Grade Level : 6-8
Start Date : Immediate Opening
Teaching in SEZP
SEZP is seeking educators who are excited and ready to make an impact in a collaborative, engaging, diverse, and high energy environment.
We are seeking educators who believe teachers are activists - promising instructional access, rigor, advocacy, and a tenacious commitment to anti-racism for all students.
SEZP teachers are expected to :
- Create a safe, purposeful classroom environment that prioritizes learning for all students
- Collaborate with other teachers, instructional leaders, and partners to ensure instruction is meeting the needs of all students
- Assess students regularly, analyze data, and determine appropriate next steps for instruction
- Ensure that instruction meets the needs of all students, including students with special needs, English Language Learners, and students performing below grade level
- Build relationships and communicate regularly with students and their families to solicit input and share academic progress
- Engage in learning about issues of racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion in education to examine your own biases; reflect on how those biases affect you, your students, and their families;
and plan and deliver instruction in a culturally responsive way
Participate in and learn from regular professional development opportunities before and during the school year
The Life Skills Classroom
The Life Skills classroom is a small, highly structured setting which allows for individualized instruction. Its modified curriculum supports accessibility to Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and is an approach that focuses on home living skills, safety skills, increased independence, and health awareness to support educational success.
The program methodology will incorporate multi-sensory materials and activities presented individually, in small and large groups.
Adult assistance, repetition, and reinforcement will be the focus in order to promote success in the independent completion of tasks.
Qualifications
- Experience teaching Special Education at the middle and / or high school level preferred
- Appropriate content / program area educator license (moderate disabilities) and grade level licensure from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education required (Educators who are not licesed by MA DESE in the appropriate area or grade level may be eligible for a licensure waiver and are still encouraged to apply.)
- Experience as an active anti-racist or advocate for equity preferred
- Bilingual in English and Spanish preferred
- Bachelor’s degree required
If you meet some of the qualifications above, we encourage you to apply or to reach out for more information. We know that historically marginalized groups including people of color, women, people from working class backgrounds, and people who identify as LGBTQ are less likely to apply unless and until they meet every requirement for a job.
Therefore, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities.
We encourage you to reach out to [email protected] if you have questions about the role or your qualifications. We are happy to help you feel ready to apply!
Benefits
SEZP offers a competitive salary commensurate with experience; salaries for new teachers start at $55,467. Teachers in SEZP qualify for benefits (sick days, retirement, health insurance, etc.
offered to other teachers in the Springfield Public Schools.
In addition, there are several opportunities unique to SEZP schools to increase earnings above base salary. While not guaranteed, those opportunities currently include, but are not limited to :
- Expanded Learning Time stipends at some schools, based on the yearly schedule
- Empowerment Academies : Intervention and instruction opportunities we implement during February, April, and summer breaks, following an application and selection process