Special Education Specialist

WHO WE ARE

Pinnacles Prep believes that ALL students, regardless of background, deserve a meaningful education in a culture where every student matters. We are deeply committed to our mission of cultivating curious, confident, and self-directed students that lead and succeed in college, career, and their communities; with the vision of our graduates becoming the leaders who drive our Valley’s future forward-making it a thriving economic, scientific, and artistic hub for the 21st century. Our school is grounded in the following essential characteristics, which shape the Pinnacles Prep experience for our faculty, students, and families. Our school is small by design. We know every student by name, story, strength, and need. All students meet with their mentor daily, and we communicate with their parents weekly.

We have high expectations: Our EPIC core values guide us:

• Equity | creates a school culture that celebrates equity and inclusion for all
• Purpose | leads to resilience, which builds agency and empowerment
• Integrity | leads to loving accountability and a strong community where everyone belongs
• Collaboration | leads to change we want to see in our school, community, and world

We are intentionally diverse:
Pinnacles Prep’s students, staff and board is intentionally diverse. We come from different backgrounds and experiences in order to be reflective of the collective diversity of our student body and community. Our staff validates and reflects the multiple identities, intersectionalities, and experiences of our students.

We value context over content:
Students engage in place-based interdisciplinary projects rooted in the Wenatchee Valley, with a community partner. These projects apply the standards and competencies students are learning in their foundational courses.

WHO YOU ARE

• You have an asset-based mindset: You see every student, their background, and story as an asset
• You authentically value relationships: You are excited to mentor 15 students daily, helping them find their purpose. You look forward to communicating with parents weekly
• You love kids AND have high expectations for all: Your love and empathy don’t preclude you from ensuring students meet their growth goals.
• You are excited by Pinnacles Prep’s Mission and Vision: You believe that ALL students can be fully ready for college, career, and to engage with their community.
• You have a growth mindset: You thrive on feedback so you can grow, and you expect the same for kids
• You are passionate about student voice and choice: You believe that students should have ownership of their learning.
• You are a data geek: You use data to drive decisions in your classroom, and collaborating with staff around data to make our school a better place is refreshing.
• You love to collaborate: You are craving to work with teachers outside of your content area on projects.

WHAT YOUR SCHOOL YEAR / DAY LOOKS LIKE:

SUMMER INSTITUTE: To become fully prepared for Pinnacles Prep’s school model, you will attend a 2-week summer institute with all other staff at Pinnacles. You learn and practice our values, culture, systems, and curriculum here. You will visit each of your mentees through a family visit where you connect with each student, meet their families, make authentic connections, and build relationships.

SCHOOL DAYS: You spend your day co-planning and co-teaching with teachers inorder to provide accommodations, and modifications (specially designed instruction) for scholars receiving services. You support scholars with IEPs in reaching their daily goals and celebrating the small wins and victories throughout the day. You are also a mentor for our Basecamp advisory program were you teach a group of 15-20 scholars SEL curriculum through Basecamp. You get deep and real with kids in conversations where your mentees are exploring what it means to build community, know their stories deeply, expand their perspective, and begin to take initiative on the things that matter most to them. You are constantly checking in on the “whole child” of each mentee and monitoring their progress toward mastery of academic competencies. You facilitate scholar-led conferences for this group of scholars.

EACH QUARTER: At the end of each quarter, you celebrate our student learning through Exhibition Night, where students showcase their project creations to our whole community. You meet every parent through student-led conferences, and feel excited that you're not the one doing all the talking. You have one non-teaching day at each quarter’s end where you participate in a school-wide data day, tracking school-wide growth goals.

Special Education Specialist General Responsibilities

• Daily Instruction of students
• Serve as a mentor in our Advisory Program
• Embody the mission and vision of the school
• Teach, re-teach, and enforce school-wide systems, routines, and procedures
• Provide engaging, motivating, and rigorous instruction in whole-class and individual settings
• Supervise targeted academic support and tutoring to small groups or individual students based on data from formative assessments
• Analyze student data in collaboration with the principal, content, and grade level team.
• Implement a data tracking system and use data to inform instructional development and delivery
• Communicate regularly and proactively with students and families
• Provide weekly feedback for students that reflects mastery of learning targets, standards, and competencies
• Collaborate with other staff members and actively participate in all professional learning activities
• Work to continuously improve effectiveness in your instructional practices, and incorporate weekly feedback from weekly observations by the principal
• Use feedback to make productive changes in performance
• Participate in additional activities including field trips, intensive academic support sessions, and other required programs as needed throughout the year, such as parent empowerment workshops.
• Be open to feedback, continue development as a professional, and take responsibility for student outcomes and achievement

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

• Weekly Collaboration with co-teachers for SDI and UDL
• Manage and maintain a caseload of IEPs
• Participate in weekly Scholar Success Team
• Create individualized plans for students with IEPs
• Supervise accommodations and SDI in an inclusive setting
• Ability to coach teachers to meet the needs of students
• Facilitate professional development around relevant topics in special education for all staff
• Support instructional assistants to work with students with disabilities in an inclusive setting
• On-demand support for students with high needs

QUALIFICATIONS

• Relevant teaching experience and a record supporting scholars to meet IEP Goals is highly preferred
• Current WA State Teacher Certificate
• Special Education Endorsement required
• BCBA is preferred
• Spanish speakers and persons of color are strongly encouraged to apply

COMPENSATION

Salary is commensurate with WA State teacher salaries, depending on experience. All employees receive a full benefits package and enrollment into the WA School Employees Benefits program.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY:
Equal employment opportunity and respect in the workplace are fundamental principles at Pinnacles Prep. Pinnacles Prep prohibits and does not tolerate harassment, intimidation, bullying, discriminatory, or retaliatory behavior. All aspects of your employment are based upon your personal capabilities and qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion/creed, sex/gender (including pregnancy and gender identity), sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation, national origin, alienage or citizenship status, disability, age, military status, marital status, partnership status, status as a victim of domestic violence, genetic predisposition or carrier status, or any other protected class as established by federal, state, or local law. The following employee has been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination: Please contact Jill Fineis, Principal, jill@pinnaclesprep.org.