Re-Engagement Program Coordinator, Student Outreach

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is one of the largest school districts in the United States, serving over 320,000 students in 600+ schools and employing approximately 40,000 people, most of them teachers.

CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life.

In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans : academic progress, financial stability, and integrity.

Six core values are embedded within these commitments student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

The Student Outreach and Re-engagement (SOAR) Center is a cross-agency collaboration focused on the re-engagement of and re-enrollment of chronically truant and out-of-school youth.

Located within Student Support and Engagement in the Office of College and Career Success, the SOAR program is intended to ensure the successful transition and graduation of students who have dropped out of school and desire to re-enroll in a program that will assist them in developing their path to graduation.

The SOAR teams work closely with District and Options Schools, which offer additional supports and services for students who need a new pathway toward high school graduation, who have been out of school and seek to return, or who may need opportunities to earn credits in an accelerated program.

Job Summary :

The Re-Engagement Program Coordinator will assist with identifying and planning student-specific intervention strategies to support academic success This position may be involved in high school Network Meetings to assist schools that may need additional supports in order to help students graduate.

The Re-Engagement Program Coordinator will also be responsible for supporting the design of new processes and procedures to ensure students receive high-quality transition supports across academic instruction and social and emotional supports.

This position will report to the Student Outreach Re-Engagement Manager in the Office of Student Support and Engagement

The Re-Engagement Program Coordinator will be held accountable for the following responsibilities :

• Support re-enrollment by reviewing data in student information systems and partnering with school-based teams such as ILT, School Climate, Behavioral Health Teams (BHT), and / or Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) to identify the academic and socioemotional interventions previously implemented with students and develop an intervention strategy to support the successful re-engagement and skill obtainment of at-risk and out of school youth
• If a new school environment is recommended for a student, assist the home school with developing a transition plan for the student, sharing the plan with the receiving school and providing coaching on implementation
• Assign and monitor SOAR Student Engagement Specialist caseloads
• Coordinate with SOAR Student Engagement Specialists to determine a best fit assignment if it is determined a student needs a new school environment
• Review and approve student graduation and transition plans
• Partner with the Transition Specialist, High School and Options Schools Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Specialist and BHT, and / or MTSS team to identify school-based strategies and solutions to address dropout prevention, invalid transfers, invalid leaves and intervention supports
• Support the dropout intervention re-design work by establishing a set of academic and social-emotional interventions for the new school model and establish the tools, procedures, and processes for providing the interventions
• Attend Network-level meetings to report on supports provided to individual schools
• Attend meetings with the Network Engagement Support Team to review student referrals, facilitate direct placements in schools and assign students to SOAR Student Engagement Specialists for support
• Work with community-based partners and information platforms to identify families who have been difficult to contact; this includes assigning and scheduling home visits and searching addresses
• Operational day-to-day management of the SOAR Center
• Other duties as assigned

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Re-Engagement Program Coordinator must possess the following qualifications :

Education Required :

• Bachelor’s degree in Education, Social Work, Psychology, Counseling, or related field from an accredited college or university is required
• Master’s degree preferred

Experience Required :

• Minimum of five (5) years of experience working with adolescents in an educational, advocacy, or social service setting with a focus on SEL or Academic supports and interventions
• Minimum of two (2) years of project management experience preferred
• High school teaching or counseling experience highly preferred
• Language proficiency in Spanish in addition to English is highly preferred

Other Requirements :

• Access to transportation to travel to other sites is required
• Valid Driver’s License and vehicle access preferred

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities :

• Understanding of and interest in working with vulnerable student populations impacted by trauma
• Strong understanding of the MTSS process, best practices in academic interventions and school climate, and SEL strategies and supports at multiple tiers
• Knowledge of external community-based behavioral health / social services and referral processes case management, and providing direct support services to students
• Capable of guiding the analysis of data and data-based inquiry to ensure the identification of student risk factors and intervention needs
• Ability to collaborate and drive consensus on student needs and intervention plans across a diverse group of school-based personnel
• Skilled multi-tasker and excellent time manager; able to effectively achieve multiple goals and manage multiple projects simultaneously

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to :

Establish / Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district.

The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary / part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.

• Be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 - Unless approved for a medical or religious exemption, all employees are required to be up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters, and to
30+ days ago