Inclusive and Responsive Education Specialist

Inclusive and Responsive Education Specialist

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is a district on the rise, serving over 325,000 students in 500+ schools and employing over 45,000 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. Aligned with our transformed philosophy, we are steadfastly focused on ensuring that the District provides resources equitably to support every student, every school, and every community.

Six core values guide the work we do every day for our students – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning. Each role in the district supports our vision that every student deserves a rigorous, joyful, and equitable learning experience. The Chicago Public School's Instructional Core Vision centers identity, community, and relationships, which is called the "Inner Core."

Located within the Office of Teaching and Learning, the Department of Student Voice & Engagement (DSVE) leads the district's inclusive and responsive education strategy that aims to ensure all aspects of schooling in CPS are inclusive of and responsive to the lived experiences of students, and includes young people as key stakeholders in making decisions that impact them.

Reporting to the Inclusive and Responsive Education Manager, the Inclusive and Responsive Education Specialist will collaborate closely with cross-departmental Content Specialists, as well as other CPS teams such as The Department of Professional Learning and the Department of Distributed Leadership to ensure a coherent vision for student-centered, responsive, and inclusive values and practices are scaled throughout CPS. This role will be responsible for leveraging experience and expertise in the areas of student voice, and responsive, participatory, inclusive, youth-adult partnership in support of the district's Instructional Core vision.

The primary objective of the Inclusive and Responsive Education Specialist will be to support the design and implementation of guidance, resources, policy, curriculum enrichment, and professional learning experiences that:
Center responsive and affirming curriculum, instruction, and assessment across all content areas, and Uplift inclusive, responsive, and affirming practices across school teams and within decision-making structures in schools. This position will also support the implementation of the Instructional Core strategy and help inform and execute a focused "Inner Core" quality alignment process for all internal and external district-level curriculum and professional learning.

This is a full-time, exempt position that will be paid for time worked on a salary basis.

Design, develop, and facilitate universal and curriculum-based professional learning (PL) that advances culturally responsive and inclusive systems and structures across:
All CPS content areas (Math, English Language Arts (ELA), Science, Social Science, World languages, PK, Spanish Language Arts (SLA), Computer Science, Arts, Health and Physical Education), grade levels (PreK-12), and All areas of schools: CPS teams (Instructional Leadership Teams, Administration, Content Departments, Behavior Leadership Teams, etc.); and continuous improvement decision-making systems and structures (continuous learning cycles, CIWP, SQRP, etc) Ensure professional learning content created for internal and external stakeholders deepens their understanding of culturally responsive and inclusive culture, curriculum, and instruction, and the practices that support it Work in collaboration with CPS academic and cross-content departments and external partners to ensure shared understanding and implementation of the Instructional Core vision centered in identity, community, and relationships.

Maintain expertise in the fields of culturally responsive pedagogy, inclusive partnership, and student voice and leadership through staying abreast of current research, practices, and innovation in the…