School Support Specialist - Middle School

Boston College Introduction
Founded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,445 full-time undergraduates and 5,125 graduate and professional students. Ranked 35 among national universities, Boston College has 878 full-time and 1,201 FTE faculty, 2,750 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.2 billion, and an endowment in excess of $2.8 billion.

School Support Specialist - Middle School
Key Responsibilities Include
The OpenSciEd Equitable Instruction (OEI) Initiative is seeking one additional middle school School Support Specialist. School Support Specialists provide on-going support for schools and teachers who are implementing OpenSciEd as part of the OEI Initiative.

• Serve as the main point of contact for a particular building/district for the duration of the school’s grant.
• Travel to each school to support teachers, teacher leaders, and administrators (e.g., for classroom observations, to support school-based PD).
• Develop and nurture relationships with districts, schools and teachers and work with the school champions and leadership to determine the support model for each school.
• Coach teachers and leaders as they implement and customize the curriculum for their classrooms and students.
• Consider and develop system level supports, such as providing “look-fors” and other guidance for building leaders and teachers .
• Provide professional learning (e.g., facilitate OpenSciEd unit PDs or virtual/in person workshops)
• Track how schools are doing in relation to their implementation plan and identify appropriate supports that match the needs and context of the school.
• Center equity and cultural relevance in the professional learning work to improve student learning, particularly for historically marginalized students (e.g. students of color, multilingual learners, students with disabilities)

When applying please include a resume with contact information for at least three references and a cover letter describing how your past experiences align with the job and goals of the OEI Initiative. Review of applications will begin May 1 and will continue on a rolling basis until filled. The potential start date for the position is July 2023.
The OpenSciEd Equitable Instruction Initiative (OEI) will provide schools with financial resources and on-the-ground support for implementing the OpenSciEd middle school science curriculum. The OpenSciEd curriculum is a set of coherent, rigorous, research-based instructional materials that is freely available and designed to support all students in meeting the vision for science literacy described in A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards. OpenSciEd materials include phenomenon-based units that prioritize student coherence and equitable science sensemaking. Through both the instructional materials and high quality curriculum based professional learning, OpenSciEd strives to give teachers the materials, support, and power to get kids excited and curious about the world around them and confident in their ability to figure it out through questioning, investigating, and solving problems.
The goal of the OEI Initiative is to help disrupt inequities in science education by supporting schools and teachers in instruction that begins with the interests and curiosities of students and empowers student voice to support more equitable learning opportunities for all students. While OpenSciEd is free and open source, to enable significant shifts in classroom instruction teachers need professional learning and support as well as the needed equipment and materials. The OEI Initiative will partner with schools across Massachusetts who commit to a three-year implementation plan that ensures full OpenSciEd curriculum adoption for all students as well as ongoing professional learning for teachers and leaders. The OEI Initiative will recruit, select, provide grants, and support schools in this work.
Full-Time Equivalent Hiring Range: $70,850 to $88,550; salary commensurate with relevant experience.
Requirements
Requirements:

• K-12 science teaching experience (middle school experience preferred);
• Master’s Degree preferred. Bachelor's degree required.
• Coaching or other teacher leadership experience.
• Preferred experience supporting EMLs orstudents on IEPs.
• Creative mindset and excitement for the opportunity to build new programs
• Preferred experience teaching or supporting OpenSciEd
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills.

Closing Statement
Boston College offers a broad and competitive range of benefits depending on your job classification eligibility:

• Tuition remission for Employees
• Paid Holidays Annually
• Generous Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Tuition remission for Spouses and Children who meet eligibility requirements
• Additional benefits can be found on https://www.bc.edu/employeehandbook
• Eligibility for both University-Funded 401k and Employer-Sponsored 403b Retirement Plans
• Low-Cost Life Insurance
• Generous Sick and Vacation Pay

Boston College conducts pre-employment background checks as part of the hiring process and requires all employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Boston College is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. In concert with our Jesuit, Catholic mission, Boston College is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic faculty and staff committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications for women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans. To learn more about how BC supports diversity and inclusion throughout the university please visit the Office for Institutional Diversity at https://www.bc.edu/offices/diversity .
Boston College's Notice of Nondiscrimination can be viewed at https://www.bc.edu/nondiscrimination .