Position Type:
Counselor/Counselor Secondary ELL Welcome Center

Date Posted:
5/4/2021

Location:
ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Date Available:
08/12/2021


Bargaining Unit: AEA
Work Year: 182 Days per year

Job Summary
The ELL Counselor 9–12 works as a team with Anchorage School District staff, parents, and the community to create a caring climate and atmosphere through a comprehensive, developmental school counseling program. By providing education, prevention, early identification and intervention, ELL counselors can help all children achieve academic success. The counselor reports to and is evaluated by the ELL director. This position requires a valid Alaska type C special services certificate. The number of work days is based upon the AEA negotiated pay scale. Information on the pay scale can be found online on our Labor Relations Department website. Positions that are 0.50 FTE to 1.0 FTE are associated with the Alaska Teachers' Retirement System (TRS), positions that are 0.40 to 0.49 FTE are associated with the Alaska Employees' Retirement System (PERS). Positions that are 0.39 FTE or less are not eligible for state retirement benefits.

NOTE: This school based position will follow the high school work day and calendar.

Job Requirements
The following are required:

1. A valid Alaska type C special services certificate with endorsement as a school counselor or guidance and counseling.
   1. A social work endorsement may be considered in lieu of the above requirement.
   Counseling/school-based internship with school age children.

The following are preferred:

1. Experience in providing behavioral and academic interventions with youth.School guidance counseling experience.Multi-cultural education, English Language Learner, or Bilingual Education or coursework.Experience working with English Language Learners.Experience with foreign transcripts and graduation requirements.Experience working with ELL families and students.

Essential Job Functions

1. Works in the Welcome Center to welcome families. Provides initial WIDA model testing and initial testing of native language skills with World Language Development to help students be placed in the correct classes.Help students and families navigate school as new arrivals to Alaska or the United States.Helps refugee and immigrant students register and transition into ASD schools.Reviews transferring student transcripts and creates and runs quarterly meetings to review transcripts with a team of colleagues. Teams decide which courses align with which ASD requirements.Schedules students for appropriate academic courses.Reviews current student transcripts to ensure students are not retaking newcomer courses (NCC) that won't count toward graduation.Works with language and cultural liaisons to host parent workshops on graduation, college applications, and career readiness.Acts as a student advocate. Is accessible to all students for career, educational, and personal counseling.Counsels individuals and small groups toward social and emotional resiliency.Consults with parents and other family members, as well as staff, on individual student needs.Acts as a liaison with school staff, parents, and public or private agencies.Provides in-service training to all staff to assist them with planning and implementing interventions for ELL students.Consults with school staff concerning language acquisition, how to modify instruction based on language needs, and provides guidance to the school if the student has had an interrupted formal school career.Assists with the intake and exit process as a member of the team, as necessary.Assists with establishing positive behavior plans.Consults with and provides parenting training as needed to all parents of transitioning students to further ensure student success.Assists with completion and collection of all data needed for program evaluation.Attends counseling meetings and pursues continuous professional growth.

Physical /Mental Demands
The physical demands of this job require frequent standing, walking, sitting, speaking and hearing. Specific visual abilities are also required. The employee is regularly required to reach with his/her hands and arms and occasionally lift items weighing less than 40 lbs. Additionally, the employee must be able to understand vague and implicit instructions, be able to readily recall facts and details, handle conflict and make effective decisions under pressure. The employee must have the ability to effectively manage the stress of working with students, parents, and other employees representing diverse cultures, personalities, and work styles in a dynamic work environment.

The Anchorage School District is committed to providing reasonable accommodations, according to applicable state and federal laws, to all individuals with a qualified physical or mental disability.

Work Environment
Work is performed in a professional environment with a wide variety of individuals having differing functions, personalities and abilities, including working with diverse groups of people in a variety of different settings.

While performing the duties of this job the employee may be regularly exposed to a video display. The employee may be exposed to outdoor weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Additional Job Information
This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job related duties as requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments.

Anchorage School District (ASD) employees must possess the ability to read and write in English. This also includes the ability to communicate in English with school staff, co-workers, and the public; as well as have the ability to comprehend and carry out oral and written directions and understand and follow English instructions and written documents.

Offers of employment are contingent upon completion of a satisfactory criminal background check. For certificated positions, this is in addition to the background check conducted through the certification process with the Alaska State Department of Education and Early Development (DEED).

This position may be required to work in ASD facilities on the military installations (JBER). Please visit the government REAL ID website for additional information.

The Anchorage School District is an equal employment opportunity employer.