Special Education Coordinator and Assessment Specialist (State Teacher II) - Lookout Mountain

Special Education Coordinator and Assessment Specialist

This position is open only to Colorado state residents. This recruitment may be used to fill multiple vacancies at the locations below.

Division of Youth Services - Campus at Lookout Mountain Services Center

About the Division of Youth Services: The Division of Youth Services (DYS) provides a continuum of residential and non-residential services that encompass juvenile detention, commitment, and parole. DYS is the agency statutorily mandated to provide for the care and supervision of youth committed by the District Court to the custody of the Colorado Department of Human Services. The Division operates fifteen secure facilities that serve youth between the ages of 10 and 21, who are pre-adjudicated, sentenced, or committed.

The Division also contracts with numerous private residential and non-residential service providers throughout the State. For pre-adjudicated youth, the Division is also responsible for the management and oversight of Colorado Youth Detention Continuum, a State-funded, locally administered program that provides services to youth at risk of further progressing into the juvenile justice system. In addition to residential programming, the Division administers juvenile parole services throughout the State.

About the Work Unit:
This work unit is responsible for delivering comprehensive educational services to adjudicated youth within a structured, supportive, and secure learning environment. The unit promotes high academic standards; the development of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and other 21st-century competencies; vocational and workforce readiness; and individual accountability for learning. Educational services include the provision and oversight of special education, general education, career and technical education, and post-secondary programming to ensure alignment with state standards and individualized student needs.

The work unit provides professional consultation, guidance, and technical assistance to community-based programs and Division of Youth Services (DYS) facilities serving DYS youth. It establishes, coordinates, and sustains collaborative partnerships with internal and external stakeholders responsible for delivering, supplementing, evaluating, or monitoring educational services to ensure quality, compliance, and continuous improvement to support youth academic growth.

About the Position:

• The Special Education Coordinator and Assessment Specialist provides special education coordination and leadership, DYS assessment services, and special education instruction and ensure the provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to youth with disabilities in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Colorado Exceptional Children's Educational Act (ECEA), and Department of Youth Services (DYS) education policies and practices.

• This position is responsible for developing and maintaining Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and special education continuum of services; communicating student data to stakeholders; and serving as the liaison between the school and other work units as well as DYS Special Education District Office. The Special Education Building Coordinator and Assessment Specialist provides leadership in planning, implementing, and coordinating special education programming in alignment with district, state, and Federal regulations.
  
  This role supports special education teachers and paraprofessionals in implementing the full special education processes and continuum of services, while also executing and supporting progress monitoring, education planning and classroom behavioral support processes, transitional planning, and all required documentation. Collaborates with parents, administrators, social workers, and related service providers to ensure appropriate services for eligible youth and assists with design and implementation of intervention courses and content and provides a holistic review of academic, behavioral, functional, and transition needs of committed youth.
  
  The role serves as an assessment specialist and administers achievement, vocational, transitional, adaptive, and behavioral assessments to committed youth, analyzing and interpreting results and preparing the written reports with educational recommendations. Uses required student information systems to document required information and serves as the education representative on the multidisciplinary assessment team (MDT) after a comprehensive and in-depth review of IEP needs, student placement records, school-related data, and out of district IEPs and 504s.
  
  Reviews all the relevant data and student progress in accordance with federal Child Find requirements and CDE identification processes for all committed youth entering the facility and ensures education participation in the broader facility assessment process, student review processes, and progress monitoring. Classroom…