SY24-25 SEZP Early College High School English Teacher

English Teacher for Early College High School

Positions: Full Time and Part Time Positions Available

Start Date: August 2024

Salary: $57,000 – $90,000 commensurate with experience

Additional Compensation to be Determined:

• $2,500-$10,000 relocation award for candidates from regions beyond western Massachusetts
• $2,000-$5,000 signing bonus
• $1,000+ extended day stipend
• $2,000-$12,000 extended year stipends

About the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership:

While Massachusetts is consistently ranked as one of the top states for education results in the country, we have one of the highest and most persistent opportunity gaps. The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP) – established in 2015 as a collaboration between Springfield Public Schools (SPS), the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), and the Springfield Education Association (SEA) – seeks to improve the longitudinal life outcomes of the more than 5,000 students in our 16 middle and high schools.

As a “zone” of schools within the city of Springfield, SEZP’s approach draws on a deep and embedded partnership with the school district and local teachers’ union, while harnessing the flexibility and innovation found in autonomous school models. As a result, each school within SEZP is accorded significant school-based autonomies – in curriculum, talent, calendar, schedule, and budget – while being held accountable for realizing achievement gains for historically marginalized students. In all of our work, SEZP is in pursuit of equity and anti-racism acknowledging the systemic oppression our students and families encounter daily and working to disrupt these provision gaps urgently and courageously.

Job Details

The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP) is committed to building anti-racist schools by ensuring the work of equity is fully inclusive of and focused on our students of color, exceptional learners, emerging bilinguals, and all families across our schools. A central SEZP strategy for disrupting institutionalized racism lives in our innovation around Early College for high school students. The SEZP pioneered the “fifth year” graduation deferment option for high school seniors to provide enough time for scholars to earn an Associate’s degree or to amass an equivalent number of college credits, thereby significantly increasing the odds of college matriculation and retention, and drastically reducing the financial burdens of higher education on families. The SEZP supports multiple models of early college programming, including wall-to-wall, dual enrollment, and pathways-focused options. This deeply impactful work is made possible through the most robust college partnership strategy in the state, engaging multiple institutions of higher education in course delivery and degree attainment. Our partners include Worcester State University, Springfield Technical Community College, Quinsigamond Community College, Westfield State University, Western New England University, American International College and Holyoke Community College.

The SEZP calls upon skilled and passionate educators to trailblaze a new model of the prerequisite reading, writing, and research skills necessary for students to be successful in their requisite early college courses through use of high quality curriculum and mentorship for early college coursework in our SEZP high schools.

English teachers in early college high schools will work to ensure linguistic and racial equity through academic rigor and personalized supports that empower students and families in maximizing rigor while providing personalized support. SEZP English teachers serve to make early college a force for disrupting the institutionalized racism inherent in secondary and postsecondary schools for our Springfield scholars. 

Job Responsibilities

English teachers in SEZP early college high schools will accomplish the following:

• Provide rigorous course content with extensive support for success in science content and skills
• Provide support sessions, advising, and office hours to ensure students have access to intervention and additional resources to realize success
• Enact anti-racist instructional practices that ensure students own the learning
• Work closely with a team of student support team members, mentors, and interventionists to amplify student success
• Engage with families as partners in the learning around successes, challenges, and problem-solving on behalf of our scholars

Position Qualifications

• Experience teaching English at the middle and/or high school level preferred
• Appropriate content/program area (e.g. English) and grade level license from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education required (Educators who are not licesed by MA DESE in the appropriate area or grade level may be eligible for a licensure waiver and are still encouraged to apply.)
• Experience as an active anti-racist or advocate for equity preferred
• Bilingual in English and Spanish preferred
• Bachelor’s degree required

If you meet some of the qualifications above, we encourage you to apply or reach out for more information. We know that historically marginalized groups – including people of color, women, people from working class backgrounds, and people who identify as LGBTQ – are less likely to apply unless and until they meet every requirement for a job. Therefore, we strongly encourage applications from educators with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities. 

We encourage you to reach out to Kelley Gangi at kgangi@sezp.org if you have questions about the role or your qualifications. We are happy to help you feel ready to apply!

Benefits

Selection as an educator in the SEZP recognizes an individual for their outstanding vision, capacity, and commitment to anti-racist school communities. Educators joining the SEZP community may be eligible for the following recruitment incentives, subject to personalized negotiation for individual candidates:

• Up to $90,000 starting salary
• $2,500-$10,000 relocation award for candidates from regions beyond western Massachusetts
• $2,000-$5,000 signing bonus
• $1,000+ extended day stipend
• $2,000-$12,000 extended year stipends

Application Process

Instructional positions will be filled on an ongoing basis but applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible for these limited positions. Please contact Kelley (kgangi@sezp.org) or SEZP@springfieldempowerment.org with any questions.

Nondiscrimination Statement

The Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, age, disability or military service or marital status. The Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate in admission to, access or treatment in its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation, disability or homelessness.

Title IX Notice of Nondiscrimination

Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex in admission, administration of its educational programs or activities or employment. Springfield Public Schools is required by Title IX and its implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 106 not to discrimination on the basis of sex in admission, administration of its educational programs or activities or employment. The Senior Administrator of Human Resources, Kathleen O’Sullivan, Springfield Public Schools, 1550 Main St. Springfield MA, 011103, 413-787-7100, ext. 55428, has been designated as the employee responsible for coordinating Springfield Public Schools efforts to comply with and carry out its responsibilities under Title IX. Inquiries concerning the application of Title IX and its implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 106 to Springfield Public Schools may be referred to Kathleen O’Sullivan or to U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 400 Maryland Ave., SW Washington, DC 20202-1100, telephone 800-421-3481.

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