<p>Personalized Learning Lab (Math, ELA, or Combined) Teacher & Co-Designer,</p> <p>Collins Middle School, Salem Public Schools, Salem, MA [SY 2025-2026]</p> <p>About Salem Public Schools, where belonging leads to opportunity.</p> <p>Salem is a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district enrolling nearly 4,000 students in 11 schools. Our vision is to ensure that all students will be locally engaged, globally connected, and fully prepared to thrive in a diverse and changing world. We hold dear our core values of belonging, equity, and opportunity in everything we do. We seek individuals who are passionate about urban education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement for all students, regardless of ability, economic status, gender/gender identity, language, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other backgrounds. We invite you to learn more about our strategic plan and core priorities on our website at https://salemk12.org/.</p> <p>Reimagining Middle School:</p> <p>The Salem Public Schools vision for a middle school graduate, developed in partnership with students, families, and educators in 2023, states: "Powered by relationships, trust, and a sense of belonging, students will develop their identity, skills, and mindsets that empower them to navigate their learning, chart their course, and engage with their community to reach their academic and life potential."</p> <p>To bring this vision to life, the middle schools in Salem have committed to reimagining the student experience, including designing, piloting, and scaling innovative work in partnership with our students, families, and educators. The goal is to create relevant learning experiences that connect middle schoolers to the community, empower them to be independent learners, and offer appropriate challenges and supports. We are committed to continuing to build our muscles as a learning organization - to continue to empower student voice, to be intentional as we scale what works, and to continue to innovate as we feel there is still so much more to learn and do. We are also committed to expanding access to the strong foundation and the new opportunities explored in the pilot to now serve the full middle school. To learn more, you can read about the first year of our work in this Transcend Case Study or in this Boston Globe op-ed.</p> <p>Key components of the reimagined middle school experience include:</p> <ul> <li>Design Studio: This hands-on learning block engages students in solving complex challenges through collaboration and creativity. Studio projects are intended to build life-skills such as communication, teamwork, creative problem solving, and responding to feedback. </li><li>Learning Immersions: Leaving the walls of school to learn is a core pillar of the middle school experience. Whether building collaborative skills at a ropes course or debating policy at the State House, field immersions allow students and families to broaden their understanding of what learning can look like. We talk about "community-based learning" and "learning immersions," not "field trips," to emphasize the academic and social-emotional goals of this type of learning. </li><li>Learner Profiles & MyCAP: Supporting students' understanding of themselves, their interests, and how they learn is critical for us to help reach our vision for middle school. Learner profiles are a new and evolving tool we are using to help build the habits and skills of learning in middle school that will integrate MyCAP (a student-centered, holistic, multi-year planning tool designed to provide students with ongoing opportunities to plan for their academic, personal/social and career success in high school and beyond). </li></ul> <p>Personalized Learning: Empowering students to be independent learners is a key goal across Salem Public Schools, and a critical pillar within the reimagined middle school experience. In SY2025-26, we seek to take this work to the next level and build upon initial pilots to implement personalized learning in each grade level. This work is grounded in supporting students to master grade level standards by emphasizing what Education Elements calls the core four: reflection & goal setting, targeted instruction, collaboration & creativity, and flexible path and pace. The role of the personalized learning lab instructor is to co-design and lead instruction that integrates these elements of personalized learning into the middle school experience.</p> <ul> <li>Literacy Lab: Literacy lab, students will dive deeper into essential skills and habits of writing and reading, with units that complement core instruction. Utilizing a blend of research-based instructional practices including Odell education's writing curricula and Collins Middle School's new school-wide approach for writing (launching out of the current writing task force) and integrating book study, conferencing, and research papers, literacy lab will empower students with the communication skills to excel in school and beyond. Literacy lab will meet daily in 6th grade and every other day in 7th. </li><li>Math Lab: Leveraging the power of adaptive technology, math lab will support students with personalized, just-in-time intervention or acceleration. Students will primarily be working on personalized pathways with the math lab teacher providing individualized or small group instructional support as students identify and overcome obstacles. Math lab will meet every other day in 6th & 7th grade. </li><li>Personalized Learning Lab: In 8th grade, personalized learning lab will blend the work of Literacy Lab & Math Lab into one block as 8th graders dive deeper into goal setting & personalized pathways. With the support of the personalized learning lab educator, students will work across both math and literacy to identify and track their progress towards their goals to be high school ready. The teacher will provide individualized or small group instructional support as students identify and overcome obstacles. </li></ul> <p>Core Responsibilities:</p> <p>Culture & Community</p> <ul> <li>Launch, establish, and maintain a co-constructed culture of joy, mutual respect, and empowerment for students. </li><li>Co-create, internalize and build student understanding of a shared vision, values, and language for middle school. </li><li>Take seriously your responsibility for the safety and well-being of students in your classroom or under your supervision at all times. </li><li>Together with your grade-level team, serve as advisors and community builders </li><li>Communicate proactively and regularly with families and caregivers as full partners in our school community </li></ul> <p>Personalized Instruction</p> <ul> <li>Design & implement learning experiences for students that are engaging, flexible, rigorous, and personalized for students' learning needs, including leveraging multiple sources of data to design and multiple learning modalities (small group, whole group, individual, and self-paced) to maximize learning for each student as applicable within each lab environment </li><li>Fully leverage curricular and data tools including STAR assessments, My Perspectives, Odell, Desmos, Eureka, ZEARN, ALEKS Math, and more to design personalized, unbounded approaches for students; </li><li>Design personalized learning integrated social emotional lessons, routines, and systems to empower students to own their learning; this work will ideally be done in collaboration across the three grade levels and all subjects </li><li>Collaboratively take responsibility for the learning, well-being, and growth of all students, including partnering with other teachers in the team to flexibly meet learning needs. </li></ul> <p>Collaboration with Team & Partners throughout the community</p> <ul> <li>Collaborate with peers and coaches to complement core curricula in these additional learning experiences </li><li>Participate actively in all team meetings, consistently contribute to knowledge sharing systems, and fully invest in weekly professional learning and coaching sessions. </li><li>Own the iteration and creation of personalized learning classes building on the foundation of three years of experiences and consistently seeking to improve what works and create new where needed </li><li>Define and work towards implementing professional growth goals in alignment with personal values and the middle school vision. </li><li>Seek, provide, & implement feedback from colleagues, students, parents, and design partners to adapt the learning experience as we learn and grow. </li><li>Collect and utilize multiple forms of holistic data to assess progress, iterate, and provide feedback to students, the program, and our partners. </li><li>Work collaboratively with community partners to support learning before, during and after field immersions. </li><li>Collaborate and share learning with educators across SPS and beyond. </li></ul> <p>Who you are:</p> <ul> <li>You are excited by the possibility of operating within flexible and creative spaces that question the assumptions of traditional classrooms and you are energized by the prospect of trying new approaches to middle school education, including where and how learning happens; </li><li>You have a record of building a strong culture of learning with adolescents and a passion for working with middle schoolers; </li><li>You view yourself as a design partner with students, families, community partners, coaches, admin, and the Dean of Innovation and colleagues who will help to shape the school's approach; </li><li>You are willing to take educational risks in the classroom using technology, tools and student interests through hands-on investigations and activities; </li><li>You are a learner who seeks out new ideas, welcomes and implements feedback, and enjoys the prospect of engaging in professional learning; </li><li>You have a demonstrated capacity to build strong relationships with students, and believe these relationships are foundational to a child's sense of belonging, ability to thrive, and willingness to challenge themselves to learn; </li><li>You hold high expectations for learning, possessing a deeply held belief in the capacity of every student to think, create, grow and achieve amazing things with the right structures and supports; </li><li>You are comfortable with ambiguity, valuing experimenting, iterating, failing, changing, and re-thinking program and instructional approaches; </li><li>You have shown the capacity to collaborate closely with colleagues to develop empowering learning experiences for students; </li><li>You are passionate about delivering relevant and engaging instruction, with demonstrated results for improving learning outcomes for students at all levels, and you have a strong interest in building creative, connected, and engaging learning for all students; </li><li>You have strong time management and executive functioning skills, with a keen attention to detail. </li></ul> <p>What You'll Bring:</p> <p>We are looking for candidates who have diverse backgrounds and experiences, are inspired by our mission, and are highly motivated to change children's lives through education. You'll be right at home here if you are a reflective practitioner who values collaboration with colleagues and pushes yourself, your work, and the people around you to the next level. We expect our SPS employees to:</p> <ul> <li>Hold a deep commitment to students and families and value diversity - The SPS community is vibrant, diverse in background, ethnicity, language, and perspective. You embrace and affirm the backgrounds of all members of the SPS community and view our diversity as a powerful resource that supports us each in learning and doing our best work. </li><li>Hold high expectations for yourself, students, and colleagues - You see potential in all, especially our SPS students, and maintain high expectations for achievement, while providing the support necessary to meet that bar. You hold yourself to high expectations, modeling SPS values, and seeking opportunities to continuously improve. </li><li>Build authentic, caring relationships with colleagues, students, and families - You build strong relationships across students, families, and colleagues that are collaborative in nature and contribute to the individual and collective success of SPS. You partner with families and colleagues to make decisions in the best interest of students and learning. </li><li>Interest in connecting students' worlds to hands-on classroom learning - You are constantly researching and investigating real world experiences to guide student learning. You bring the capacity and desire to partner with external organizations to build integrated, real-world learning for students. A passion for building connections between learning and student lives will be essential. </li><li>Embrace feedback - You view yourself as a coach of students - providing ongoing feedback and support as students explore open-ended problems and probing their learning. You are a reflective practitioner who learns from failure, using mistakes and challenges as opportunities for growth. You model persistence and growth mindset and thrive in a culture of feedback. </li></ul> <p>What We'll Provide:</p> <p>As part of this work, Personalized Learning Teachers will participate in paid summer professional learning (paid at $45/hour) leading to the start of the new school year (up to ~35 hours for a stipend of $1575). Opportunities for additional professional development and support will be provided through district and school based coaches and the Dean of Innovation.</p> <p>Job Requirements:</p> <ul> <li>Bachelor's Degree Required; Master's Degree preferred </li><li>Required Massachusetts teaching certification/licensure for middle school grades - certification area is flexible </li><li>Dual Certification (ESL or Special Education) a plus </li><li>Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) Endorsement (Required within 1-year of start date) </li><li>Experience leading long-duration project-based learning strongly preferred </li><li>Experience differentiating instruction to meet the needs of and create accessible learning for all students </li><li>Experience using technology (blended learning, teacher/family communication suites, Google G-Suite Apps, etc.) in the service of learning is strongly desired; Experience leading design studios, maker spaces, engineering labs, working with fabrication tools and/or design software preferred </li><li>Ability to meet the expectations of the Massachusetts Standards and Indicators of Effective Teaching Practice </li><li>Maintain professional competence through in-service education activities provided by the District, and/or in self-selected professional growth activities. </li><li>Minimum of 2 years teaching experience and working in an urban public school or charter school setting preferred. </li><li>Proven track record of raising student achievement scores in an urban/turnaround environment desired. </li><li>Second language (Spanish and/or Portuguese) proficiency a plus; Multilingual candidates and candidates of color are strongly encouraged to apply </li><li>Current authorization to work in the United States </li></ul> <p>Work Year: Teachers in Salem Public Schools work a 185 day school year (180 student contact days plus 5 professional development days. Please visit www.salemk12.org to view the 2025-26 district and/or school calendar.</p> <p>Salary: Teacher salaries in the Salem Public Schools are determined by the Salem Teachers Union collective bargaining agreement.</p> <p>Benefits: The City of Salem offers Group Insurance Commission (GIC) benefits to all full-time employees. Click here for more information about our health benefits.</p> <p>Equal Opportunity Employer</p> <p>Salem Public School District is committed to maintaining a work and learning environment free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/civil union status, ancestry, place of birth, age, citizenship status, veteran status, political affiliation, genetic information or disability, as defined and required by state and federal laws. Additionally, we prohibit retaliation against individuals who oppose such discrimination and harassment or who participate in an equal opportunity investigation.</p>