Career Center

The Teaching and Learning Center at Darlington School has a core belief that every child can learn, and that children often learn in different and unique ways. The Learning Specialist is a member of the Teaching and Learning Center team and directly serves students who have documented learning differences, while also supporting and enhancing the academic experience of all students in grades Pre-K through grade 12. This Learning Specialist position intervenes and supports students in grade Pre-K to 8 as necessary and collaborates with teachers in those efforts. The Pre-K to 8 Learning Specialist reports to the Director of the Teaching and Learning Center.

The primary responsibility of this Learning Specialist is to provide one-on-one and small-group support and instruction for students with documented learning differences in all academic areas, and to nurture the development of skills, habits of mind, and approaches to learning necessary for success at Darlington School. They monitor the academic information related to students served by the Teaching and Learning Center and create student support plans that identify learning goals, strategies for reaching those goals, and the measurement for identifying when goals have been reached. This Learning Specialist oversees students’ progress and clearly communicates with all stakeholders throughout the teaching and learning process. 

Darlington School is the only school in Northwest Georgia to offer a highly specialized program called the Accelerated Learning Program within the Teaching and Learning Center that is specifically designed to support students with dyslexia. This Learning Specialist works in concert with a highly qualified academic support team to deliver necessary reading remediation sessions using the Orton-Gillingham approach to those students with dyslexia enrolled in this fee-based program. Additionally, this Learning Specialist supports Darlington School’s classroom teachers as they deploy a Balanced Literacy curriculum, and play a key role in promoting proficiency for dyslexic students as readers, writers and communicators in their classes, thus enabling students with dyslexia to receive the full Darlington experience.

Experience

• Three or more years of teaching experience at the Pre-K to 8 grade levels
• Experience with a multisensory reading program (OG, Wilson, Lindamood-Bell or similar training)

• Experience with multisensory math program (Math in Focus, Singapore Math, or similar training)
• Experience as a Learning Specialist, Academic Resource Professional, or Special Education preferred
• Experience composing individualized student support/educational plans preferred

Responsibilities

• Provide one-on-one and small-group support/instruction for students, both in push-in and pull-out environments
• Maintain professional knowledge about learning differences/diagnoses (dyslexia, ADHD, dyscalculia, etc) by participating in professional growth and learning
• Administer and use diagnostic assessment to identify skill areas in academic and/or behavioral domains that show strengths, deficits, and effectiveness of interventions
• Administer and employ progress monitoring to identify what students needs are in order to learn,
• Determine the targeted interventions, and to assess whether or not academic or behavioral interventions are having the desired effect
• Report regularly on student achievement and progress
• Facilitate Parent-Teacher Conferences to discuss student progress with parents
• Meet with individual parents as necessary to discuss the progress of their children 
• Foster a partnership with parents through on-going and consistent communication 
• Read and summarize psychological evaluations for Lower School and Middle School.
• Compose student support plans that will target students’ specific learning needs. 
• Implement research-based interventions and monitor them closely to ensure quality of intervention follow-through 
• Provide testing accommodations
• Design meaningful learning engagements that target individualized learning and skill-based needs. 
• Support development of executive functioning, higher order thinking, inter and intrapersonal communication, and other habits of mind
• Instruct students on use of appropriate assistive technology 
• Support faculty by offering resources, assistance, advice, and training to best meet the needs of diverse learners. 
• Develop and maintain communication and documentation protocols related to learning support.
• Perform other duties as determined by the Director of the Teaching and Learning Center. 
• Share information from conferences and other events that can shape policies or practices with teachers, other learning specialists, and administrators
• Connect with peer schools to keep up-to-date on current research and methodology of identifying and working with students who have learning differences that require early intervention 
• Train teachers to implement support strategies for learning differences
• Assist teachers in classrooms to help adjust and enrich curricular approaches and improve pedagogy
• Adhere to strict student confidentiality