Jobs in Learning
Disabilities
If you have information about a job
in learning disabilities/or special education, send the
information to:Janet Lerner janetlerner@comcast.net
JULY 28, 2011
AACA Learning Specialist Job Description
Position Title:
Learning Specialist
Purpose of the Position:
The learning specialist (LS) is responsible for facilitating and
coordinating instructional support services. These services
include remediation, support for typically developing students
as well as high achieving students.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
·
Identify eligible students, using standardized and
non-standardized test
information, teacher/parent referrals, and other pertinent
information
·
Coordinate support with regular classroom services, Title 1
teacher and/or outside
tutors or clinicians to meet the needs of students
·
Provide small and larger group instruction in and out of
classrooms.
·
Differentiate curriculum for students, including an emphasis on
higher order thinking skills and technology-assisted
instruction.
·
Design/implement system of data collection and record keeping to
create system of organization for tracking services,
communication, and student progress.
·
Coordinate and facilitate parent involvement and understanding
of student services, including parent notification of program
services, student exit from services, frequent parent
communication, and parent in-services.
·
Manage and coordinate Student Learning Plans (academic or
behavioral) that include measurable goals to evidence progress
and growth.
·
Coordinate and facilitate of external school assessments (i.e.
Terra Nova).
·
Facilitate for instructional support services to develop and
maintain a program plan
which includes: parent involvement, instructional
strategies, and staff professional
development.
·
Serve as a resource to teachers for curriculum, instruction, and
behavior management strategies.
·
Serve as a resource and coordinate training and services for
parents of special needs students.
·
Review incoming student records, assess new students, and
recommend appropriate
placement and services.
·
Chair Student Care Team that meets biweekly to update team and
maintain documentation of Tier level students.
·
Design, deliver and coordinate professional development/training
for staff
as
needed for appropriate service delivery to students.
·
Participate as a member of the School Leadership Team
·
Act as a resource to the classroom teacher by facilitating
assistance and appropriate services for special needs students
from remedial to accelerated.
·
May serve as the building testing coordinator.
·
Other duties as assigned by the school principal.
Required Educational Qualifications:
-
M.A. or Ph.D. in Learning Disabilities or Special Education
Preferred Educational Qualifications:
-
Illinois Teacher Certification
-
Reading Specialist Certification
-
Trained in Orton-Gillingham Phonics program
Knowledge Skills & Abilities:
·
Demonstrated organization and interpersonal skills, including
oral and written communication skills.
-
Highly organized with strong time management skills
-
Knowledge and understanding of A.D.D and A.D.H.D, sensory
integration issues, and autistic spectrum disorders
-
Knowledge of classroom strategies used to support students
with learning disabilities
-
Ability to lead professional development for faculty in area
of learning disabilities
-
Ability to interact positively with parents and lead parent
education sessions
July 1. 2011
2.1.11
| Quest to Learn is coming to Chicago. The Chicago Board of
Education last week
approved a
bid for a new charter school that will immerse kids
in hands-on learning, with digital media at its core. The school
will open in fall 2011.
Photo courtesy of
Quest to
Learn.
Chicago
Quest will extend the successful curriculum at
Quest to
Learn in New York, a public school that we’ve
covered
frequently on Spotlight. The curriculum is built
around real world problem-solving and creativity. Games and game
design are a central feature.
The school will use game design to teach students how to become
systems thinkers. Games work as rule-based learning systems,
creating worlds in which players actively participate, use
strategic thinking to make choices, solve complex problems, seek
content knowledge, receive constant feedback, and consider the
point of view of others. Students at Chicago Quest become both
game designers and game players in their quest to learn.
Katie Salen, who founded the Quest to Learn in New York City and
now serves as the school’s executive director of design, says
the curriculum is designed to mimic the learning that takes
place during game play – it is collaborative, inquiry based, and
supports experimentation.
Lessons become “quests” and assignments become “missions.”
Through interdisciplinary coursework, students become explorers,
historians and evolutionary biologists as they record podcasts,
film and edit video, design video games, and solve school-wide
challenges. They also begin to understand how larger systems
work—a critical thinking skill that will be invaluable in an
increasingly complex world. From ant colonies to galaxies, our
world is made up of simple and complex systems. Helping students
understand how they function is an advanced method of teaching
them how to think critically about knowledge, content and their
world.
“Systems thinking,” Salen said in a
recent
interview on NPR, “gives you a tool to manage
complexity. Because of the complexity of problems, if you’re not
able to look at them as a system, you’re just going to look at a
blur. You will just be overwhelmed by the complexity.”
Chicago Quest is one of three planned schools for grades 6
through 12 that will be run by the
Chicago
International Charter School (CICS) with support from
the MacArthur Foundation. A founding principle of the school is
that the students of today will soon be the scholars,
scientists, entrepreneurs, writers, designers and leaders of
tomorrow. The goal of Quest to Learn is to educate children for
college and career success in the 21st century.
Chicago Quest will join CCIS’s existing network of Chicago
charter schools and will serve students from the city’s Near
North and West side neighborhoods, as well as other
communities.
In addition to the
Institute of
Play, which runs the New York City school, Chicago
Quest will partner with organizations from around Chicago
including DePaul University,
YOUmedia
at the Chicago Public Library, the
Digital
Youth Network and the newly formed Chicago Learning
Network. The new campus is scheduled to open in August with more
than 300 6th- and 7th-grade students.
More information is available at the
CICS site.