Job Description

Launch 9th Grade High School Learning Specialist Job Description 

About Launch

Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School is currently hiring to staff a brand new high school option for students of Central Brooklyn focused on tackling the two greatest challenges of our time– climate change and equity. The Launch High School will welcome its first 9th grade class in Brooklyn, NY in Fall 2025. Launch High School builds on the work of Launch’s middle school, an EL Education school that has operated in Weeksville, Brooklyn for 12 years.  Launch's mission is dedicated to empowering all students to develop the knowledge, skills and character to disrupt inequities in society and build a better world. We believe that students at all levels can be pushed and supported to do more than they think possible.

Launch High School is a transformative, student-centered learning environment that offers one of the most innovative and impactful high school experiences in NYC.

Launch’s design is anchored by 4 Design Principles:

• Power of Joy : We infuse joy into every aspect of our culture and activities
• Everyone Belongs and Grows : We create a community where everyone feels known and valued 
• Deeper Learning, Rooted Here : We embrace meaningful, real-world learning grounded in our local context
• Liberation through Action : We empower ourselves and others through learning, addressing inequities, and championing environmental and social justice.

The student experience is grounded in:

• Groundbreaking Learning Ecosystem model design developed in partnership with Transcend Education and EdReimagined
• Competency Based Learning using reDesign’s Future9 Competencies
• Community & Work Based Learning offered in collaboration with the National Park Service, and local non-profit partners operating in sustainability 
• Dual enrollment classes through local community colleges 
• Pathways to Green Careers through opportunities to earn career-connected credentials/badges in Green Energy, Sustainable Agriculture, Marine Sciences & more

You can learn more about the high school model in our community driven, work-in-progress School Design Blueprint.

We are hiring our founding team to operationalize this ambition vision. We are committed to helping develop the conditions and an adult culture that makes our school a laboratory of innovation, where growth and development of our staff members is prioritized. We believe that creativity, authenticity and hustle among our founding team are key ingredients to the success of our students in learning in a way that is truly personalized, and that can only be accomplished with comprehensive coaching supports that help our staff be authentically their best. 

We are hiring for all 9th grade Learning Specialist positions in the Humanities (English, History, & Guided Reading) and STEM (Math, Science and Math Intervention)

As a Learning Specialist at Launch High School, your responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Designing and adapting curriculum in order to deliver high-quality instruction responsive to all students.  This includes developing project-based and interdisciplinary curriculum and assessments
• Differentiate instruction through strong tier 1 supports, including (but not limited to) a co-teaching model in ICT classes to ensure that all students achieve mastery of learning targets and a collaborative design model with other teachers to ensure an effective interdisciplinary approach across classes

• Support students across the  ICT sections of multiple courses in service of supporting all student learning. 
• Design and implement intervention programming in order to ensure our most vulnerable students get the support necessary to fully access learning.
• Collaborate with colleagues to plan, analyze data, and engage in department team meetings and/or professional growth opportunities (i.e. coaching) to support outstanding instruction
• Utilize differentiated instructional strategies to meet the diverse needs of ELL students at varying levels of language proficiency.
• Assume a high level of personal responsibility for the Personalized Learning Journey (PLJ) progress of all students by tracking and monitoring progress and growth on a daily, weekly and quarterly basis.  Note: PLJs are  tailored to student passions, strengths, and goals and guide academic progress, career exploration, and personal growth.  
• Establish and maintain consistent classroom expectations and routines in a self-managed, student-centered classroom, including building reflective practices in preparation for students to lead Student-Led Conferences. 
• Lead an advisory group called Crew using common school-wide structures and materials. Launch’s Crew program offers daily small-group advisory where students set goals, reflect on progress, and engage in social-emotional learning. Advisors integrate PLJ management into everyday Crew and foster strong relationships, ensuring every student feels supported and valued.
• Maintain strong relationships with students and their families as partners in developing student agency and academic habits.
• Help maintain strong school culture in public spaces throughout the school by fulfilling assigned duties.
• Teach from a culturally responsive sustaining education framework.
• Invest in Competency Based Learning using reDesign’s Future9 Competencies .

The ideal candidate will have:

• Alignment with the educational philosophy and core beliefs that will undergird Launch High School: project-based and competency-based learning, and work-based/career-connected learning
  • Preferably with experience teaching and/or leading in a school that uses one or more of these elements
• Entrepreneurial
  • Comfortable with rapid growth and evolution (personal and of the school) within an innovative educational model
  • Skilled in starting and growing a new program as it is in development
  • A visionary that can construct, implement, and successfully reach a desired outcome, in true partnership with community
• Commitment to growing with and contributing to a powerful and collaborative school team.
• A teacher with
  • Experience and commitment to project based learning, interdisciplinary instruction, mastery grading, intervention, and curriculum & assessment design 
    • High school experience preferred
  • Unwavering commitment to Equity, Launch’s mission, and to the Crew model
  • Exceptional ability to demonstrate our Habits of Responsibility in every aspect of their work
  • Exceptional ability to develop and maintain productive and collaborative relationships
• Bachelor’s degree (Master’s preferred)
• Teaching experience (in an urban setting preferred)
• Valid State Certification (Special Education Certification preferred)

Compensation: Highly competitive and commensurate with experience, along with a full benefits package.

Launch is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any individual or group for reasons of race, color, creed, sex, age, culture, national origin, marital status, sexual preference or mental or physical disability.

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