2024 - 2025: Middle School Teacher (Grades 6 - 8)

Highline Academy

www.highlineacademy.org

Middle School Teacher

Job Description 

MISSION We exist to foster a diverse community of youths and adults striving together for academic, personal, and civic excellence.

VISION Creating inclusive excellence in public education.

Assignment: Middle School Teacher

Reporting directly to Highline’s campus principal, our teachers are the heart of our organization - the ones who make the mission come alive for our students. We expect our teachers to be caring about the whole child, great lesson planners, strong and nurturing at classroom management and excellent collaborators with teammates and families. We look for people with good communication skills, dedication to do everything it takes to make a difference for each child, and a growth mindset.

Position Schedule: Teachers are paid year round on a salary. Their student contact days (177) and their professional development days and parent conference days adds up to a 195 day work year. However, the work teachers do outside those days planning, reflecting and pursuing professional growth is also an important part of being an excellent teacher. Teachers are expected to be on campus ready for students by 7:30 am and to stay until 4:00 each day school is in session, and to 4:30 on Friday’s when we have early release days for students followed by teacher P.D. or planning meetings. There are two weeks of professional development every summer before school begins which is part of the accounted professional development days.

REPORTS TO: Campus Principal

DEPARTMENT: Middle School Faculty

SUPERVISES: None

HIGHLINE OVERVIEW: Highline Academy is a community of diverse youth and adults striving together for academic, civic, and personal excellence. Founded in 2004, Highline is committed to inclusive excellence. In 2013, we launched our second school in Green Valley Ranch. Our students come from fifty countries, speak 26 different languages, represent a full range of socio-economic backgrounds, and previous educational experiences. Our diverse and integrated community has already begun to achieve excellence. Highline students have consistently out-performed district and state averages. Strong faculty and student retention rates are emblematic of the school’s positive culture and strong community. 

Highline has a commitment to a liberal arts education which includes Art, Music, Spanish and P.E. instruction for our students. The middle school also offers a wide-variety of elective classes from which students can choose. These classes are taught by middle school classroom teachers. We have high expectations for all of our learners, with an understanding that some learners need more or different instruction. Due to performance grouping, we are able to provide smaller group instruction for the core content areas of math and language arts. Additionally, we have a robust intervention program with additional supports available as students show they need them. We are a fully inclusive organization for students with special needs, who are integrated into the general education classrooms.  We have a character education program designed by Highline called Reach, which is implemented in the middle school during advisory time. This teaches, practices, and celebrates the Reach values of responsibility, empowerment, aspiration, citizenship and honesty. All our students are taught to Reach Out to support and care about their classmates and community, Reach In to learn about themselves and reflect about their learning and Reach Up to their very best academic achievement. We are a students’ first, growth mindset organization and we expect all of our employees to model these values. All Highline employees are expected to read and follow all policies as written in the employee handbook and to review it annually for updates.

Major Responsibilities: All Highline middle school teachers must show clear competency and reliable practice of the following indicators:

•       Create a Positive Classroom Culture and Climate
•       Practice Effective Classroom Management
•       Plan and implement Masterful Content Delivery
•       Practice High-Impact Instructional Moves
•       Demonstrate Essential Knowledge of Students and Use of Data
•       Demonstrate Effective Collaboration and Engagement with students and colleagues
•       Demonstrate thoughtful reflection, learning and development

All Highline teachers are also expected to demonstrate the Highline Internal Commitments for Professional Practice.

• We will take responsibility for student learning by valuing diversity, needs, learning styles and through shared ownership. 
• We will commit to being clear and purposeful in our objectives and instruction while continuing to reflect and revise learning strategies by frequently monitoring student assessment data and ensuring that it is used as a tool for learning. 
• We accept and embrace diversity within our community of faculty, students, and parent/guardians by valuing each other for who and where we all are in life as learners and as people, and we commit to providing a safe place for all to succeed. 
• We will be direct, intentional, timely, and graceful in giving and receiving communication without judgment and for positive and proactive purposes. 
• We will create an environment that empowers faculty, students and parent/guardians to be active participants in student success. 
• We will create a focused and sustainable adult community by focusing on what is most essential to student success and staying focused on Highline’s goal.
• We will consistently model and enforce Highline’s academic and behavioral expectations. 

Middle School Teacher Responsibilities: Homeroom teachers collaborate with their grade level peers and content-area teachers across the middle school grades to provide a rigorous and supportive curriculum for every student in their grade level. Teachers are expected to use data to monitor student learning, make decisions about grouping, and to determine next steps in lesson planning. Teachers will also be expected to meet in data teams and reflect upon student progress and support other teachers in interpreting their data. Middle school teachers are expected to meet as needed with their team to co-plan their lessons and units and may also be expected to meet with special education or interventionist teachers to further support all students. All middle school teachers are responsible for all planning and instruction within their content area. They are also responsible for teaching the Reach program and other character education lessons to their advisory class. Teachers are encouraged to help each other with lesson and unit planning and may divide that work up as they see fit as a team.  Middle school teachers are expected to enter attendance each period into IC and to enter grades into the school learning management system based on standards aligned assessments.  In addition to teaching their content-area classes, middle school teachers also facilitate an advisory group of 15-20 students and teach an elective three times a year.

Middle school teachers set the tone with their students each day and set up the community expectations for their students. Middle school teachers are expected to build positive relationships with their students and also hold them to high expectations. They should manage their classes with positive proactive systems and strong rituals and routines.  They are also expected to seek out more information and support from other staff members (the SIT team, admin, other grade level teachers etc.) if a student is not doing well either behaviorally or academically. At Highline we believe in a student’s first approach at all times, and the middle school teacher is the foundation of this work in the middle school.

Middle school teachers are typically the main point of contact for student-family communication. All teachers are expected to set up a class website and/or send home a regular newsletter about the work of the class, help create community by engaging their parents through inviting them to participate as volunteers or in class events (such as a potluck or an author celebration), and to build relationships with families through phone calls and both formal and informal meetings. Middle school teachers should work to ensure all families attend the student conferences held twice a year. They are also expected to show up for at least three evening or weekend events such as a middle school dance, the Cultural Fair, or the Fall festival.  Middle school teachers are expected to help plan and lead at least one event for families during the year such as a parent education meeting or a student demonstration of learning.

Middle school teachers are expected to attend all professional development as assigned by their principal and participate with respect and attention. They are expected to participate as a member of at least one network, school, board or parent group committee to support the ongoing work of improving our school and supporting school culture.

Qualifications:

•       Valid teaching credential appropriate to their teaching assignment;
•       Teaching experience appropriate to the assignment;
•       Demonstrated commitment to and understanding of the Highline mission;
•       All teachers will be hired based on being highly qualified per No Child Left Behind (NCLB) specifications.
•       Strong communication and collaboration skills

Minimum Physical Requirements

•       Be able to walk quickly, bend, kneel, crouch, sit, stand, grab or hold with one or both hands.
•       To be able to lift up to 40lbs without difficulty
•       To maintain appropriate demeanor and professional classroom behavior when working with children and adults
•       The ability to sit for extended periods during group training

Salary Range: $42,776 - $71,002

Benefits:

Colorado PERA/PERA 401K

Life Insurance

PTO

Short Term Disability

Health

Gap Insurance

Dental

Aflac

Vision

FLEX24

Highline Academy does not discriminate in admission to, access to, treatment in, or employment in its services, programs and activities, on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression, religious practice, ancestry, athletic performance, special need, proficiency in the English language or a foreign language, or prior academic achievement in accordance with all federal, state and local laws.