Lower School Learning Specialist

We are seeking a Lower School Learning Specialist for our Jersey City Campus for 2025-2026 school year. This is a 10-month, full-time assignment starting in August 2025 and ending June 2026. Standard work hours, benefits, and paid time off as per the Faculty/Staff Handbook. 

Reports to: Principal, Newport Campus

The Candidate  

You have knowledge and experience with literacy education and learning support for kindergarten to upper elementary ages. You can identify and implement appropriate strategies to meet particular learning needs of individual students. You have experience with and knowledge of reading and writing curriculum development and you have strong classroom management and pedagogy skills. You are comfortable administering reading and phonics assessments, interpreting results, and designing individualized reading lessons and goals. You are experienced and confident as a coach to elementary years teachers in reading and writing instruction, evaluation, and support. You have a willingness to grow professionally through ongoing professional development courses. You are a detailed-oriented team player with strong communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills. 

You are a professional who is energetic, has a positive attitude, and is a self-starter. You work collaboratively in a small community and can instill confidence in the program with parents. You are creative and flexible with organizational and broad-based student management skills in a variety of groupings from 1:1 to small group or whole section. Your strong verbal and written communication skills support your development of interpersonal relationships with students, faculty and families. You are culturally competent with effective organizational and classroom management skills. 

Primary Responsibilities

• Understanding of inquiry-based approach with real world application 
• Provide pull-out and/or push-in direct instructional support for kindergarten - 4th grades in reading, writing, and other literacy activities (including planning Guided Reading sessions) 
• Maintain regular times established to check in on students identified as needing support
• Team plan with teaching teams and use classroom instruction resources and assignments to devise individualized instructional and scaffolded learning strategies
• Provide short-term reteaching of skills that are no longer being taught in the classroom
• Provide consultation to faculty as to what differentiation strategies may be effective for students needing support, develop classroom-based interventions and ways to measure the effectiveness of the interventions
• Create and maintain academic profiles for students who require academic support
• Provide written comments for progress reports on children getting 1:1 support
• Communicate updates and progress on a regular basis with families of students who are receiving support
• Meet regularly with the Child Study Team to discuss student learning issues
• Maintain contact as needed with Jersey City Board of Education regarding student assessments and services and follow up paperwork

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field, Master’s preferred
• Five years teaching experience including two years as a learning specialist 
• Knowledge of child development, cognitive milestones and learning support programs
• Knowledge of literacy development and best practices to devise interventions for students demonstrating challenges with literacy
• Ability to form positive relationships with students
• Ability to motivate and stimulate children's learning abilities through a range of targeted experiences
• Ability to cultivate and foster a safe and inclusive learning environment that values all voices and appreciates various perspectives 
• Identification and monitoring of students with learning challenges using observations and other cognitive assessments
• Ability to create individual educational plans
• Ability to interpret and evaluate external evaluations and support implementation of recommendations
• Exemplary teaching skills and capabilities and experience with providing instructional support strategies in reading and writing
• Ability to develop, select and use informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative assessment strategies to assess student learning
• Excellent verbal and written skills and experience with facilitating sensitive conversations with families
• Proficient with using technology (Google Suite and use of Smart Panels and Chromebooks)