Annie Wright Schools seek a Learning Support Specialist for the Upper School for Boys to begin on August 23, 2021. This is a full-time position.

The Learning Support Specialist is an advocate for and partner with every learner as needed in the Upper School for Boys (USB), working to ensure students receive appropriate individualized support, whether that be additional challenge or supplementary accommodations. Working alongside faculty, counselors, families and students, the goal of the Learning Support Specialist is to cultivate the self-management and self-advocacy skills that will allow all students to thrive in academic and non-academic spaces, with an emphasis on students with Individual Accommodation Plans. 

The Learning Support Specialist is a crucial member of the divisional leadership team, providing an invaluable perspective as to how students can be best supported and encouraged, and how the school can ensure that students feel valued and empowered in academic spaces. The Learning Support Specialist works closely with faculty to ensure that the USB classes offer rich and differentiated instruction employing best practices of pedagogy.

The Learning Support Specialist upholds the principles of empathy, understanding and inclusivity that are core to the school, and recognizing there are many ways to be and embody what it means to be a USB student, works to support students in becoming the strongest, most independent learners they can be. Grounded in the belief that all students are capable of the high-level work that is part of a rigorous curriculum, the Learning Support Specialist serves an essential role in developing the well-educated, creative and responsible citizens Annie Wright Schools aspire to cultivate.

Position Overview: Core Duties and Responsibilities

The Learning Support Specialist, focuses on the following broad areas:

• Student and family support:
• Provides direct support to individual students requiring accommodations, scaffolding and extension by pushing into classrooms or pulling students out for individual or small group support;
• Coaches and supports faculty to develop strategies to implement accommodations and support students;
• Maintains communication with faculty and with families about students’ needs and progress and provides parent support as needed;
• Develops strong, trusting relationships with each student and their family, as well as with each member of the faculty.
• Programmatic support:
• Works as part of the USB Administrative Team to identify, strategize on, and support student needs;
• Provides training on best practices in differentiation and learning support to faculty;
• Participates actively in after school and extra-curricular programming along with other members of the faculty to understand students outside as well as inside the classroom.
• Administrative duties:
• Writes Individual Accommodation Plans after carefully reviewing all documentation and reports, and maintains support plan files for students with documented/ demonstrated learning differences;
• Administers assessments for students as required to monitor the development of skills, track student progress, and plan effective instruction;
• Works with the College Counselor and standardized testing agencies to ensure accommodations for SAT and ACT when those are appropriate and documented;
• Works closely with the Learning Support Specialist in the USG, as well as with other learning support faculty to develop and ensure clear schoolwide practices and beliefs regarding learning support;
• Observes and comments upon teacher pedagogy and instruction as it relates to differentiated learning support best practices; and
• Advises the Division Director as appropriate regarding the ongoing progress of differentiation across the division.

Annie Wright’s strong community cultivates individual learners to become well-educated, creative and responsible citizens for a global society.