Job Title: Special Education Teacher

Full-Time - 10 month Instructional Contract 

Reports To: Special Education Coordinator

Supervisory Responsibilities: No

YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mission

YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School's mission is to empower young adults (18-20 year-olds) to develop skills and connect to opportunities by fostering an environment of love, support, and respect for their whole person. Students graduate high school and successfully transition to college and career as critically conscious leaders, committed to positive change for themselves and their communities.

Vision

YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School provides an outstanding alternative education that activates the capacity of all students to learn, achieve and grow. YBPCS will be recognized as a model of authentic experiential learning, not only among programs serving out-of-school youth, but also among all high-achieving schools and youth programs in the country. High expectations, a nurturing climate, personalized culture and rigorous real world learning experiences ensures that graduates are poised for life-long learning and career advancement. It is our vision that YouthBuild graduates will emerge as highly accomplished, self-sufficient, self-aware and socially conscious citizens. Graduates will be energized about their futures and build support networks for their personal, social and emotional health and well-being. YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School will maximize its capacity to engage each student’s passion, tap into his or her individual potential and provide him or her with real opportunities for personal and professional transformation.

Values

YBPCS’ values are deeply held and come from a love of humanity and a perspective that views each student as a community asset. The programs three core values - respect ,excellence and perseverance – are reinforced through all aspects of the program.

Impact Statement

Young people in Philadelphia who are disconnected will build skills and access resources and opportunities to achieve economic stability and personal development, and become critically conscious leaders within their communities.

Job Summary

Special Education Teachers at YouthBuild Philadelphia, like all teachers there, are creative, flexible and passionate about seeing all students succeed. As part of an unapologetically comprehensive organization, teachers balance their academic responsibilities with facilitating students’ holistic self-development. Using a strengths-based approach, teachers focus on engaging students and developing their self-awareness, critical consciousness, and confidence as lifelong learners.

Moreover, Special Education Teachers specifically play a critical role in supporting students with disabilities both in their Academic classrooms and in their Workforce-Development training programs. They do this by providing the Learning-, Emotional- and/or Behavioral-Support services needed to help their students learn how to be successful in the post-secondary world.

In addition, Special Education Teachers at YouthBuild Philadelphia work to improve outcomes for their students by modifying and adapting curricular materials in both the Academic and Workforce-Development settings to make them more accessible to students, as well as by modeling and coaching best instructional practices for General-Education teachers, as needed.

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Managing a caseload of students based on the assignment to one of six
• Workforce-Development programs (Advanced Construction, Business Administration,
• Child & Youth Development, Culinary, HealthCare, and Green Build Construction)
• Conducting academic-achievement assessments using the Wechsler Individual
• Achievement Test, 3rd edition (WIAT-III)—selected subtests and Woodcock-Johnson Tests 3of Achievement, 3rd edition —Reading and Math Fluency subtests for re-evaluations of students on the assigned caseload of students
• Obtaining student interest and emotional regulation data via a student interest survey and Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale, 2nd edition (RADS-2) for re-evaluations of students on the assigned caseload of students
• Writing IEPs; conducting IEP meetings, and monitoring student progress for the assigned caseload of students for progress notes each session
• Teaching small groups to support academic and workforce content, and/or intervention skills in literacy and math in a Resource Room setting
• Collaborating with Academic and Workforce-Development teachers to develop and deliver specialized instruction designed to help students achieve personal learning goals
• Working with an interdisciplinary team of staff members to support students in the assigned Workforce-Development program Working with Student Success Coordinators to help ensure the students’ successful transition to post-secondary life
• Working with the Counseling Team to help ensure that their students have the social and emotional skills to be successful in post-secondary life
• Revising IEP goals and objectives for students, as necessary, throughout the year in order to maximize student achievement
• Perform other duties, as assigned by the Special Education Coordinator.

Qualifications:

• PA Certificate in Special Education N-12
• Three-years’ experience as a Special Education Teacher.

Common Competencies:

• Mission driven to work with YB’s student body
• Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Office skills
• Intermediate to advanced Google Suite skills
• Commitment to social justice
• Demonstrated values that align to restorative practices
• Willingness to prioritize data collection, analysis, and sharing
• Willingness to reflect on impact data and incorporate that information into routine decision-making

Clearance Requirements:

• FBI - Criminal History Report
• PATCH - Pennsylvania Police Department - Criminal Background Check (and/or
• applicable based on State of residency)
• PA Child Abuse History Clearance
• TB Test Results
• Act 24 - Arrest Conviction Form
• NSOPW - National Sex Offender Clearance