2025-2026: Essential Skills Special Education Teacher

Bricolage Academy is searching for an Essential Skills Special Education Teacher. Bricolage is a New Orleans charter school that started in 2013 with a Kindergarten and will be growing one year, and one grade, at a time until we serve students in all grades, K - 12th.

BRICOLAGE ACADEMY OVERVIEW

Instructional Model

At Bricolage Academy, we offer a self-contained individualized setting for students with significant low-incidence disabilities, in PreK-4th grade, that require academic and functional instruction in a self-contained setting, called Essential Skills Level 1.

The Essential Skills Special Education Teacher is responsible for providing individualized and LEAP Connect-aligned instruction based on Individualized Education Plans that is culturally relevant and contains SMART measures of success. The Essential Skills Level 1 setting utilizes the Attainment Curriculum, a skill-based, individualized curriculum that teachers academic and functional skills in an engaging and kinesthetic manner. The Essential Skills Level 1 Special Education Teacher’s role is to support students in accessing LEAP-connect aligned curriculum while providing supplemental instruction targeted toward their IEP goals and skill gaps.

Additionally, students will have co-curricular experiences – visual art, music, physical education, and innovation (a combination of design thinking technology, and engineering basics) with the support of paraprofessionals. These classes are designed to introduce students to the basic concepts and principles of different types of art, music, innovation, and physical education so that they can make better informed decisions about which type to specialize in in middle and high school.

School Culture

Restorative Practices will be used alongside strategies from both Responsive Classroom for Middle School and the Institute of Social and Emotional Learning to proactively build a physically and emotionally safe, joyful, inclusive, and supportive school culture.

Undoing Racism

We attempt to undo racism by addressing the traditional power structure by creating space for dialogue across traditional lines of division. We offer trainings and workshops that focus on racial reconciliation for teachers, students and families, and employ culturally responsive instructional practices. We are committed to supplementing the dominant narrative approach to History/Social Studies with culturally responsive

pedagogy that uses “cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (Geneva Gay’s definition of culturally responsive teaching). This work is not ‘nice to have’; it is essential to advance equity.

Bricolage Academy is a school with a big goal: we aim to be the highest performing non-selective school in New Orleans. There are many people who contribute to making Bricolage special - parents, administration, students and community members - but teachers are at the center of it all. Bricolage teachers must demonstrate a deep commitment to our mission of advancing educational equity by creating innovators who change the world. Our teachers embody our organizational values (integrity, empathy and innovation). They are always trying to get better, have a deep love for children and approach everything with a joie de vivre. Our teachers create the kind of classrooms that nobody ever wants to leave - where it’s fun to learn and you can almost see the discovery fireworks bouncing off the walls. We’re looking for others who approach their work like we do – balancing seriousness and diligence with warmth and levity.

DUTIES

The objective of the Special Education Teacher/Case Manager is to develop and implement an effective educational program for students with exceptionalities as well as students suspected of having an exceptionality. The Special Education TCM will

also inspire their students to use their tools to cope with their exceptionality in order to adapt and be productive in school and in their community. Specifically, the Essential Skills Level 1 Special Education Teacher is responsible for:

Instructional Management Duties:

• Student outcomes. We use multiple measures to assess student learning and preparedness and it is the responsibility of the teacher to prepare students for success.

• Creating a classroom culture where students:

  • share in its ownership

  • treat each other with empathy and act with integrity

  • learn how to be responsibly autonomous

• Delivering engaging, rigorous, and effective instruction that includes:

  • Math and ELA instruction built upon the Attainment Curriculum and LEAP-Connect aligned standards.why, and the sequence of skills/behaviors she needs to learn next to accelerate her reading growth.

• Responsible for development and coordination of academic, behavioral, and social programing through IEP management of students with exceptionalities

• Collect and analyze detailed and accurate student data through progress monitoring

• Coordinate and collaborate student schedules with general education teachers and related service providers

• Ongoing research of best practices and implementation of strategies that work effectively for exceptional students.

• Lead and participate in staff development and trainings that focus on working with students with low-incidence exceptionalities.

• Assist general education teachers and other school support staff with instructional strategies to facilitate inclusion to maximum extent possible

• Lead IEP meetings and facilitate communication with families and staff of kids with exceptionalities

• Assume responsibilities for demonstrating achievement of IEP goals and improved educational performance of students on caseload

• Develop an individual profile for each student using existing assessment data and informal testing and observation

• Provide a continuum of special education instructional opportunities for students to work one-on-one, in small groups, and as a class within pull-out or push-in settings, as appropriate, in support of the general education curriculum

• Keep abreast of best practice research on inclusion and effective strategies for ensuring success in the least restrictive setting

• Employ multi-sensory teaching strategies based on an understanding of student strengths, weaknesses and learning styles

• Ensure general education staff have copies of the IEP snapshots

• Monitor and support implementation of goals in inclusion classes; collaborates with related services providers and monitors service delivery, and behavior plans

• Provide technical assistance to teachers to implement accommodation/ modifications when students are in co-curriculars or general education with a paraprofessional

• Provide instructional direction and supervision for paraprofessional staff

• Collaborate with teachers/parents/students to adjust IEP goals and services if indicated by academic, behavioral or functional performance.

• Collaborate with the instructional team to develop a DRAFT schedule of services for review by Special Education Leadership.

• Ensure that IEP services are implemented as indicated on IEP

• Ensure related services are being delivered in an integrated way involving practical classroom application

Case Management Duties:

? schedule and hold IEP meetings according to Due Process procedures

? write SMART IEP goals and objectives that meet the individual needs students with exceptionalities

? maintain compliant IEP folders including writing progress reports and filing ? monitor progress of students with weekly/daily data collection

? differentiating and modifying instruction to meet the needs of each individual student

? integrating technology, innovation, and design thinking into instruction ? being an active member of the school community including assuming before, during, and after school duty posts, advising/mentoring small groups of students and attending school activities and events

? developing relationships with colleagues, students and their families

Some other things you should know about us:

We're building a new kind of school that doesn't have a formula to follow. There is no 'how-to' book for our community. We're making it ourselves. That requires people who can embrace vulnerability, take initiative, learn from mistakes, and be open to giving and receiving feedback.

Bricolage is a diverse community, but we are committed to being an anti-racist one. This means devoting time to understand what racism is, exploring how it manifests, and taking actions to dismantle it. Also, Bricolage's diversity is not itself an end. Rather, we believe our diversity is a means to amplifying empathy, advancing equity and facilitating creativity and innovation.

We don't have all of the answers, and we're okay with that. If you're looking for certainty, we suggest you pursue a position in a factory (or a factory-like school). Bricolage is being built as we speak. It's a magical place, but an imperfect one. Everyone at Bricolage has successes and failures. You will experience both. We’re looking for a special kind of teacher. If this sounds like you, please apply. We can’t wait to meet you.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

? Strong belief in Bricolage Academy’s mission, vision and core values

? Strong belief in and commitment to diverse, equitable, and inclusive educational access and equitable outcomes for all students

Strong belief in collaborative measures with all stakeholders, including support staff, related service providers, general education teachers, and families

? Strong belief in and commitment to the city of New Orleans

? Bachelor’s degree

? Demonstrated success raising student achievement for students with low-incidence disabilities with limited verbal skills in a self-contained setting.

? Louisiana Special Education teaching certificate or working towards it

? At least 3 years of teaching experience

? At least 1 year of special education teaching experience

Preferred

? K-8 Grade teaching experience

? Familiarity with Bulletin 1508, 1706, 1903

? Familiarity with Louisiana’s Handbook for Rights of Children with Disabilities ? Familiarity with rules and regulations regarding Special Education Law

? Familiarity with Individualized Education Plans

? Familiarity with accommodations and modifications

? Familiarity with/experience teaching in a self-contained classroom.

? Familiarity with LEAP-Connect standards.

? Familiarity with/experience with Phonics and Guided Reading

? Familiarity with/experience using Personalized Learning

? Success as a teacher with a predominantly middle to high income student population and success as a classroom teacher with a predominantly low income population

? Familiarity with/experience using one or more of the following: Responsive Classroom, Love & Logic, Restorative Practices

? Familiarity with/experience using culturally responsive teaching strategies

? Familiarity with/experience using augmentative and assistive Communication devices.

People of color are strongly encouraged to apply. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Bricolage Academy does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, gender or gender identity, age, sexual orientation, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law.