Science Content Specialist, Grades K-5

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is the third-largest school district in the United States, serving over 340,000 students in 600+ schools and employing nearly 36,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments - student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

The Department of STEM in Chicago Public Schools supports inclusive and innovative learning experiences in math, science, and whole-school integrated STEM & STEAM programming across the district. It is our commitment that every day, in every STEM classroom in CPS, all students will: actively make sense of and construct solutions to complex questions; productively contribute to the learning community to support a culture of collaboration, risk-taking, and innovation; and regularly reflect on and communicate their understanding of disciplinary ideas. Through these experiences and purposeful opportunities to face transdisciplinary challenges, students will graduate from CPS with advanced STEM literacies prepared to make the world a better place.

The primary objective of the Science Content Specialist is to ensure that the support provided by the Office of Teaching and Learning improves the student experience and outcomes aligned to the CPS Instructional Core Vision. Science Content Specialists will be assigned to grade bands (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12), with capacity for one Specialist to act as a lead for each grade level.

The Science Content Specialist will ensure learning and implementation of practices that lead to 3-dimensional instruction aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards in every CPS K-12 science classroom. Professional learning and support will focus on practices that lead to students leveraging their ideas and lived experiences as they work towards developing an understanding of culturally relevant, real-world phenomena and students using Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) as they figure out Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) and uncover Cross-Cutting Concepts (CCCs). Through these experiences, students cultivate their scientific identity and take ownership over their learning, laying the foundation for the next generation of critical thinkers that are able to contribute to global innovations.

The Science Content Specialist will report to the Science Content Manager and collaborate closely with other Science Content Specialists to ensure a coherent vision for PreK-12 Science teaching and learning is scaled throughout CPS.

The Science Content Specialist will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Design and facilitate professional learning for a variety of internal and external stakeholders that deepens their understanding of the CPS Instructional Core and content-specific practices to support it
• Ensure professional learning for CPS Network Chiefs/Deputies, Instructional Support Leaders (ISLs), school leaders, central office instructional leaders, external partners, and other educators that successfully achieves the following:
  • Leads educators in developing, implementing, and refining network-specific professional learning plans that ensure district-wide learning is prioritized and supported within each network
  • Builds their capacity in supporting school leaders and teacher leaders with content-specific learning
  • Prepares them to lead school-based learning through coaching, team meetings, workshops, etc.
• Ensure professional learning for Teacher Leaders that successfully achieves the following:
  • Supports them in effectively contributing to their schools' Instructional Leadership Teams
  • Builds their capacity to lead their colleagues in content-specific learning and reflection grounded in student learning
• Design and facilitate professional learning for adopters of Skyline, the CPS universally available curriculum, including:
  • Foundational Skyline learning to support educators in understanding the philosophy, design principles, components, and systems embedded within the curriculum
  • Unit-specific launch sessions to prepare teachers to successfully implement each unit of instruction
  • Unit-specific PLC materials to engage teachers in reflection and collaborative problem solving around Skyline implementation
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of Skyline through the completion of tasks such as:
  • Evaluating professional learning outcome data to inform future professional learning needs
  • Identifying, documenting, and offering solutions around barriers to successful implementation through common progress monitoring systems
  • Participating in centralized feedback structures to inform curriculum revision
• Contribute to content-specific guidance, resources, and policy to ensure a consistent instructional vision is promoted within and across content areas
• Collaborate with other department Content Specialists to support shared initiatives
• Maintain content area expertise through staying abreast of current research, practices, and innovation in the field
• Perform other related duties as assigned

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Science Content Specialist must possess the following qualifications:

Education Required:

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field of study from an accredited college or university
• Valid teaching certificate issued by the Illinois State Board of Education with appropriate grade level and content level endorsement, required. (Candidates with a valid out of state, reciprocal license will be considered but must obtain ISBE licensure within 6-months of hire.)
• LBSI, ESL, or Bilingual Endorsement preferred
• Master's degree in a relevant field of study preferred

Experience Required:

• Minimum of five (5) years related experience, including the following, is required:
  • Minimum of three (3) years of classroom teaching experience.
  • Minimum of three (3) years of teacher leadership experience, such as leading school teams in the development of curriculum and assessments, analyzing student performance data, etc.
  • Minimum of three (3) years working with adult learners, including creating, organizing, and facilitating professional learning experiences to meet the needs of participants.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Expertise in planning, designing, facilitating, and evaluating professional learning
• Deep knowledge of science teaching and learning instructional best practices
• Exceptional organizational skills
• Ability to effectively manage several work streams simultaneously
• Capable of building and sustaining positive, productive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; comfortable collaborating and communicating across a diverse range of audiences, including network teams, principals, teachers, and support staff
• Commitment to CPS Instructional Core Vision
• Ability to build consensus and leverage expertise with educators across the district
• Excellent technology skills (Google Suite)

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions.

• Be Fully Vaccinated or Submit to Weekly COVID-19 Testing - Employees are required to be fully vaccinated within 30 days of their hire date. Full vaccination is defined as at least two weeks after your second shot of a two-shot vaccination course, or at least two weeks after a one-shot vaccination course. Unvaccinated staff must submit to weekly testing.