Classroom Teacher: 1st Grade

Highline Academy

www.highlineacademy.org

Highline Academy Teacher

Job Description

MISSION: We exist to foster a diverse community of youths and adults striving together for academic, personal, and civic excellence.

VISION: Creating inclusive excellence in public education.

Assignment: Classroom Teacher: 1st Grade

Reporting directly to Highline’s campus principal, our teachers are the heart of our organization, the ones who bring the mission to life for our students. We expect our teachers to care about the whole child, plan great lessons, manage classrooms strongly and nurturefully, and collaborate well with teammates and families. We look for people with strong communication skills, a dedication to doing everything it takes to make a difference for each child, and a growth mindset.

Position Schedule: Teachers are paid year-round on a salary. Their student contact days (177), plus professional development and parent conference days, add up to a 195-day work year. However, the work teachers do outside those days planning, reflecting, and pursuing professional growth is also an important part of being an excellent teacher. Teachers are expected to be on campus and ready for students by 7:30 am, stay until 4:00 each day school is in session, and stay until 4:30 on Fridays when we have early release days for students, followed by teacher P.D. or planning meetings. There are two weeks of professional development every summer before school begins, which is part of the accounted professional development days.

REPORTS TO: Campus Principal

DEPARTMENT: School Faculty

SUPERVISES: Assistant Teachers assigned to work in his/her classroom

HIGHLINE OVERVIEW: Highline Academy is a community of diverse youth and adults striving together for academic, civic, and personal excellence. Founded in 2004, Highline is committed to inclusive excellence. In 2013, we launched our second school in Green Valley Ranch. Our students come from 50 countries, speak 26 languages, and represent a full range of socioeconomic backgrounds and prior educational experiences. Our diverse and integrated community has already begun to achieve excellence. Highline students have consistently outperformed district and state averages. Strong faculty and student retention rates reflect the school’s positive culture and strong community.

Highline is committed to a liberal arts education, including Art, Music, Spanish, and P.E. instruction. We have high expectations for all learners, recognizing that some need more or different instruction. Additionally, we have a robust intervention program, with additional supports available as students demonstrate a need for them. We are a fully inclusive organization that integrates students with special needs into general education classrooms. Highline designed a character education program called Reach. This teaches, practices, and celebrates the Reach values of responsibility, empowerment, aspiration, citizenship, and honesty. All our students are taught to Reach Out to support and care for their classmates and community, Reach In to learn about themselves and reflect on their learning, and Reach Up to achieve their best academically. We are a student-first, growth-mindset organization, and we expect all employees to model these values. All Highline employees are expected to read and follow all policies as written in the employee handbook and to review it annually for updates.

Major Responsibilities: All Highline teachers must show clear competency and reliable practice of the following indicators:

Create a Positive Classroom Culture and Climate; Practice Effective Classroom Management Plan; implement Masterful Content Delivery; Practice High-Impact Instructional Moves; Demonstrate Essential Knowledge of Students and Use of Data; Demonstrate Effective Collaboration and Engagement with students and colleagues; Demonstrate thoughtful reflection, learning and development

All Highline teachers are also expected to demonstrate the Highline Internal Commitments for Professional Practice.

We will take responsibility for student learning by valuing diversity, needs, learning styles and through shared ownership. We will commit to clear, purposeful objectives and instruction while continuing to reflect on and revise learning strategies by frequently monitoring student assessment data and using it as a tool for learning. We accept and embrace diversity within our community of faculty, students, and parent/guardians by valuing each other for who and where we all are in life as learners and as people, and we commit to providing a safe place for all to succeed. We will communicate directly, intentionally, and promptly, and we will do so gracefully, without judgment and for positive, proactive purposes. We will create an environment that empowers faculty, students, and parents/guardians to actively participate in student success. We will build a focused, sustainable adult community by prioritizing what is most essential to student success and staying aligned with Highline’s goal. We will consistently model and enforce Highline’s academic and behavioral expectations.

Classroom Teacher Responsibilities: Classroom teachers collaborate with their grade-level peers to provide a rigorous and yet supportive curriculum for every student in their grade level. Teachers are expected to use data to monitor student learning, make grouping decisions, and determine next steps in lesson planning. Teachers will also be expected to meet in data teams, reflect on student progress, and support other teachers in interpreting their data. Classroom teachers are expected to meet with their team at least weekly to co-plan lessons and units and may also meet with special education or interventionist teachers to further support all students. All teachers on the grade-level team will have a performance group of students in both language arts and math, for which they are responsible for all planning and instruction. Classroom teachers are responsible for teaching the assigned classes, groups, or programs. Teachers are encouraged to help each other with lesson and unit planning and may divide that work as a team, as they see fit. If a teacher has a Homeroom, they are expected to enter attendance in IC each day and enter grades into the school learning management system based on standards-aligned assessments. If a classroom teacher has a Teaching Assistant, they are expected to provide the Teaching Assistant with appropriate student assignments and classroom tasks, as well as guidance on how to work well with all students in the classroom.

First Grade teachers support a self-contained classroom of approximately 18-22 students. Our first grade team consists of four homeroom teachers, an academic interventionist, a teaching assistant, and a special educator. Teachers can expect to collaborate on planning for academic and student support needs.

Classroom teachers set the tone with their students each day and establish community expectations. Classroom teachers are expected to build positive relationships with their students while holding them to high expectations. Classroom teachers should manage their classes with positive, proactive systems and strong rituals and routines. They are also expected to seek additional information and support from other staff members (the SIT team, admin, other grade-level teachers, etc.) if a student is struggling behaviorally or academically. At Highline, we believe in a student’s first approach at all times, and the teacher is the foundation of this work.

Classroom teachers are typically the main point of contact for communication between students and families. Teachers are expected to set up a website and/or send home a regular newsletter about the work of the class, help create community by engaging their parents through inviting them to participate as volunteers or in class events (such as a potluck or an author celebration), and to build relationships with families through phone calls and both formal and informal meetings. Homeroom teachers should work to ensure all families attend the student conferences held twice a year. Homeroom teachers are expected to attend at least three evening or weekend events, such as music performances for their grade level, the Cultural Fair, and the Fall Festival. Homeroom teachers are expected to help plan and lead at least one family event during the year, such as a parent education meeting or a student demonstration of learning.

Homeroom teachers are expected to attend all professional development assigned by their principal and participate respectfully and attentively. They are expected to participate as a member of at least one network, school, board or parent group committee to support the ongoing work of improving our school and supporting school culture.

Qualifications:

Valid teaching credential appropriate to the teaching assignment; teaching experience appropriate to the assignment; demonstrated commitment to and understanding of the Highline mission; teachers will be hired based on being highly qualified per the Every Student Succeeds (ESSA) specifications. Strong communication and collaboration skills

Minimum Physical Requirements

Be able to walk quickly, bend, kneel, crouch, sit, stand, grab or hold with one or both hands. Lift up to 40lbs without difficulty. To maintain appropriate demeanor and professional classroom behavior when working with children and adults. The ability to sit for extended periods during group training

Salary Scale: $60,000 - $85,000

Highline uses a salary scale to increase pay equity and transparency. Placement on our scale is based on years of experience, degrees, and additional academic credits.

Benefits:

Colorado PERA/PERA 401K

Life Insurance

PTO

Short-Term Disability

Health

Gap Insurance

Dental

Aflac

Vision

FLEX24

Highline Academy does not discriminate in admission to, access to, treatment in, or employment in its services, programs, and activities, on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression, religious practice, ancestry, athletic performance, special need, proficiency in the English language or a foreign language, or prior academic achievement in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws.