Educational Support Professional; ESP

Bedford Public Schools invites applications for the position of Educational Support Professional (ESP-1).

The role of the Education Support Professional (ESP) is to provide General Education support to enhance the academic and social/emotional development of each assigned student according to the student's capacity for growth through the support of students, teachers, and administrators.

• Support classroom routines and procedures; reinforce the principles of social interaction programs by modeling positive behavior (Responsive Classroom, RULER, PBIS) and assist with providing behavioral support to students in accordance with school expectations.
• Provide supervision and/or student support services in all environments of the school for activities including but not limited to recess, lunch, arrival, dismissal and field trips, as scheduled, and escorting students to designated areas throughout the building (activities, fire and crisis drills) with guidance from teaching/counseling/administrative staff.
• Provide small group or individual instructional support with guidance from teaching/counseling staff aligned with student goals, benchmarks, individualized education plans, and/or related behavior plans.
• Consult with teachers in preparation for daily classes to become familiar with the learning targets, success criteria, and other classroom expectations.
• Support academic programs (reteaching, reinforcing, reviewing, assessing, scribing, note‑taking, data collection) and behavioral programs (data collection, cueing, providing motor breaks, implementing behavior plans).
• Provide regular feedback to the teaching/counseling staff on the progress and challenges experienced by assigned students in addressing their goals.
• Work in conjunction with the classroom teacher to support learning experiences in the classroom, focusing first on identified priority students and then for the broader group of students.
• Support implementation of behavior intervention plans and social skill facilitation across various school settings.
• Support crisis intervention as needed in a culturally responsive manner, including verbal de‑escalation/processing of events with students and staff and the application of physical intervention methods to reduce risk of injury to students or staff as assigned/trained.
• Adapt to varying needs of students.
• Perform other job‑related tasks or duties at the discretion of administrators.
• Assist teacher(s) with such tasks as basic data entry, word processing, printing, and copying, as necessary.

• Integrate into the classroom setting when appropriate, working under the direction of administrative/teaching/counseling staff to support student engagement and learning.
• Collect, record, and analyze data across multiple data points.
• Record data collected into spreadsheets and provide graphs to visually display student progress with multiple data points using Google tools.
• Adapt and acquire new skills and knowledge and use them consistently to support student engagement with learning activities, behavior interventions, social interactions, and the school day.
• Maintain flexibility in day‑to‑day priorities set to reflect changing student needs.
• Work in multiple classrooms or environments during the school day.
• Maintain the high level of confidentiality and professionalism expected of the teaching staff.
• Anticipate and effectively address unforeseen events associated with working with large groups of children.
• Maintain positive relations with students, parents, staff and the public.

• Passion for working with children/students.
• Knowledge of child growth and development.
• Knowledge of basic learning strategies.
• Knowledge of social emotional learning (SEL).
• Knowledge of proper de‑escalation strategies and restraint protocols.
• Ability to work with diverse learning styles.
• Ability to collaborate and participate as a member of a teaching team.

Able to move with students from one school environment to another; physical agility and strength, with proper safety protocols.

Associate’s Degree in Psychology, Education, or related area…