedagogical best practices
Effective strategic planning capabilities, including the ability to establish long-term vision and goals and align/manage activities toward goal fulfillment
Strong leadership and team-building skills, e.g., ability to develop high-performing teams united around a clear vision for serving schools and achieving student success
Exceptional organizational skills
Experience and knowledge of supporting the development of adult learners
Ability to build collaborative relationships and actively build and sustain positive, productive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders
Ability to define problems, analyze data, and outline valid conclusions and action steps
Ability to motivate others to improve practice and impact student learning
Skilled in objectively understanding and interpreting others’ concerns, motives, feelings, and behaviors
Ability to lead a formal team through learning development and learning cycles

Responsibilities

Serve as a lead or co-leading member of the ILT, supporting the School Leader with accelerating school-wide learning
Work collaboratively with School Leaders to plan and support the school's distributed leadership strategy
Develop and implement recruitment, development, and retention plans for teacher leadership roles within the building
Advance the instructional core foundation outlined within the CIWP
Lead a team (or teams) of teachers in enacting the instructional core (including, but not limited to, planning and facilitating learning cycles to content/grade-level teams, providing lesson plan feedback, analyzing data and/or student work, and leading/participating in instructional core walks)
Develop Teacher Leaders' capacity to lead adult learners and build their expertise in planning for and facilitating inquiry-based learning cycles
Provide a structured space for Teacher Leaders to plan, reflect on, and make decisions based on teacher team inquiry-based learning cycle progress and outcomes
Provide one-to-one peer instructional coaching to assigned teacher leaders that is connected to the learning of the team learning cycle
Monitor student and teacher learning
Model team leadership and connective coaching authenticity
Support and fill in for a Team Lead who does not have common release time to engage in coaching with team members.