Literacy Specialist

EVA Literacy Specialist


Important information about this position:

• Employees of EVA are required to reside in Oregon.
• Please include at least one current and/or recent supervisor on references to be considered.
• As per our CBA, steps on our salary scale are not aligned directly with years of experience. To determine placement on the salaray scale, most will fall at half of their experience plus 2 additional steps. Please refer to details on pages 37-39 of the CBA.
• Specialist postions include an additional stipend, please refer to the CBA for details.
• EVA pays the employee 6% PERS contribution and employer contributions toward health insurance premiums can be found in the CBA.
• This is a virtual position with some required in person events and/or PD. For additional information, please refer to the Events section of the CBA.
• The workday is 8am-4pm M-F.

Overview ?


Evergreen Virtual Academy (EVA) is an independently managed, public charter school for Kindergarten through 12th grade students in Oregon. When you join the team at EVA, you join a team of dedicated professionals working all over the state in a virtual environment to ensure the success of our families and students meet their educational needs and goals. EVA is authorized by the North Bend School District and accredited through Cognia.


Job Summary ?


The Literacy Specialist supports students who need additional instruction in reading and literacy skills primarily across middle and high school. This position provides targeted, evidence-based literacy intervention through intervention classes, small-group instruction, and individual support, within general education classrooms as well as providing targeted intervention for credit recovery at the high school.


The Literacy Specialist works collaboratively with teachers, special education staff, intervention teams, and school administrators to identify student needs, deliver targeted instruction, monitor student progress, and strengthen literacy practices across the school.


The ideal candidate has strong knowledge of reading development, the Science of Reading, literacy assessment, differentiated instruction, and intervention for students with a wide range of reading needs.


Essential Duties, Responsibilities, and Abilities

Direct Student Support

• Provide targeted reading and literacy intervention for students in grades 6-12.

• Teach scheduled reading intervention classes for students who need support beyond core instruction.

• Provide individual and small-group instruction based on student needs.

• Push into general education classes to provide targeted literacy support when appropriate.

• Support students with foundational reading skills, including phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

• Provide age-appropriate intervention for older struggling readers, including students with significant gaps in foundational reading skills.

• Support students with reading comprehension, written response, academic vocabulary, and accessing grade-level texts.

• Instruction in credit recovery options classes for high school students needing skill remediation.

• Other duties as assigned.

Assessment & Progress Monitoring

• Review universal screening, diagnostic, classroom, and state assessment data frequently to identify student literacy needs.

• Conduct or support additional diagnostic reading assessments when needed.

• Identify specific skill gaps and use data to develop targeted intervention plans.

• Establish measurable literacy goals for students receiving intervention.

• Monitor student progress regularly and adjust instruction based on student response.

• Maintain accurate intervention records, student data, and progress-monitoring documentation.

• Communicate progress and concerns with teachers, families, and appropriate student support teams.

• Help determine when students should enter, continue, intensify, change, or exit literacy intervention.

MTSS & Intervention Systems

• Serve as an active member of the school's MTSS and student support processes.

• Collaborate with teachers and data teams to identify students who may need additional literacy support.

• Help develop clear criteria and processes for literacy intervention referrals and placement.

• Support the development of Tier 2 and Tier 3 literacy interventions at the 6-8 level.

• Assist teams in determining appropriate interventions based on student data rather than relying solely on overall test scores.

• Help monitor the effectiveness of literacy interventions across grade levels.

• Identify trends in student data and recommend adjustments to intervention programming.

Teacher Collaboration & Instructional Support

• Collaborate with classroom teachers to identify and address student literacy needs.

• Provide strategies, resources, and instructional recommendations for struggling readers.

• Model effective literacy practices in classrooms when appropriate.

• Support teachers in differentiating instruction for students reading below grade level.

• Assist teachers in interpreting literacy assessment data and translating data into instructional decisions.

• Help teachers identify whether student difficulty is related to foundational reading, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, writing, engagement, or another area.

• Collaborate with teachers to ensure intervention instruction connects to and supports grade-level learning.

Virtual Instruction & Student Engagement

• Provide engaging literacy instruction in a virtual learning environment through whole-group, small-group, and individual Zoom sessions.

• Use breakout rooms, digital whiteboards, shared texts, interactive activities, and other virtual tools to provide explicit and responsive instruction.

• Develop systems for supporting students who struggle to attend or engage consistently in intervention.

• Collaborate with teachers and families to reduce barriers to participation.

• Provide appropriate asynchronous practice or reinforcement when beneficial while maintaining direct instruction as a central component of intervention.

Family Communication

• Communicate with families regarding literacy intervention goals, student progress, and ways to support reading development.

• Help families understand assessment results and student literacy needs in accessible language.

Schoolwide Literacy Leadership

• Serve as a literacy resource for staff.

• Participate in data meetings, PLCs, intervention meetings, and professional learning as appropriate.

• Help identify schoolwide literacy trends and areas for instructional improvement.

• Support professional development related to literacy instruction, intervention, assessment, and supporting struggling readers.

• Stay current on evidence-based literacy research and effective practices for both beginning and adolescent readers.

• Collaborate with school leadership to continually strengthen the school's literacy and intervention systems.

Supervisory Responsibilities: This position has no formal supervisory responsibilities.????


Communication and Relationship Building: ?

• Establishes and maintains positive rapport with families and regularly communicates with students and learning coaches/parents.

• Supports students and learning coaches with the set-up and maintenance of their learning environment including basic computer troubleshooting.?

• Understands how both diverse and unique characteristics of students and their families impacts required support.?

• Works collaboratively with other staff to ensure that all students are successfully progressing through the program, that parents have a central point of contact, and that tasks are distributed among the stakeholders.?

Qualifications

Minimum Required Qualifications:????

• Bachelor's Degree AND

• 3 years of service in desired position OR

• Equivalent combination of education and experience

• Meet requirements for Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) in subject area by TSPC

• Ability to clear required background check.

• Successful classroom or intervention teaching experience.

• Strong knowledge of reading development and evidence-based literacy instruction.

• Experience supporting students who read below grade level.

• Ability to analyze assessment data and use it to plan targeted instruction.

• Strong communication and collaboration skills.

• Ability to build positive relationships with students across a broad range of ages.

• Ability to effectively provide instruction in individual, small groups, and classroom settings.

• Reading endorsement, literacy specialist credential, or advanced training in reading instruction.

• Training or experience with the Science of Reading and structured literacy.

• Experience providing intensive reading intervention.

• Experience with MTSS, RTI, progress monitoring, and diagnostic assessment.

• Experience supporting students with dyslexia or other reading disabilities.

• Experience working with Special Education and English Learner programs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience providing instruction in a virtual or blended-learning environment.

• Experience supporting adolescent struggling readers.

Certificates and Licenses :??

• Appropriate state teaching certification or other license requirements for job title

Key Characteristics


The successful Literacy Specialist will be:

• Student-centered and relationship-focused.

• Skilled at identifying the underlying reason a student is struggling to read.

• Comfortable working with students from kindergarten through high school

• Data-informed without losing sight of the individual student.

• Flexible in providing push-in, pull-out, individual, small-group, and intervention-class support.

• Collaborative and able to work across departments and grade levels.

• Knowledgeable about evidence-based literacy practices.

• Comfortable helping build systems in addition to providing direct instruction.

• Committed to helping students develop both literacy skills and confidence as readers.

Physical/Mental Demands


The employee is required to possess excellent communication skills, both written and oral. Human relations and communication skills are necessary to handle frequent personal and telephone inquiries received from students/families, administrators, teachers, classified employees, and others. Work requests are often received which require immediate attention setting up conflicting priorities for timely response. Sound judgment and a pleasant attitude are required in stressful situations. The employee needs to be able to attend in-person events as needed. The employee needs to be able to lift/move/carry materials, equipment or boxes weighing up to 30 pounds.