Lead Coach (School Instructional Support)

One of the cornerstones of CPS’ recommitment to strengthening the district’s instructional core is investing in empowered and supported educators. CPS continues to deepen our support to ensure all schools have strong cultures of distributed leadership that include academically-focused instructional leadership teams (ILTs) made up of Teacher Leaders, teachers actively participating in Teacher Leader-led learning cycles, individualized feedback, and support to all teachers embedded within their learning cycle.

In 2022, CPS launched Teachers Lead Chicago — our strategy to define school-based leadership roles so teachers can “lead without having to leave” the classroom. Teachers Lead Chicago (TLC) is a cross-office initiative with the Talent and Teaching and Learning Offices that formalizes teacher leadership pathways. TLC, located in the Talent Office as part of the Training and Leadership Development team, operates CPS’ formal teacher career pathway for teaching staff, which includes the qualification and selection process, guidance to principals and teachers, evaluation and record keeping, marketing and recruiting, and pipeline development. The Office of Teaching and Learning provides professional development and implementation of formal teacher leadership roles.

Role Summary\:

A Lead Coach position is available at a subset of CPS schools. This teacher role has 80% release time to provide coaching and support to teacher leaders and teacher teams within the school community in support of the local instructional areas of need. The primary objective of the Lead Coach role is to build the capacity of other teacher leaders and teachers, as well as support the distributed and supportive leadership model within their school building. Lead Coaches have expertise in classroom pedagogy, team leadership, and coaching, and they use these skills to develop teacher capacity in classroom instruction and teacher leadership skills. This school-level support will help to improve instructional practice and improve student outcomes. Lead Coaches are critical members of the school’s Instructional Leadership Team (ILT).

The Lead Coach will be held accountable for the following responsibilities\:

Additional Commitments and Benefits\:

• Time Commitment\: This is a 228-day position (43.6 weeks, 6.25 standard hours)

  • Spend 20% - approximately five (5) hours per week

    • Providing instruction, advisory period, or providing instruction to allow teachers to conduct peer observations

  • Spend 80% - approximately 20 hours per week

    • Leading team meetings

    • Providing instructional coaching for team members they support and leading the team meetings, as well as coaching assigned teachers and teacher leaders
      

• District Professional Development\: Attend district-sponsored professional development
  

Eligibility, Qualification, and Selection\:

Lead Coaches must apply for the role through the CPS Careers page for a specific school. The final selection process is principal-directed and based on the school's needs.

• Eligibility\: To be eligible to apply to be a Lead Coach, applicants must\:

  • Hold a valid teaching license issued by the Illinois State Board of Education

  • Have four (4) years of service or commensurate experience

  • If CPS Candidate\: Most recent REACH Professional Practice rating of 3.4 (340) or above or most recent REACH Summative score as Proficient

  • Have experience formally leading peers/adults effectively

  • Expertise in the school community's stated areas of instructional need

• Qualification\: In order to qualify for the Lead Coach position, teachers must complete the following\:

  • Meet all eligibility requirements

  • Complete the application with a specific school on the CPS Careers Jobs Board

• Selection\: School leaders select qualified candidates and conduct interviews to complete the hiring process
  

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities\:

• Ability to set short and long-term goals aligned to school-wide vision for teacher leaders, teachers, and student success

• Ability to use collaborative approaches and include multiple perspectives in the decision-making process

• Analyzes data to examine current realities, including strengths, challenges, relationships, and/or underlying dynamics

• Experience leading collaborative sessions that allow for active engagement with meeting objectives

• Strong communication skills (speaking, listening, and writing)

• Demonstrate high levels of instructional expertise, integrity, honesty, credibility, and the courage to make difficult yet necessary decisions, along with a deep knowledge of pedagogical best practices

• Effective strategic planning capabilities, including the ability to establish long-term vision and goals and align/manage activities toward goal fulfillment

• Strong leadership and team-building skills, e.g., ability to develop high-performing teams united around a clear vision for serving schools and achieving student success

• Exceptional organizational skills

• Experience and knowledge of supporting the development of adult learners

• Ability to build collaborative relationships and actively build and sustain positive, productive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders

• Ability to define problems, analyze data, and outline valid conclusions and action steps

• Ability to motivate others to improve practice and impact student learning

• Skilled in objectively understanding and interpreting others’ concerns, motives, feelings, and behaviors

• Ability to lead a formal team through learning development and learning cycles