Ex Ed Educational Assistant

Overview

Hamilton County Schools, located in Chattanooga, TN, is working to ensure that all students thrive and experience a future without limits. We are committed to excellence for every student and are seeking outstanding leaders, teachers, support staff, and district employees who desire to make a difference in the lives of students. With nearly 75 schools, we are confident that you can find your place in Hamilton County.

Learn more about working for Hamilton County Schools e.org and get to know us and our strategic plan, Opportunity 2030.

Hixson High School has served the greater Chattanooga area since 1908. Grounded in the core values of Community, Opportunity, and Excellence, we are dedicated to fostering all students to learn, lead, and serve. At the heart of our recorded success is our faculty, which includes many alumni who have come home to serve their school community. Twenty percent of our teaching staff attended Hixson High School themselves.

Hixson High offers diverse opportunities: athletics, fine arts, Future Ready pathways, Air Force JROTC, and Special Olympics programs ensure students are active contributors to our school community. With access to Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment classes, our students can connect with early post-secondary opportunities. Through our groundbreaking Ignite program, our regular education and exceptional education students connect with each other.

Our school community reflects the diversity of Chattanooga. Of our 890 students, 52.7% are white and 42.3% are Black, Hispanic, or Native American. Over half are economically disadvantaged; 15.3% have identified disabilities; and 8% are English Language Learners. This diversity makes strong student-to-student and teacher-student connections more essential than ever.

Supported by dedicated families, community partners, and a strong alumni network, Hixson High School is a 2025 Tennessee Reward School and has achieved Level 5 academic growth each year since 2022–2023.

The purpose of this job is to provide teaching support and services under the direction of a licensed special education teacher in the implementation of Individual Education Programs for students with disabilities in general or special education classrooms, one-on-one or in small group settings, or with special, more narrowly defined services, or as otherwise needed.

We are looking for staff who are committed to excellence and who are passionate about working with students with disabilities. Our teachers and paraprofessionals accept accountability, work collaboratively, are flexible, and utilize multiple strategies when working with students. We look for staff members who believe that “every day is a new day” with students and who are willing to be a team player both in and out of the classroom.

• Training in or willingness to be trained in nonviolent crisis intervention techniques.
• Competent use of verbal and nonverbal techniques designed to prevent or de-escalate students when acting out behaviors occurs.
• Competence at and a willingness to incorporate consistent patterns of assertive communications including delivering a three part statement of empathy, verbalizing conflict behavior, and communicating a rectifying statement when behavioral conflict is apparent.
• Ability to maintain a group during emergencies or a time when a teacher must be away from the group.
• Provides educational assistance to students with disabilities; assists in preparing, modifying, and utilizing instructional materials to meet individual needs of students; assists with development and implementation of Individual Education Program for each student; assists with the data collection and progress monitoring of student’s physical, communication, social/emotional, and educational levels of development; uses special educational strategies and techniques to address students’ academic needs.
• Provides physical assistance, including but not limited to toileting, positioning, lifting, carrying, feeding, personal hygiene, or other assistance as determined by specific student needs, to any student with disabilities based on a student’s Individual Education Program.
• Overse…