Job Details

Full-Time Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI)-Funded Intervention Teacher

In compliance with the Alabama Literacy Act (ALA), an ARI-Funded intervention teacher shall be assigned at one school to provide intensive, diagnostic, and prescriptive reading intervention to students who have been retained in third grade or who have been promoted to fourth grade utilizing a "Good Cause Exemption" based on the criteria outlined in the Alabama Literacy Act. The ARI-funded intervention teachers will implement a dyslexia-specific intervention approved by the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC) and Alabama's Literacy Task Force (LTF). Intervention programs and student materials will initially be funded by the Alabama Department of Education (ALSDE), as a part of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the ALSDE, the applicant, and the superintendent of the applicant's local education agency (LEA).

Education/Qualifications:

• The required Alabama Professional Educator Certificate in Early Childhood, Elementary Education or Special Education Collaborative.
• A master's degree and Mastery Status in LETRS Early Childhood and/or LETRS K-12.
• Minimum three years of successful teaching of reading or content areas and good classroom management.
• Providing intensive, targeted intervention utilizing an approved dyslexia-specific intervention program (from the current or previous ALSDE-approved lists) as a classroom teacher, special education teacher, English Learner, or reading intervention teacher.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Advanced knowledge of and compliance with the Alabama Literacy Act in order to effectively interpret policy, procedures, and student data such as diagnostic test results and state assessments.
• Growth minded and willing to engage in high-level professional learning leading to CALT certification.
• Engage students in small-group instruction for several sessions a day in order to attain the 700 required clinical teaching hours that results in CALT certification.
• Strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills in order to collaborate effectively with other teachers, administrators, and parents.
• Ability to transition with the district, campus, and/or department changes.
• Ability to facilitate schoolwide professional development in the area of dyslexia awareness to assist parents and teachers.
• Ability to communicate effectively with and receive guidance from supervisors.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities effectively.
• Strong computer skills to implement multiple and diverse programs in person or online and to analyze data.
• Training or experience in a variety of effective reading intervention programs and/or strategies that would support students with the characteristics of dyslexia, a dyslexia diagnosis, and all struggling readers.

Minimum Roles and Responsibilities:

• Fully participate in all scheduled Multisensory Language Education (MSLE) training sessions associated with CALT training, which may include in-state travel.
• Participate in the administration of universal reading screeners to all students.
• Participate on the Problem-Solving Team (PST) for students identified by the universal screener as having a reading deficit. Assist in developing Student Reading Improvement Plans (SRIP) and/or a Response to Intervention (RtI) plans when appropriate according to the ALA and PST Manual.
• Utilize the Dyslexia Screening and Needs Assessment Profile to administer reading assessments that will identify students with the characteristics of dyslexia.
• Administer additional diagnostic academic skills assessments to identify areas of need and strengths, if needed.
• Depending on data, both qualitative (retention and Good-Cause-Exemption) and quantitative, discern which students need dyslexia-specific intervention.
• Deliver prescriptive, explicit, systematic, structured, multi-sensory language instruction to students requiring dyslexia-specific intervention for four out of five days per week in a small group setting of four to six students for the time prescribed by IMSLEC curriculum which is 45 to 60 minutes daily.
• Begin teaching intervention classes a minimum of four days per week no later than the third full week of September and continue through the second full week of May.
• Teach all classes/groups a minimum of 130 days per year.
• Collaborate with the classroom reading teacher to ensure consistency in the use of reading strategies utilized during intervention and in the classroom, to keep abreast of classroom progress monitoring, and to ensure effective communication with the parent.
• Serve as a resource to classroom teachers by providing support and instruction in Structured Literacy through analyzing data, lesson protocols, planning, and the implementation of routines and procedures.
• Collaborate with administration and others on scheduling of students, preferably prior to the beginning of the year and the building of classes. Students should not miss classroom instruction or social time to receive intervention.
• Collaborate with Local and Regional Literacy Specialist when requested and appropriate.
• Monitor, according to the program being administered, the reading progress of current students receiving dyslexia-specific intervention.
• Make recommendations for the adjustment of instruction according to student-specific needs identified from progress monitoring both classroom and intervention program specific.
• Provide reading intervention during LEA summer learning camp. Assist in collecting and communicating summer reading data to ARI.

ALSDE-Required Accountability Documentation:

• MOU/MOA signatures indicating agreement with all terms and conditions.
• Submission of intervention schedule with required timeframes for program implementation submitted by August 31 (a minimum of 4 classes).
• Submission of class enrollment lists submitted by September 15 (a minimum of four per class in Year One of MSLE training).
• Class attendance records submitted by date of classroom instruction at the end of each quarter of school (four times per year).
• End-of-Quarter assessment data for progress monitoring (both classroom and intervention program) on each student (four times per year).
• Attendance of all training opportunities led by the MSLE trainer or the Alabama Reading Initiative for ARI-Funded Interventionists.