The Director of Special Education is responsible for all aspects of the Special Education program in our school. It includes, but is not limited to:
- Oversight of the special education program. This role is responsible for ensuring all aspects of the services we offer to students in our special education program are compliant and deliver on their promised outcomes. This includes ensuring that all IEP services are delivered to eligible students consistently and to high standards, all required documentation is completed and filed with the correct agencies as appropriate, and meetings with families are happening as detailed in every eligible student’s IEP, with translation support as needed. In the case where students receive outplacement services, this role also oversees transportation and any other related logistics for those services.
- Ensuring appropriate scaffolds, interventions, and supports. This role ensures that students with IEPs and 504 plans receive the appropriate scaffolds, interventions, and support for all aspects of their learning, ranging from day-to-day classroom instruction to standardized assessments.
- Coaching and support for Special Education teachers and others interfacing with special education students. This role observes special education service delivery and ensures that teachers and instructional coaches get the training, skill-building support, and feedback needed to ensure students receive the best services possible. This includes planning for professional development, communicating about needed changes in practice, and delivering actionable feedback to teachers and coaches directly and in a timely manner. Lastly, this role models and disseminates best practices, including collaboration practices between general education and special education teachers.
- Evaluating students for services and ensuring that the intervention systems and related data to track student progress are accurate and up to date. As the lead for Special Education services in our school, you run Kindergarten intakes and evaluate other students as needed. You are also responsible for ensuring the MTSS system for intervening and supporting students is equitable and effective. Lastly, you ensure that data around student progress, including progress notes, are up to date and tracked in a timely manner.
- Is responsible for ensuring state testing (and all accommodations for special populations) is administered according to state mandates. With the support of collaborates with other directors to coordinate and facilitate state testing (RICAS, DLM, NGSA, and NAEP) by entering student accommodation, and providing any necessary training for the staff providing those accommodations.
- Is responsible for the coordination and oversight of the school’s ESY and summer learning programs.
Minimum Qualifications:To be considered for this position, all candidates must have the RI certification for district level director of special education. You Also must be a U.S. citizen or resident or have work visas. In addition, they must demonstrate:
- Deep knowledge and experience in managing a Special Education program and a clear vision for equity. As the subject matter expert for Special Education at the Learning Community, the Director must possess deep mastery of relevant legal requirements, as well as the best practices for compliance and for delivery of Special Education services for K-8 students with a wide range of disabilities and support needs while leveraging research-based interventions and translating vision into action.
- A strong lens on equity and inclusion as it relates to your work. As someone leading the Special Education program in a K-8 setting serving predominantly students and families of color, a strong understanding of how inequity shows up in special education and general education settings and an inclusive approach to communicating with and engaging families across lines of race and other dimensions of identity difference is a required must-have of this role.
- Superb time-management and organizational skills. This role requires the Director to manage multiple important compliance and programmatic deadlines, and to track the progress of all special education students against their plans. To do this, the Director will need very strong time management and organizational skills, as well as the ability to project manage others to advance their work - including the Head of School, other directors, teachers, paraprofessionals and administrative assistant.
- Professionalism and strong follow-through: This role requires the Director to deliver high-quality, thorough, work on-time, every time or communicate proactively with lead time if they will miss a commitment or need support. The right candidate for this role will do what they promise, when they promise it.
- Effective communication, trust-building and influencing skills. To build high-trust relationships with teachers, students and families and find workable solutions when the expectations of these groups are in tension, this role requires a masterful, inclusive communicator with strong influencing skills.
- Strong abilities to educate and develop others. This role requires the ability to coach-up and train others ranging from families to leaders, teachers, and other staff. As a result, the ability to deliver engaging and actionable training in the areas of your expertise is required.
