Grow Your Own Program Coordinator (210-Day) - Washtenaw Intermediate School District : Job Details

Position Type: Non-Affiliated/Coordinator Date Posted: 12/3/2024Location: Teaching and Learning CenterClosing Date: Until Filled**Pending Board Approval** The WISD's Mission is to promote the continuous improvement of achievement for every student while providing high-quality service to our customers through leadership, innovation, and collaboration. The WISD's Vision is to be a leader in empowering, facilitating, and delivering a high-quality, boundary-spanning educational system that educates all children through an equitable, inclusive, and holistic approach. SUMMARY: The GYO Program Coordinator for the Culturally Responsive and Place-Based Teacher Talent Pipeline will manage efforts to recruit, develop, and support future teachers who are not only culturally competent but also equipped to use place-based and experiential instructional practices. This role emphasizes preparing teachers to engage students through culturally relevant and locally rooted teaching strategies that honor the diverse backgrounds and communities of students. The Coordinator will work with Eastern Michigan University, community organizations, and school districts to build a teacher pipeline that is responsive to local contexts and promotes equity-driven educational practices. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Demonstrates a strong commitment to equity, social justice, and inclusion in all practices and position responsibilities.
• Demonstrates the ability to examine how his/her/their position (directly or indirectly) impacts educational inequities in student achievement outcomes.
• Engages in reflection and ongoing learning and development on critical concepts and terms identified in the Washtenaw ISD Educational Equity Policy including concepts such as cultural proficiency, racial equity, and systemic and structural inequities.
• Program Management & Coordination:
  • Leads and coordinates the teacher talent pipeline with a strong emphasis on culturally responsive and place-based experiential instruction.
  • Develops program plans that center on training educators to leverage students' cultural backgrounds and local environments in their teaching.
  • Organizes professional development sessions that prepare teachers to connect academic content with local community contexts, fostering a deeper understanding of students' lived experiences.
• Recruitment & Outreach:
  • Implements recruitment strategies that target diverse candidates, especially from underrepresented backgrounds, and promote careers in teaching that prioritize cultural competence and local community engagement.
  • Collaborates with universities, local organizations, and advocacy groups that focus on diversity in education, highlighting the importance of culturally and place-based teaching practices.
  • Designs recruitment campaigns that emphasize the importance of educators reflecting and understanding the communities in which they work.
• Candidate Support & Development:
  • Mentors candidates to develop their understanding of culturally responsive pedagogy and place-based education, helping them integrate these approaches into their teaching.
  • Offers tailored professional development that prepares candidates to utilize local history, geography, and community resources in their instructional design, making learning more relevant and engaging for students.
  • Supports candidates through certification processes, ensuring they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to teach in culturally diverse and locally connected ways.
• Collaboration with Educational Partners:
  • Builds strong partnerships with school districts, community leaders, and educational institutions to ensure alignment between candidate training and the needs of local communities.
  • Collaborates with school leadership to place candidates in schools where their training in culturally responsive and place-based instruction can have the greatest impact.
  • Develops ongoing relationships with local organizations and stakeholders to integrate community-based knowledge into the curriculum and teaching practices.
• Place-Based Instructional Practices:
  • Facilitates the integration of place-based instructional methods into the training curriculum, teaching future educators to connect academic subjects with the local environment, history, and culture of the communities where they will teach.
  • Guides candidates in designing lesson plans that incorporate local resources, such as historical sites, community leaders, and natural surroundings, making learning meaningful and relevant to students' lives.
  • Ensures that educators understand how to use place-based education to empower students to see their own communities as sources of knowledge and learning.
• Culturally Responsive Curriculum Development:
  • Leads efforts to incorporate both culturally responsive and place-based teaching practices into the curriculum, ensuring candidates learn how to address the needs of diverse student populations.
  • Develops instructional materials that reflect students' cultural backgrounds and local contexts, allowing teachers to engage learners in a more meaningful and inclusive way.
  • Provides professional development on culturally relevant assessments and instructional strategies that empower teachers to foster student engagement through culturally and place-based learning.
• Data Tracking & Reporting:
  • Collects and analyzes data on the effectiveness of the pipeline in producing culturally competent and place-based educators.
  • Tracks progress related to recruitment diversity, teacher retention, and student outcomes related to culturally responsive and place-based instructional methods.
  • Generates reports and provides insight on how the program is meeting the needs of schools and communities, with a focus on continuous improvement.
• Program Evaluation & Continuous Improvement:
  • Conducts regular evaluations of the teacher talent pipeline to assess the effectiveness of culturally responsive and place-based instruction in the classroom.
  • Stays up to date on research and best practices in culturally responsive and place-based education to ensure the program remains cutting-edge and impactful.
  • Gathers feedback from participants and partner organizations to identify areas for improvement and innovation, ensuring the pipeline remains responsive to community needs.
• Other related duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations shall be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. EDUCATION

• Master's in Education (or related field).

EXPERIENCE

• Experience in education with a focus on culturally responsive teaching, diversity, and place-based instructional practices.
• Knowledge of place-based education principles and application in diverse classroom settings.
• Knowledge of culturally responsive and place-based pedagogy.
• Knowledge of applied and experiential approaches to learning.
• Demonstrates proven ability to manage programs, with a demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with community organizations, educational institutions, and schools.
• Familiarity with teacher certification processes and culturally responsive teaching standards.
• Exhibits strong leadership skills and ability to mentor and inspire future educators.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS:

• N/A

LANGUAGE SKILLS:

• Demonstrates ability to work effectively and collaboratively with other departments, agencies, and individuals across the state of Michigan.
• Demonstrates ability to write instructional plans for adult learners, professional correspondence, and procedures.
• Exhibits ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of educators, and the general public.
• Demonstrates ability to express self clearly, both orally and in writing.

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

• Demonstrates proficiency in the use of a personal computer (PC) or MAC in a networked environment to utilize the Internet and other electronic communications mechanisms such as email, conferencing, bulletin boards, etc.
• Demonstrates success with supporting logistics for adult learning.
• Possesses excellent knowledge of productivity applications such as Microsoft Office (word processing, spreadsheets, database, and presentation software) and other technology to support efficient and effective office operation is required.
• Possesses ability to create web-based forms and documents.
• Possesses ability to read and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, governmental regulations and forms.
• Demonstrates ability to integrate technology into the everyday workflow is necessary.
• Demonstrates ability to implement new technologies.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS:

• Possesses ability to apply the concepts of basic math, algebra, and geometry consistent with the duties of this position.

REASONING ABILITY:

• Demonstrates ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.
• Demonstrates ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
• Exhibits a high level of professionalism with the ability to handle confidential information, use good judgment, plan, and handle complex projects and maintain a flexible attitude.
• Demonstrates ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS:

• Exhibits excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in education.
• Exhibits ability to work independently with management guidance.
• Exhibits a passion for promoting educational equity, and addressing the systemic barriers faced by historically marginalized student populations.
• Demonstrates ability to collaborate effectively with community partners and educators to foster a sense of belonging and relevance in student learning.
• Exhibits excellent customer service and communication skills with an educator and student-centered focus.
• Exhibits ability to build rapport with others and to serve diverse publics.
• Demonstrates ability to work effectively and collaboratively with other departments, agencies, and individuals.
• Recognizes the role student motivation and engagement play in literacy instruction and learning.
• Recognizes that family, caregiver, and a student culture are instrumental to their literacy learning.
• Demonstrates ability to cultivate trust and take a nonjudgmental, non-competitive approach in working with others.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, walk, sit, talk, see and hear. The employee is occasionally required to stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl and reach with hands and arms. The employee is continuously repeating the same hand, arm or finger motion many times. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 35 pounds such as books and training material. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distant vision and the ability to adjust focus. This position may require extended virtual time on conferencing software and may require the individual to travel and/or drive to various off-site locations. The position requires the individual to sometimes work irregular or extended work hours and meet multiple demands from several people. ENVIRONMENTAL ADAPTABILITY: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is quiet to loud depending upon the activity in the particular part of the day. The employee may be required to be outdoors for periods of time, and therefore subject to varying weather conditions, for purposes of accomplishing the essential functions of this job. FUNCTIONS OF POSITION DESCRIPTION: This position description has been prepared to define the general duties of the position, provide examples of work and to detail the required knowledge, skills and ability as well as the acceptable experience and training for the position. The description is not intended to limit or modify the right of any supervisor to assign, direct and control the duties of employees under supervision. The WISD retains and reserves any and all rights to change, modify, amend, add to or delete from any portion of this description in its sole judgment. This position description is not a contract for employment. The WISD is an equal opportunity employer, in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The District will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer. TERMS: Contract, salary, and other employment conditions to be established by the Board of Education as reflected in the Non-Affiliated Staff Manual. This is a grant funded position; continuation of this position relies on the continued grant funding. 210 days annually. Starting salary ranging (dependent upon experience) from $83,024 - $102,035. Washtenaw Intermediate School District is a drug-free workplace. It is the policy and commitment of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, age, height, weight, familial status, marital status, genetic information, sexual orientation or any legally protected characteristic, in its educational programs, activities, admissions, or employment policies in accordance with Title IX of the 1972 Educational Amendments, executive order 11246 as amended, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and all other pertinent state and federal regulations.