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Curriculum Specialist
The Organization
The pilotED Foundation is a nationally-recognized education non-profit that grows schools, cultivates leaders, and advances policies that focus on equity and social identity development. Since our founding as a small after-school program in Chicago in 2015, we have grown to impact thousands of students across the nation through our schools, fellowship, and partners.
In the next few years, we will continue to shift the way that the American education system sees, treats, and supports culturally diverse students. We will work to ensure that communities across the country have the schools, education leaders, and policies they need to implement culturally sustaining pedagogy, and to promote enriching lifestyles among our school communities to end cycles of generational poverty and to further economic mobility.
The Role
The Curriculum Specialist will play an important role in furthering our impact through curriculum development and enhancement. They will evaluate and adapt the curriculum used at pilotED-associated elementary schools in Indianapolis and Las Vegas to center culturally sustaining pedagogy and to integrate the tenets of our Identity program. The Specialist will help collect and analyze data to identify ways for educators to improve their pedagogical practices and relationship building to increase students’ academic success, civic engagement, and social identity development. They will also research and advocate for educational materials and platforms that they think can best support educator and student learning and connection.
Additionally, they will work closely with the Director of Identity to expand pilotED’s influence in American education by creating complementary edits and extensions to the most commonly used curricula in elementary schools. This work will support the growth of our pilotED Identity Fellowship program and help influence pilotED’s curriculum policy priorities.
Diverse Learning Community
pilotED Foundation was intentionally created to welcome and support diverse populations in the United States. We are committed to cultivating equitable and inclusive learning communities that further pilotED’s core principles of social identity development, civic engagement, and academic excellence. Prospective staff must demonstrate cultural and racial competence and provide examples of their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We strive to create a learning environment that exposes students to a breadth of differences, informs their perspective, and prepares them to shape the world. pilotED is an equal opportunity employer.
Responsibilities
With the support of the Director of Identity, the Curriculum Specialist will:
Qualifications
Ideal candidates will have most of the following qualifications:
The ideal specialist is someone who has done significant work to understand their own, and diverse others’, identities and backgrounds; who can analyze the intersectional nature of how people experience oppression and privilege; and who seeks to further their own learning and development alongside students and our broader school community to further anti-racism and liberation. They prioritize relationships with students, families, and colleagues, and are driven to further students’ academic achievement through the social and political consciousness-raising innate to pilotED’s identity program.
Compensation
pilotED offers a competitive salary and benefits. The Curriculum Specialist salary will range from $47,000 - $50,000 school year with opportunities for annual bonuses and raises. Additionally, the benefits package includes full healthcare, dental, and vision coverage alongside benefits for new parents, travel opportunities, and a generous annual payment for vacations.
The Organization
The pilotED Foundation is a nationally-recognized education non-profit that grows schools, cultivates leaders, and advances policies that focus on equity and social identity development. Since our founding as a small after-school program in Chicago in 2015, we have grown to impact thousands of students across the nation through our schools, fellowship, and partners.
In the next few years, we will continue to shift the way that the American education system sees, treats, and supports culturally diverse students. We will work to ensure that communities across the country have the schools, education leaders, and policies they need to implement culturally sustaining pedagogy, and to promote enriching lifestyles among our school communities to end cycles of generational poverty and to further economic mobility.
The Role
The Curriculum Specialist will play an important role in furthering our impact through curriculum development and enhancement. They will evaluate and adapt the curriculum used at pilotED-associated elementary schools in Indianapolis and Las Vegas to center culturally sustaining pedagogy and to integrate the tenets of our Identity program. The Specialist will help collect and analyze data to identify ways for educators to improve their pedagogical practices and relationship building to increase students’ academic success, civic engagement, and social identity development. They will also research and advocate for educational materials and platforms that they think can best support educator and student learning and connection.
Additionally, they will work closely with the Director of Identity to expand pilotED’s influence in American education by creating complementary edits and extensions to the most commonly used curricula in elementary schools. This work will support the growth of our pilotED Identity Fellowship program and help influence pilotED’s curriculum policy priorities.
Diverse Learning Community
pilotED Foundation was intentionally created to welcome and support diverse populations in the United States. We are committed to cultivating equitable and inclusive learning communities that further pilotED’s core principles of social identity development, civic engagement, and academic excellence. Prospective staff must demonstrate cultural and racial competence and provide examples of their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We strive to create a learning environment that exposes students to a breadth of differences, informs their perspective, and prepares them to shape the world. pilotED is an equal opportunity employer.
Responsibilities
With the support of the Director of Identity, the Curriculum Specialist will:
- Evaluate and adapt curriculum to center culturally sustaining pedagogy and to integrate the tenets of our Identity program; this includes:
- outlining concepts, determining content delivery, accompanying materials, and complementary learning approaches including teacher-to-student and student-to-student interactions to increase learning;
- designing meaningful formative and summative assessments; and,
- quickly synthesizing and revising curriculum based on feedback, evaluation of previous implementation, school community data, input from experts and supervisors, etc.
- Create extensions and revisions to the most commonly used curricula in elementary schools using tested instructional design theories, practices and methods.
- Develop, implement, and evaluate curricular materials and pedagogical practices to ensure that they embody a strong sense of community through collaborative academic coursework, community service, leadership opportunities, and social identity development.
- Analyze, and help to collect, quantitative and qualitative information that guides educator reflection and provide feedback on educators’ pedagogical practices, including relationship building, to increase students’ academic success, civic engagement, and social identity development.
- Contribute to pilotED’s support of leaders’ implementation of collaborative methods of evaluation to provide ongoing feedback for staff that leads to constant professional improvement, and support them in empowering teachers to use student achievement data to reflect on teaching practices and make formal and informal decisions about instruction.
- Provide ideas and feedback on the content and structure of professional development plans and sessions for pilotED schools and pilotED Fellowship schools.
- Invest in pilotED’s atmosphere of individual growth and mutual respect.
- Build strong relationships with diverse stakeholders.
- Ensure equity and high expectations across all pilotED schools and school partners.
- Research, and advocate for, educational materials and platforms that they think can best support educator and student learning and connection.
- Actively engage in the broader education community to ensure pilotED stays relevant, and active in, the newest advancements in curriculum creation and evaluation and pedagogical practice.
Qualifications
Ideal candidates will have most of the following qualifications:
- A Master’s degree (or higher) in Curriculum Studies, Elementary Education, or related fields.
- A minimum of 3 years of teaching experience (elementary teaching preferred) with evidence of increased capacity to develop, implement, and iterate upon curriculum to advance students’ academic success and social identity development.
- Deep understanding of common core elementary standards and application as well as knowledge of child development milestones and changes that occur during students’ elementary school years
- Proven ability to build relationships with diverse stakeholders (non-profit leaders, school administrators, teachers, students and families) as well as with people from diverse backgrounds and identities
- Exhibit a clear desire for impact they want to have in enhancing curriculum and pedagogical practices in the U.S. to further equity and social identity development
- Experience in interdisciplinary learning models and willingness to embrace innovative pedagogy that supports whole child development and well-being.
- Entrepreneurial spirit and ability to work in a fast-paced, startup environment.
- Great follow through skills: say what you mean and do what you promise to do.
- Strong technology skills relating to blended learning, data analysis, and communications.
- Clear and compelling verbal and written communication.
- Proficiency in Spanish. We anticipate relatively high numbers of students and families who will speak Spanish.
- Demonstrated commitment to the belief that all children can achieve success, in the quality of their academic work and in working together for a common goal.
- Reflective, resourceful, willingness to listen, humility, flexibility and a sense of humor.
- Strong personal commitment to diversity, inclusion, cultural competency and equity; experience with programs and practices in this area, a recognition of one’s own biases; and experience working in urban communities.
The ideal specialist is someone who has done significant work to understand their own, and diverse others’, identities and backgrounds; who can analyze the intersectional nature of how people experience oppression and privilege; and who seeks to further their own learning and development alongside students and our broader school community to further anti-racism and liberation. They prioritize relationships with students, families, and colleagues, and are driven to further students’ academic achievement through the social and political consciousness-raising innate to pilotED’s identity program.
Compensation
pilotED offers a competitive salary and benefits. The Curriculum Specialist salary will range from $47,000 - $50,000 school year with opportunities for annual bonuses and raises. Additionally, the benefits package includes full healthcare, dental, and vision coverage alongside benefits for new parents, travel opportunities, and a generous annual payment for vacations.