Learning Specialist

Description Job Classification

Faculty, Academic Year, Exempt, Full-Time

Director of Learning Services

The Learning Specialist will be an educator who will provide short and possibly longer‑term individual and group learning support to adolescent students from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. As a member of the Mercersburg Academy Academic Office, the Learning Specialist will work with the academic deans and the director of learning services to provide individualized support for Mercersburg Academy students.

In this role, the Learning Specialist will work with the director of learning services regarding the structure and responsibilities of the office. In addition, the expectation is that the Learning Specialist will collaborate with the Academic deans, mental health counselors, and the director of health and wellness to best serve the needs of the students. Together, the collective team of learning support faculty will promote community understanding of the social‑emotional well‑being and intersectionality of the identity of students.

The learning specialist will work with a wide range of students and participate in regular weekly meetings.

• Supporting the mission, philosophy, and core values of Mercersburg Academy
• Partnering with the Director of Learning Services and teachers to implement recommendations from students’ neuropsychological evaluations.
• Delivering strategy‑based 1:1 academic support to students to assist them in developing effective study skills, managing their time appropriately, and facilitating extra help from teachers, our resource centers, and other supports on campus.
• Providing information to teachers to understand students’ learning differences; supporting those teachers with observational data about students’ experience and performance in classes.
• Maintaining and updating records and schedules related to the Office of Learning Services, including study hall information and student LS schedules.
• Attending all required meetings of the faculty and the Office of Learning Services.

This faculty member holds a full‑time faculty position and two‑thirds of the position is devoted to learning services. The additional responsibilities will be in residential and/or co‑curricular assignments. Priority consideration will be given to candidates who can coach one of the following sports: boys and girls tennis, girls soccer, softball, swimming, diving, field hockey, girls lacrosse, volleyball, or indoor/outdoor track and field events, specifically field events.

• A degree in special education, educational psychology, or a related discipline is preferred.
• Experience working in a co‑ed boarding school environment is preferable.
• Experience working individually with high school students and collaborating with teachers on differentiation strategies
• Willingness and ability to work within a diversity, equity, and inclusion framework to meet the needs of students and the community.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• The ability to work collaboratively with coworkers and other school community members.

The conditions herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions.

• Environment:
  Work is performed mostly in an indoor/office environment where the noise level is quiet.
• Physical:
  Primary functions require sufficient physical ability and mobility to stand or sit for prolonged periods of time; may occasionally lift up 20 lbs.; to travel in all modes of transportation; sufficient manual dexterity and eye‑hand coordination to operate office machinery, specifically a computer and keyboard.
• Vision:
  See in the normal visual range with or without correction to be able to see close, distance, and to focus.
• Auditory:
  Must be able to express or exchange ideas by means of the spoken word. Must be able to talk and hear by telephone and in person.