English Learner (EL) Instructional Development Manager - Biliteracy

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is a district on the rise, serving over 320,000 students in 500+ schools and employing over 44,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

The Office of Language and Cultural Education (OMME) exists to guide CPS in providing a high-quality education for all language learners that is attentive to a culturally and linguistically diverse community of students, families, and educators. OMME aims to achieve its mission through strategic planning, collaborative partnerships, professional development, and the production of tools and resources to improve instruction.

Job Summary:

Reporting to the Executive Director, EL Instructional Development, the EL Instructional Development Manager Biliteracy leads a dynamic team responsible for driving the success of our English Learner (EL) and bilingual education initiatives. The manager will play a pivotal role in leading the Biliteracy, EL Instructional team supporting the EL Network Team, and designing professional learning opportunities for teachers and network staff, focusing on literacy development in more than one language. This office will regularly collaborate with other offices to co-create professional learning opportunities that align with content and EL best practices. This is a full-time, exempt position that will be paid for time worked based on a salary basis.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the creation and implementation of professional learning that supports the implementation of EL and bilingual best practices in instruction
• Lead the creation of resources to align with professional learning and ensure they are reflective of current biliteracy instructional practices.
• Ensure all learning opportunities around biliteracy are aligned with the instructional core
• Lead the design, development, and delivery of curriculum-specific professional learning opportunities for teachers, schools, and the Network Supports team, with a focus on enhancing biliteracy instruction.
• Lead the training of network specialists on curriculum practices and best practices in biliteracy instruction.
• Lead the creation and development of resources that complement professional learning, ensuring they reflect current biliteracy instructional practices.
• Participate in cross-office team meetings and collaborations to ensure EL and bilingual presence and voice are included in district instructional decisions
• Provide feedback, alignment, and advocacy for instructional core materials and practices, contributing to the development of an instructional core alignment digital booklet.
• Lead and manage the Biliteracy Team's continuous improvement process, establishing a regular cadence of meetings, data-driven quarterly monitoring, and strategic problem-solving sessions.

• Serving on the district’s CCSS SLA Leadership Team
• Collaborate with and advise a team of specialists on professional learning design
• Lead development of resources and guidance for the use of Spanish literacy assessments and the design of multi-tiered systems of support, in collaboration with the Office of Student Assessment and MTSS teams.
• Provide leadership and guidance to a team of direct reports; conduct RISE goal-setting and performance reviews with Biliteracy Specialists whose work streams align with key responsibilities.
• Manage implementation and innovation concerning the launch, roll-out, evaluation, and revision of the CPS Skyline Spanish Language Arts curriculum in collaboration with the CPS Office of Curriculum, Instruction, and Digital Learning (CIDL), Department of Literacy, Office of Student Assessment, Vista Higher Learning (VHL), and other key internal and external partners.

• Organize and facilitate processes for creating, preparing, and delivering presentations at events like SLI (Summer Leadership Institute), New Teacher Orientation, and Resident Teacher sessions.
• Collaborate closely with the EL Network Team and the Instructional Design and Development Team to provide strategic guidance, resources, and support for their initiatives and projects.
• Develop professional learning decks for school principals and network staff based on school needs assessment, ensuring alignment with ELPT training.
• Collaborate closely with T&L, OSD, and OECE to ensure professional learning alignment.
• Lead the co-creation of professional learning opportunities across offices, departments, and teams, ensuring alignment with district-wide instructional goals and biliteracy best practices.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

Education Required:

• Master’s degree in Education required
• Valid standard teaching certificate issued by the Illinois State Board of Education with a bilingual endorsement is required
• ESL endorsement is strongly preferred
• Administrative endorsement preferred
• Doctoral Degree in Education with a study focus on bilingualism or second language acquisition preferred

Experience Required:

• Minimum of five (5) years of teaching experience is required, including a minimum of (3) years working with bilingual programming.
• Minimum of three (3) years leadership experience in bilingual education required

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Ability to present to various stakeholders in Spanish
• Ability to communicate effectively with all stakeholders; establish efficient working relationships with colleagues, district and school staff, and community-based organizations
• Ability to manage, problem-solve, and delegate as situations dictate
• Ability to recognize failures and learn from mistakes to improve conditions for working and learning as a team
• Ability to travel to schools and other locations throughout the district
• Ability to be a self-learner and demonstrate excellent organizational skills
• Skilled proficiently in a range of technology tools and software: Google Docs, Microsoft Office, and Mac applications
• Able to improve conditions for working and learning as a team
• Strong effective organizational skills
• Strong exceptional written, verbal, and oral skills

Other Requirements:

• Bilingual Spanish is required; multilingual preferred

Conditions of Employment:

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.