Director of Learning Support
Start Date: July 1, 2023
Coed Day School, Grades 6-PG
212 Students
63 Federal Road, Barrington, RI

Overview

St. Andrew’s seeks its next Director of Learning Support at a critical time in our history. We seek a collaborative individual with a tireless commitment to students with various learning profiles to help shepherd our program into the future.  As a school committed to academic excellence for all students, our next Director of Learning Services must endeavor to support student success and access to our International Baccalaureate program across grades 6-12.  While we have embarked on a journey to ensure students have access to high quality curriculum, we have also widened our matriculation pathways with the exciting opening of the Wolf Academy at St. Andrew’s. 

St. Andrew’s is proud to offer a model that incorporates co-teaching, direct service delivery in speech and occupational therapy, counseling support, tutorial instruction, math lab, and executive functioning support for roughly 30% of our students.

The Director of Learning Support reporting directly to the Head of School partners with the Assistant Heads of School, and key administrative personnel to design and implement mission aligned student support programs. They maintain coherence and continuity of our overall program and respond to issues relevant to the academic, social and emotional well-being of students.

The Director of Learning Support is responsible for maintaining a dynamic web of communication among students with learning differences, parents, tutors and the teaching staff, and for taking an active role in the identification and remediation of individual student learning issues in order to help promote and support academic achievement.

This is an extraordinary opportunity for a strategic thought partner to build on St. Andrew’s success in the expertise of the Learning Support field.  From outreach and branding, to program development and direct instruction, the position holds an immense opportunity to shape St. Andrew’s as it looks to lead in the field of Learning Support in the independent school market.

Responsibilities

We seek an individual with tireless commitment to students, a great sense of humor, and a persistent desire to collaborate with multiple stakeholders within our community.

Managing LD Information:

  • Maintain electronic and other files for students with diagnosed learning disabilities that serve teachers’, and parents’ needs, and meet International Baccalaureate /College Board/ACT standards.
  • Read and interpret learning specialists’ evaluations; identify appropriate programs, accommodations and pedagogy, and draft learning profiles.
  • Share information about learning differences (both on a broad level and around specific students) with faculty each term.

Working with Individual Students and Families:

  • Conduct individual and small group sessions for students on specific learning strategies, both for students with and without diagnosed learning differences.
  • Initiate conversations with students and their parents to discuss strategies and set goals around learning issues.
  • Meet on a regular basis with parents of diagnosed LD students to review learning goals and progress.
  • Serve as an advocate, alongside teachers, for individual LD students with regard to classroom accommodations.
  • Partner with the Learning Support Department Chair and teachers to track individual students’ progress through classroom observations and assessments and initiate relevant support strategies. Use this data to help drive program development and assessment.
  • Make referrals for professional evaluations for students who are flagged as potentially having an undiagnosed learning disability.
  • Work with families to determine eligibility for service plans associated with relevant grant funding.

Curricular and Pedagogical Development:

  • Consult with and educate teachers about how to differentiate curriculum and support.
    heterogeneous groups of learners in their classrooms.
  • Develop and lead presentations for faculty on best practices in teaching.
  • Co-teach one class for students who need particular help with foundational academic skills and content.
  • Track student academic progress over time, both for LD and at risk non-LD students.
  • Assist the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in planning topics and evaluate the success of those efforts.

Oversee, Support and Develop Academic Support Programs:

  • Oversee the Director of the Wolf Academy as the program grows.
  • Oversee the development and delivery of a residential student support program.
  • Oversee development of an academic evening and weekend program.
  • Partner with AHOS of Academics to support the LS Department Chair to deliver the core LS program.
  • Recruit, train, schedule and manage a cadre of service providers across related services.
  • Assist with institutional data collection and analysis.
  • Oversee and assess with teachers the collaborative co-teaching model, check in/survey teachers at least each semester; develop a teaching manual to guide this process.
  • Work with local public school special education coordinators to determine grant eligibility for learners.

Coordinate Office of Learning Support Departmental Duties:

  • Annually evaluate Coordinator of Learning Support and Director of the Wolf Academy.
  • Update learner files and electronic files of any new learner testing (share with essential teachers) that has been completed; make plans for updating coordinating documents (Accommodation Plan, EAP, grant service plans through Barrington).
  • Coordinate and advocate for annual budget and pay for auxiliary staff.
  • In partnership with the Office Coordinator, develop a schedule for Education and Accommodation Plans (EAP meetings) and Chairs for each meeting.

Miscellaneous Duties:

  • Coordinate opportunity for new departmental grants (Champlin, other) with Cabinet.
  • Partner with Admissions Associate for Learning Support to read and review admissions files as needed.
  • Occasionally substitute classes on an emergency basis.
  • Partner with the business office to ensure that all adjunct employees pass all security requirements.
  • Actively participate and engage in faculty/staff committees.
  • Chaperone dances, attend school trips, and support other student life endeavors.

Professional Development:

  • In partnership with the AHOS of Academics, oversee all dimensions of professional development related to differentiation, tailored teaching, and instructional support.
  • Ensure the effective growth of Social Emotional Learning expertise on campus.
  • Partner with the AHOS of Academics to clarify best practice in our co-teaching model.
  • Develop and lead presentations for faculty on best practices in teaching.
  • Empower teachers to lead in-house professional development and share their own expertise across our community.
  • Meet weekly with various groups of teachers to discuss best practices in differentiation.
  • Mentor new teachers in best practices related to differentiation.
  • Partner with the AHOS of Academics to develop Learning Support opportunities during our annual Curriculum Writing Institutes.

Qualifications

  • M.A. in Special Education

How to Apply

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, personal statement (one-page), list of three references (name, title, relationship, phone number and email address), and any other documents that represent your candidacy in an authentic manner to:

Deirdre A. Ling, Partner, Educators Collaborative, LLC, daling@comcast.net

Listing Date: December 12, 2022