Reading Specialist - Middle School

Primary Objective: To provide intensive intervention and implement scientifically based reading instructions to improve reading skills, develop composition skills, encourage critical thinking, and to improve the academic skills needed for success.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Small-Group & Individualized Instruction: Implementing research-based strategies to improve fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and decoding skills.
• Push-In Model Support: Collaborating with ELA teachers in the classroom to reinforce reading strategies and provide differentiated support.
• Data Analysis & Progress Monitoring: Assessing student growth through formal and informal assessments, tracking progress, and adjusting instruction based on individual needs.
• Intervention & Enrichment: Designing structured reading interventions for struggling readers while also providing opportunities for advanced literacy development.
• Professional Collaboration: Working alongside teachers, administrators, and support staff to enhance literacy instruction school-wide.
• Student Advocacy: Identifying students who need additional reading support and providing strategies to help them gain confidence and proficiency in reading.

Specific Duties:

• Assist classroom teachers with universal screening.
• Provide additional diagnostic assessments  to students flagged by the universal screener to determine the level of intervention.
• Develop caseloads and communicate the level of intervention to building principals, classroom teachers, and administrative assistants. Ensure that parents are also notified.
• Complete the master list of students screened with accurate data.
• Choose the appropriate intervention based on identified student needs and use state-approved progress monitoring tools to update student growth.
• Contact parents a minimum of four times a year to update student progress.
• Ensure that students with RSPs have materials or resources available for families to use at home. Provide guidance to classroom teachers for students receiving  interventions.

Qualifications:

• Minimum Bachelor’s Degree 
• Missouri Teacher Certification (Special Reading K-12)