SYSpecial Education Teacher - Southbridge High School

Overview

Southbridge Public Schools serve approximately 2,200 students across six schools—and we’re in the midst of an exciting and measurable transformation. In particular, our secondary schools are on a trajectory of rapid improvement. This brief video, Southbridge Middle School Celebrates Recent Improvement, highlights the results of a process of improving culture, climate, and instruction that empowered Southbridge Middle School to take dramatic steps forward even in the challenging aftermath of the COVID pandemic.

Over the past couple of school years, SMS has continued to thrive and has been recognized for outstanding student achievement gains in Math, and by the University of Connecticut as a PBIS success story
. We are now also seeing the same kind of transformative change at Southbridge High School, with culture & climate among both staff and students improving dramatically in the current 2024-25 school year, and we are confident that significant academic gains will soon follow.

This success is no accident—it’s the result of passionate educators, high-quality curriculum, targeted professional development, and a deep commitment to providing a better education to children in a community that has long been under-served. We are a district with many high-needs students, but they prove to us on a daily basis that when we provide them with high expectations and consistent support, they can excel.

Most of all, our students thrive when the adults in our schools unite as a team to provide a safe and positive climate, when we uphold high expectations for both behavior and academics, and when we show our kids that we believe in them, we care about them, and we will never give up on them.

If you’re an educator who wants your work to matter—who wants to be part of a team that believes deeply in growing people and improving student outcomes—Southbridge is a place where you can see the impact of your efforts every day.

REPORTS TO: Building Principal or Special Education Supervisor

Job Description

Implement and adapt direct/explicit academic and specially designed instruction across content areas using multi-sensory teaching, differentiated strategies, including use of modified content, methodology, and performance criteria as needed, as well as assistive/educational technology in the classroom, for designated students receiving services in an inclusion setting.

• Plans a program of study that, as much as possible, meets the individual needs, interest, and abilities of the students.
• Collaborate with grade level classroom teachers, other special education teachers, and specialists to provide comprehensive and effective services to assigned students.
• Promote and assist in the implementation of research-based strategies to ensure the transition and generalization of students’ academic and social goals within the regular education environment and throughout the school.
• Assesses student progress towards objectives, expectations, and/or goals (e.g. behavioral, motor development and communication skills academic needs, vocational abilities, etc.) for purpose of providing feedback to students, parents and administration.
• Serve as contact person for designated caseload, including completion of all associated paperwork (monitoring student performance, writing IEPs/progress reports, etc.), management of the Team process (conducting Annual Reviews, conferencing w/ parents/Team members, etc.), and maintenance of communication between teachers, specialists, families, and any outside providers.
• Utilize appropriate classroom management strategies, including a comprehensive positive behavior intervention system, to ensure a successful and motivating instructional environment within the classroom and throughout the school for designated students.
• Use a multi-disciplinary approach to gather various sources of information for progress monitoring in order to routinely implement data-based decision-making practices to guide instruction and lesson planning.
• Creates a classroom environment that is conducive to learning and appropriate to the maturity and interests of the students.
• Guides the learning process toward the…