Lower School Self-Contained Special Education Teacher | 2026-27 School Year

FirstLine Schools: SELF-CONTAINED SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER (DISCOVERY PLUS PROGRAM) 

Reports to: School Director / Principal 
FLSA Status: Exempt 
Position Type: Full-Time 

FirstLine’s Vision Of Teaching Excellence:
We develop teachers at FirstLine by focusing on excellence in teaching. To do so, we coach teachers and center professional development on our Vision of Excellence in Teaching rubric the components of which include: 

• On Task (Maintaining high expectations and maximizing instructional time)
• Essential Content (Planning effectively)
• Cognitive Engagement (Maintaining High Academic Expectations and Building Thinking Skills) 
• Demonstration of Learning (Leading Instruction, Checking for Understanding, Responding to Student Misunderstanding)
• Community of Learners (Establishing Expectations and Responding to Student Behaviors)

About Discovery Plus Specialized Program: 
Since the 2020–2021 school year, FirstLine Schools has operated a specialized program at three of our schools for students with cognitive impairments in grades 3–8 whose cognitive functioning is 2.3 or more standard deviations below the mean and who have a demonstrated need in two or more of the following areas: Life Skills Support (e.g., toileting, play, social communication, feeding), Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Motor Skills Support (Physical Therapy and Adaptive Physical Education).The mission for our FirstLine Schools Discovery Plus Program is for all students to be provided with the skills to lead big, purposeful lives. Our vision for meeting our mission is by providing our students with rigorous academic curriculum, intentional teaching of transition/life skills, and a classroom environment with a robust level of supports and related services. Furthermore, we believe that our students with exceptionalities excel in mind, body, and spirit through intentional community collaboration that drives and responds to student data. 

Position Summary:
FirstLine Schools is currently seeking talented, passionate Special Education Teachers to teach in self-contained setting for students with cognitive needs. At FirstLine Schools, we know that it is the effectiveness of our teachers that matters the most when it comes to impacting the success of our students. To ensure that we are an organization of excellent teachers, we expect our teachers to demonstrate effectiveness through our Vision of Teaching Excellence. Teachers will be responsible for implementing the teaching curriculum, ensuring the success of our students, and working with a team of teachers within the school and network community.   

Special Education teachers are critical to helping our students who have IEPs meet their learning goals. As a teacher in a specialized program, you will regularly collaborate with a variety of related service providers, leaders, and paraprofessionals to make sure that students' needs are being met in and out of the classroom. Our Special Education teachers must be certified or working towards certification and work to ensure that our students have the necessary skills to meet the mission and vision of our Discovery Plus Program. 

Position Responsibilities:

• Designs individualized lessons that lead to LA Connector standards mastery and are aligned to expectations/learning connectors for students with disabilities and end-of-year assessment
• Provides feedback to scholars by asking pertinent, scaffolded follow-up questions that affirm correctly understood content, clarify misunderstood content or extend scholars’ thinking
• Respond to student data and make adjustments to lessons as needed 
• Implement assistive technology and other individualized student supports throughout school day 
• Establishes effective classroom routines and manage students effectively using a variety of strategies to meet the unique needs of students in the Discovery Plus program 
• Inspires and invests students in achieving their goals and in believing that goals are achieved through effort and not innate abilities
• Seeks out and constructively responds to feedback from and engages in problem-solving with others
• Ensures compliant IEP documentation for all students on caseload by facilitating IEP development, FBA/BIP development and implementation, transition planning, and maintaining other supporting documentation related to service delivery (logs, progress reports, Extended School Year, etc)
• Oversee a team of paraprofessionals and manage schedules to best meet the needs of students
• Collaborate closely with related service providers to implement push in and pull out services for students 
• Attend weekly professional development with other self-contained teachers 
• Join SELF’s Low-Incidence one-year Cohort 
• Other duties as assigned 

Education & Experience:

• 2 or more years of lead teaching (as the teacher of record) for students with cognitive needs
• Demonstrated success working with students in an urban, open admissions schoo
• A BA or BS
• A strong background in and command of content area
• Louisiana Teacher Certification (SPED) Completed or in progress (or be eligible to hold for our out-of-state applicants) in the specific disability/grade levels served, as necessary 
• Experience using UNIQUE curriculum preferred 
• Believe deeply in the mission and values of FirstLine Schools and Discovery Plus Program

Desired Qualities & Characteristics:

• Believe in every student’s ability to achieve in a rigorous college or career prep curriculum
• Achieve results based on agreed-upon expectations
• Take personal responsibility 
• Highly detail-oriented 
• Open to learning and evolving with AI as a tool at work
• Collaborate effectively with a range of stakeholders 
• Share a commitment to creating great schools in New Orleans
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to embed and model the FirstLine Commitments: We Keep Learning, We Work Together, We Are Helpful, We Are the Safekeepers of our Community, We Share Joy, We Show Results!

Physical Requirements:
The physical demands described here represent those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.  Occasional physical exertion is required, including exerting up to 20 pounds of force as needed to move objects.

About FirstLine Schools:
In 1998, FirstLine Schools started the first charter school in New Orleans. FirstLine now operates several (Pre)K-8th grade schools.  Our mission is to create and inspire great, open-admissions public schools in New Orleans.  Our staff is a diverse and talented group dedicated to our students’ success and to their own growth.  Our schools are led by leaders who hold themselves accountable for student achievement and teacher development.

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. FirstLine Schools offers a comprehensive benefits package including a 403b plan.

FirstLine Schools is an equal employment opportunities (EEO) organization.