POSITION: AVID Teacher, High School

REPORTS TO: Principal

LOCATION: Alpha Public Schools, San Jose, CA 

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

• Alpha Public Schools students and families
• Alpha school leaders, office manager, teachers, education specialists and network staff

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW

Born out of parent activism, Alpha Public Schools is a network of public charter schools serving the students of East San Jose.  Alpha students, families and teachers collaborate to develop the 21st century academic skills and character strengths students need for success in school, college and career. Together we create self-reliant leaders committed to making positive change in the world. Alpha Cindy Avitia High School opened in the fall of 2015 and we are building out one grade level each year.

ROLE SUMMARY

Alpha is committed to ensuring that every student is prepared and ready to get to and through college. The AVID Readiness Teacher will be responsible for equipping our students with the soft and hard skills to be successful in college. The AVID Readiness Teacher will serve as an integral part of the teaching staff and will take ownership of a full teaching schedule primarily focused on doubling down efforts in core subjects such as English & Writing/Composition. Additionally, the AVID Readiness Teacher will work in tandem with our Director of Social & Emotional Learning and our College Counselor to ensure we meet our college readiness goals. Ideally we are looking for folks with previous teaching experience in core high school subjects.

This individual will have high expectations for all students and a willingness to work hard, doing whatever is necessary to ensure the success of every student. They possess a growth mindset, strong personal character, and a consistent track record of high performance that is results-oriented. They are hard working, punctual, urgent, energetic, and embrace a spirit of self-reflection with a constant desire to improve. Finally, Alpha’s teachers hold a deep belief that all students can succeed in college, and that it is the responsibility of secondary school teachers to ensure that success.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Community

• Build strong relationships with students and their families
• Work closely with colleagues to problem solve and to create a successful learning environment & culture
• Understand the assets and challenges our community faces

Innovation

• Find and focus on opportunities to improve student learning
• Problem solve using a discipline approach to empathizing, brainstorming, and testing new solutions
• Taking responsible risks to test and refine new solutions
• Sharing solutions with the Alpha community and beyond

 Instruction & Delivery

• Design and develop a rigorous curriculum to ensure that students are building foundational reading and writing skills that will prepare them for college level content and college entrance exams
• Support in the execution of curriculum from our College Counseling program and our Personalized Leadership Training program (SEL curriculum)
• Facilitate engaging and rigorous lessons to students in a whole-class and small-group
• Participate in all professional development meetings/retreats and opportunities to further enhance your expertise as a teacher and leadership skills as an Alpha employee
• Reflect regularly on teaching practice and act on constructive feedback
• Engage in collaborative curricula development, data analysis, and problem solving
• Maximize personalized learning by creatively leveraging blended learning resources and adjusting teaching practices to ensure high student achievement

Culture

• Create a safe, fun and academically challenging classroom culture
• Reinforce the school-wide behavior management systems and expectations
• Build on the student core values and personalized leadership training in and outside of the classroom
• Hold all students to high expectations both academic and behavior

Data Driven

• Use assessment data to refine curriculum, inform instructional practices, and drive progress towards academic standards
• Collect and assess data from the student database and all blended learning applications to drive decision making around student performance
• Analyze data with families, students and school leaders

QUALIFICATIONS

• EXPERIENCED: Alpha teachers typically have 1-5 years of teaching experience in an urban public school.
• DRIVEN: Alpha teachers have a relentless drive to advance the minds and lives of students in and out of the classrooms. They have a strong sense of personal responsibility.
• STRATEGIC: Alpha teachers work hard and smart. They use systems to make the most of finite resources, chiefly among them, time. 
• GROWTH MINDSET: Alpha teachers are committed to their students’ growth and their own. They are both proud and critical of their work, and never stop seeking opportunities to improve. 
• ENTREPRENEURIAL: Alpha teachers are innovators who take responsible risks to develop solutions to meet each students’ needs. They learn from data, and act on constructive criticism to improve their craft.
• COLLABORATIVE: Alpha teachers solve challenges and work together to advance their craft as a team. They demonstrate strong communication and relationship building with students, families, and colleagues.
• FLEXIBLE: Alpha teachers adapt to meet the needs of students and a startup work environment.
• Bachelor’s Degree, required
• 2+ years of 6th-12th grade teaching experience, strongly preferred
• Valid Teaching Credential, strongly preferred
• Conversational Spanish or Vietnamese a plus

Apply to work at Alpha: 

Please submit your application online

1. Resume
2. A cover letter that includes the following:
   1. Why do you want to teach at Alpha Public Schools? (250 words or less)
   2. Describe your experience working with youth and with people of diverse backgrounds, and culture. (250 words or less)

Incomplete applications or those with errors will not be considered. As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability. We are strongly committed to hiring a diverse and multicultural staff and encourage applications from traditionally under-represented backgrounds.

If you have any questions, reach out to the Recruitment Team at jobs@alphapublicschools.org