Middle School - ELA Teacher

LEAD Public Schools seeks ELA teachers who possess an unwavering belief that all students can achieve at high levels and a strong commitment to going above and beyond to meet their students’ needs to prepare them for college and for life.

About the Role

Our ELA teachers work relentlessly with their teammates to ensure that all of their students not only are able to read, interpret, and pull relevant information from text, but also meet the established Tennessee standards by the end of the year. This work is done through coaching and support from administration, implementing regular feedback, collaboration with colleagues, data analysis, and working to make sure that students who come in below grade level rise above the challenges they face.

Successful teachers at LEAD Public Schools are committed to putting in the extra effort to ensure that our students have access to a high-quality education. Our teachers persevere through difficult challenges, set goals for our students, and don’t give up. We ask our teachers to be flexible, hardworking, and constantly striving to improve their abilities in the classroom to meet our students’ needs.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement rigorous unit plans and lessons that meet the needs of all students with clear, standard-aligned objectives and appropriate assessments to gauge student comprehension
• Participate in bi-weekly coaching meetings to internalize content, teaching moves, and classroom management to improve your practice
• Participate in a collaborative learning environment with other team members including grade-level work, content teams, and professional development throughout the school year
• Execute school-based duties that can include student conferences, arrival and dismissal, transitions, lunch duty, and other tasks assigned by the school leadership team

Requirements

• Minimum of two years teaching experience preferred, but not required
• Previous experience with diverse student populations or in an urban setting preferred
• Bachelor's degree is required
• Candidates must have either:
  • Valid Tennessee teaching license with the appropriate content endorsement to teach ELA, or
  • Valid out-of-state license that can successfully be transferred to Tennessee within 90 days of employment, or
  • Demonstrate you are on track to complete the necessary steps toward certification in Tennessee

Qualifications

• Belief in the LEAD mission that all students are capable of success while preparing them for college and for life
• Evidence of self-motivation and willingness to be a team player
• Passion for developing young learners, loves working with students who need the most support
• Flexible, coachable, and wants to grow as a teacher

Pay

LEAD Public Schools offers an innovative performance-based compensation plan for teachers. Teachers receive a competitive base salary with the potential for a signing bonus and can earn up to 10% on their base salary each year through our performance-based compensation plan. This plan has been in place for 5 years, with an average annual increase of over 5% for our teachers and approximately 80% retention for those who qualify.

After 3 years, teachers are eligible for LEAD’s Master Teacher program, where they can earn up to $100,000 and receive a $1,500 professional development stipend.

Benefits

• Robust and competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, disability, supplemental insurance, life insurance policy options, and mental health benefits
• Access to the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System pension plan (TCRS) where eligible staff contribute 5%, and LEAD matches up to 6%
• Eligible staff may also participate in a 401k plan, with LEAD contributing 5%
• Non-TCRS eligible staff may participate in LEAD’s defined contribution 403b plan, where LEAD matches 50% of the first 6% of employee contributions
• Additional annual contributions to retirement plans for eligible employees after one year based on LEAD’s overall budget performance
• Time off package for school-year employees (teachers, counselors, paraprofessionals) includes 30 paid days during the school year (including holidays, fall break, Thanksgiving break, winter break, and spring break) plus summer break. School-year employees can accrue up to 10 PTO days during the school year
• Time off package for calendar-year employees (central office, instructional managers, assistant principals) includes 32 paid days during the school year (including holidays, fall break, Thanksgiving break, winter break, spring break). Calendar-year employees can accrue up to 12 PTO days during the school year
• Parental leave: 16 weeks of paid maternity leave and 6 weeks of paid parental leave (adoption, foster care)
• Laptop computers with access to the internet and email provided to assist in performing job responsibilities