Description
Ref: 8393 Become a Special Education Teacher on Specialist Assignment (Program Specialist) in OUSD!
Our Mission and Vision
The Oakland Unified School District's mission is to build a Full Service Community District focused on high academic achievement while serving the whole child, eliminating inequity, and providing each child with excellent teachers, every day.
Our vision is that all OUSD students will find joy in their academic experience while graduating with the skills to ensure they are caring, competent, fully-informed, critical thinkers who are prepared for college, career, and community success.
Our Strategic Plan
The four key initiatives of our current district wide strategic plan are:
- Ensuring Strong Third Grader Readers (Accelerating citywide efforts to guarantee literacy for all third graders)
- Supporting Powerful Graduates (Developing essential skills to secure post-secondary success)
- Creating Inspiring Schools (Reimagining schools to be places of joy, inclusion and beauty)
- Growing a Diverse and Stable Staff (Attract and retain staff reflective of Oakland's rich diversity)
We are seeking educators who believe that:
- Building and maintaining caring relationships with students and families is a key part of the foundation of teaching;
- Maintaining high expectations for all students is best accomplished through a persistent asset-based lens of what students can do;
- Your actions can directly lead to creating more equitable conditions in public schools;
- Your work is most effective in collaboration with colleagues, families, and students;
- Developing as an anti-racist educator requires investing time in self-reflection, listening and incorporating feedback from students, their families, other educators, and school leaders and is critical to your growth as an educator and leader.
- Working for racial justice requires close attention to educational systems and policies, and working to eliminate racism is critical to the educational success of all students.
What we offer teachers:
Oakland Unified has received substantial funding to support pathway programs including tuition and debt relief for selected middle school teachers, Special Education teachers, and for pathway programs, including Classified-to-Teacher, Maestr@s, and the After-School-to-Teacher programs. We are invested in creating and maintaining affinity spaces for educators that support retention and socio-emotional support. We provide extensive professional development and training for teachers, innovative curricula, ongoing mentoring and advancement opportunities. Our teachers are also given abundant opportunities to work together in Professional Learning Communities within and across schools in the District.
In addition to professional development and training, we offer a comprehensive compensation package that includes:
- Competitive salaries determined by experience, education level, and credentials
- We accept up to twelve years of full time teaching experience in other school settings on the salary schedule (please see our salary schedule here: https://www.ousd.org/Page/16118)
- Full medical, dental, and vision benefits, including Flexible Spending Accounts, plus life insurance and long-term disability coverage
- Retirement benefits through the CALSTRS Retirement System
- Read more about benefits here: https://www.ousd.org/benefits
Job Duties:
- Coaching + Mentoring
- Build relational trust and rapport with assigned special education teachers and teams
- Provide regular, direct 1:1 coaching grounded in collaboratively developed goals
- Observe teachers in instructional and IEP meeting settings; provide feedback & direct coaching, modeling when appropriate
- Respond efficiently to families and staff
- Train and support teachers in the use of formal and informal assessment tools, drafting and facilitating IEP meetings.
- Train and support teachers in the use of SpEd Department/District-adopted curriculum to ensure teachers understand and meet all district and program standards
- Professional Learning
- Develop and facilitate professional learning opportunities that promote achievement for all students. Design PD for teachers, and occasionally for administrators & support staff, in areas including curriculum, instruction, assessment, classroom management, behavior, inclusive practices, disability awareness, etc.
- Develop and facilitate professional learning opportunities that promote coherent, appropriate and compliant IEPs
- Assist the department team in the rollout of any new curriculum, materials, and/or instructional supports.
- Direct Student Assessment and/or Observation
- Conduct behavioral observations and provide feedback to teachers and site staff on strategies/interventions;
- Conduct site walkthroughs to monitor classroom implementation of EBPs and provide feedback to site teams.
- Observe individual students when IEP team refers student for a review/potential change of placement
- IEP Meetings, Preparation & Documentation
- Support or lead the development, facilitation, and/or affirming and attesting of student IEPs and IEP meetings as needed
- Review student data to make recommendations for level of service required for FAPE
- Review parent requests to determine defensibility and potential need for PWN or next step
- Communicate directly with families regarding requests, referrals to Alternative Dispute Resolution, and other areas as needed.
- Intradepartmental, Interdepartmental, and Site Based Collaboration:
- Engage in intra- and inter-department meetings in support of district and department mission, vision and goals
- Participate in Network Instructional Team meetings, weekly SpEd meetings, and SpEd department meetings.
- Attend school team meetings (i.e. department meetings, staff meetings, PD) to act as an advisor, facilitator, or presenter
- Actively work across teams to eliminate silos and coordinate support to schools in need.
- Meet regularly with your supervisor for the purposes of coaching, consultation, and/or evaluation
- Participate in professional learning opportunities in support of district and department mission, vision and goals
- Participate, as needed, in regular meeting with site principals in order to collaborate about SpEd teachers and instruction; share information, recommend areas for improvement, and praise areas of strength
- Maintenance of Data and Compliance:
- Monitor compliance of teachers who you directly support
- Maintenance of internal data systems
- Coordinate with compliance team
Qualifications:
Candidates must have a Bachelor's degree, must be eligible for employment in the US and pass a criminal background check. Candidates must possess a Clear California Education Specialist, Speech Pathology Services, or Pupil Personnel Services credential.
Additional requirements:
- Completed online application
- Resume and cover Letter
- Two current professional references, including from a Supervisor
- 5+ years of experience in Special Education
You can also learn more about our teaching opportunities and hiring events here: https://www.ousd.org/careers
If you have questions or would like more information, please email recruitment@ousd.org
To hear about news and events to support you in becoming an OUSD educator, please fill out this form.
NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY
The Oakland Unified School District does not discriminate in any program, activity, or in employment on the basis of actual or perceived race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, veteran status, gender, sex, or sexual orientation.
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