Educational Support Professional Social, Emotional and Behavioral Intervention (Tier 3) (ESP-3) (300615) Job ID 1330

About the Role

The Educational Support Professional (ESP) will support the implementation of social, emotional, and behavioral interventions and accommodations (Tier 3 general education) for students identified through established criteria. The ESP will provide instructional, social-emotional, and behavioral support to help students progress toward established goals during intervention periods, under the direction of counseling staff.

Responsibilities

• Support classroom routines and procedures; reinforce principles of social interaction programs (e.g., Responsive Classroom, RULER, PBIS) by modeling positive behavior and assisting with behavioral support in accordance with school expectations.
• Provide supervision and/or student support services in all school environments, including recess, lunch, arrival, dismissal, field trips, and escorting students during activities, fire drills, and crisis drills, with guidance from teaching/counseling/administrative staff.
• Provide small group or individual instructional support aligned with student goals, benchmarks, individualized education plans (IEPs), and/or related behavior plans, under the guidance of teaching/counseling staff.
• Consult with teachers to prepare for daily classes, including learning targets, success criteria, and classroom expectations.
• Support academic programs (reteaching, reinforcing, reviewing, assessing, scribing, note-taking, data collection) and behavioral programs (data collection, cueing, providing motor breaks, implementing behavior plans).
• Provide regular feedback to teaching/counseling staff on student progress and challenges in addressing their goals.
• Work with classroom teachers to support learning experiences, focusing first on identified priority students and then on the broader group.
• Support the implementation of behavior intervention plans and social skill facilitation across various school settings.
• Assist with crisis intervention in a culturally responsive manner, including verbal de-escalation, processing events with students and staff, and applying physical intervention methods (as trained) to reduce risk of injury.
• Adapt to varying student needs and perform other job-related tasks as assigned by administrators.
• Maintain accurate data and records for progress monitoring of student plans (e.g., IEP goals, individual support plans) and share information with teaching/counseling staff.

Requirements

• Ability to integrate into the classroom setting under the direction of administrative/teaching/counseling staff to support student engagement and learning.
• Ability to collect, record, and analyze data across multiple data points, including using Google tools to create spreadsheets and graphs for visualizing student progress.
• Willingness to adapt and acquire new skills and knowledge to support student engagement in learning activities, behavior interventions, social interactions, and the school day.
• Maintain flexibility in day-to-day priorities to reflect changing student needs.
• Ability to work in multiple classrooms or environments during the school day.
• Maintain confidentiality and professionalism expected of teaching staff.
• Ability to anticipate and address unforeseen events associated with working with large groups of children.
• Maintain positive relations with students, parents, staff, and the public.

Qualifications

• Passion for working with children/students.
• Knowledge of child growth and development.
• Knowledge of basic learning strategies and social-emotional learning (SEL).
• Knowledge of proper de-escalation strategies and restraint protocols.
• Ability to work with diverse learning styles.
• Ability to collaborate and participate as a member of a teaching team.

Physical and Environmental Demands

• Able to move with students from one school environment to another.
• Physical agility and strength, with proper safety protocols.

Preferred Education

Associates Degree in Psychology, Education, or a related area preferred. An ESP is considered an Instructional Aide as defined in General Laws, Chapter 71, Section 38.

Pay

$28.18/hour to $34.64/hour. Annualized for 184 work days at 6.75 hours/day: $35,006 to $43,028.

Benefits

Benefits are outlined at Benefits | Bedford Public Schools.