Citywide Teacher - Arts Education

Job Summary

Reporting to the Director of Arts Education within the DAE, the Citywide Teacher - Arts Education is a full-time CPS fine arts educator assigned to support multiple elementary schools that have limited or vacant fine arts staffing. As outlined in Article 49-19 of the CTU–CPS Collective Bargaining Agreement, these itinerant teachers fill critical instructional gaps by providing direct, high-quality arts instruction while ensuring equitable access to arts education for students across the district.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality, standards-aligned fine arts instruction (dance, music, theatre, visual arts, or media arts) across multiple assigned schools on a rotating schedule.
• Design and implement lesson plans that support student creativity, skill development, and engagement in alignment with CPS Arts Education Plan 2.0 and CPS instructional frameworks.
• Collaborate with school leaders and the Citywide Coordinator to support scheduling, school readiness, instructional needs, and progress monitoring.
• Participate in professional learning, collaborative planning, and coaching sessions facilitated by DAE.
• Maintain accurate instructional records, student data (e.g. grades, attendance, etc.), and service logs across multiple school sites; communicate with parents or guardians and counsel students on the student’s academic progress, attendance, and conduct.
• Contribute to districtwide arts initiatives, showcases, exhibitions, and arts-integrated learning opportunities as needed.

Education Required

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university
• Valid teaching certificate/Professional Educator’s License (PEL) issued by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) with appropriate fine arts endorsement (Dance, Music, Theatre, or Visual Arts)
• Master’s degree in Arts Education or related field preferred

Experience Required

• Successful completion of all student teaching requirements as well as all course work required to obtain the appropriate teaching license(s) issued by the Illinois State Board of Education required
• Experience teaching in diverse school settings or across multiple grade levels is preferred
• Experience designing arts curriculum, integrating arts into other content areas, or contributing to arts programming preferred