KINDERGARTEN

• This is a stipended position and is only open to current, eligible, BPS employees whose current job status allows them to participate in this opportunity.*** Organization Overview Founded in 1647, Boston Public Schools (BPS) is the oldest public school district in the country. As the birthplace of America’s public education system, BPS has a long, rich tradition and commitment to education. We are a leader in urban education. BPS has been recognized nationally for programs and initiatives such as universal preschool, early childhood education, equitable school-based funding formula, and policy specifically focused on creating greater racial equity to name a few. Boston Public Schools is committed to transforming the lives of all children through exemplary teaching in a world-class system of innovative, welcoming schools. We partner with the community, families, and students to develop in every learner the knowledge, skill, and character to excel in college, career, and life.Program OverviewBoston Public School’s Teacher Pipeline Programs (BPS TPP) are part of the larger strategy of the RCD to address the demand for highly qualified, equity-minded and racially literate teachers for Boston’s classrooms. Our core belief is that the next generation of Boston’s teachers are in the schools, homes, and communities of Boston right now. This permeates all the work we do. BPS TPP are multigenerational, community-based teacher preparation programs for preservice and in-service teachers. We represent the third generation of teacher preparation programs in the US - Teacher 3.0 (Kretchmar & Zeichner, 2016)- where our candidates are prepared to work in solidarity with their families and students by interrupting racism and interrogating anti-Blackness at personal and systemic levels using the critical literacy of race (Sealey-Ruiz 2020).Our teacher preparation programs are unique: we are among the few nationally and certainly the state’s only locally-embedded, state-approved, multigenerational, “grow your own '' educator preparation program. The overarching mission of the BPS TPP is to support racially, linguistically and culturally diverse teachers by providing a coherent and comprehensive pathway from paraeducator to professional teacher. Keeping students at the center of our work, we aim to cultivate teachers who empower young people to be change agents for the city’s communities. This is work we know can happen in classrooms where teachers are committed, responsive, and reflective of the students and their various cultures, heritages, backgrounds and languages. In the May 2025, we will expand our program by launching a federally-funded Bilingual Inclusive Education Program, which will cultivate bilingual and multilingual paraeducators to become BPS educators in inclusive classrooms. BPS TPP’s three overarching goals are:• develop and sustain an affordable pathway to an advanced degree for BPS teachers of color;• increase the number of BPS teachers who reflect the linguistic, racial, and ethnic diversity of Boston’s students through an accessible pathway and supportive programming, and• improve the ability and agency of BPS teachers to center race and racism through culturally affirming pedagogy and practiceThe BPS TPP comprises three programs, two of which have been running since about 2017. The third program, the Bilingual Inclusive Education (BIE) Program, set to launch in May 2025, is a TQP-funded project to cultivate bilingual paraeducators to become permanent BPS dual language inclusion teachers. All three programs prioritize ESL, SEI and BEE licensure tracks for BPS teachers. Below is a brief outline of our three teacher preparation programs, which includes recent outcomes of our work.Bilingual Education/Accelerated Community to Teacher Program (BE/ACTT):The Boston Public Schools BE/ACTT program is part of an overarching strategy to increase and improve the diversity of exemplary ML teachers in the district’s teacher pipeline. The BE/ACTT program identifies and develops Boston residents, paraprofessionals, and career-changers who are passionate about teaching in BPS. This intensive, no-cost 12-month program is designed to prepare interested residents of the Boston community who hold a Bachelor’s degree and have experience working with children in a classroom setting to become SEI endorsed teachers with a provisional license. All BE/ACTT complete RETELL coursework as a part of this program. Program participants develop their teaching skills in a cohort and learn from highly-skilled BPS teachers and university partners through a rigorous, interactive experience. Participants are required to prepare a competency-based hiring portfolio and participate in a pre-practicum experience in classrooms that include ELs. Program faculty use each participant’s learning portfolio, classroom participation, and mentor teacher feedback from their teaching experiences to determine a candidate’s readiness for a full-time teaching role as SEI endorsed teachers.BPS Teaching Fellowship (BPSTF) is the only district-based, DESE-approved educator preparation program that provides Elementary, Moderate Disabilities, and/or ESL endorsement for Initial Licensure. This is an in-district initial licensure program geared toward increasing the number of licensed ESL and Moderate Disabilities teachers who remain in the district. BPSTF specialists guide Fellows, who are beginning BPS teachers of record, through DESE’s Candidate Assessment Portfolio (CAP) process, alongside teaching them required coursework. Once participants become SEI endorsed classroom teachers in BPS through BE/ACTT, they are eligible to apply to the BPSTF.The Bilingual Inclusive Education (BIE) ProgramIn October 2023, the BPS TPP was awarded $6M by the Teacher Quality Partnerships (TQP) Grants Program. The goal of this federal, five-year grant is to extend BPS TPP’s current programming (BE/ACTT and BPSTF) to include a Bilingual Inclusive Education (BIE) Program. Beginning in May 2025, the BIE Program will offer wraparound support for licensure and hiring, a full-year residency at a dual language school while earning a living wage stipend, an M.Ed. in Inclusive Education from Stonehill College, BPS-developed and implemented BEE coursework (which will begin in fall 2026), and induction support through the first three years of teaching. Beginning in the fall of 2024, BE/ACTT candidates who are BPS bilingual paraeducators are encouraged to apply to the BIE Program. These residents are set to earn the BEE by the end of their second year as teachers of record. Importantly, BPS TPP was awarded this grant to extend our current teacher pipeline programs to include programming specifically for BE/ACTT candidates to have the opportunity to earn their M.Ed. without interruption to their pay or their work with BPS’s bilingual young people. Below is a helpful heuristic for understanding how the three BPS TPP programs are (inter)related.Retell Course OverviewThe RETELL initiative (Rethinking Equity in the Teaching of English Language Learners) represents a commitment to address the persistent gap in academic proficiency experienced by EL students. At the heart of this initiative are training and licensure requirements for the Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) Endorsement, which core academic and career vocational teachers of ELs and principals/assistant principals and supervisors/directors who supervise or evaluate such teachers must obtainThe purpose of this course is to prepare the Commonwealth’s teachers with the knowledge and skills to effectively shelter their content instruction so that our growing population of English Learners (ELs) can access curriculum, achieve academic success, and contribute their multilingual and multicultural resources as participants and future leaders in the 21st century global economy.Overarching Goals:• To help teachers effectively carry out their responsibility for the teaching and learning of ELs as well as to understand the social and cultural issues that contribute to and impact the ELs in our BPS classrooms.• To expand teacher’s knowledge of how language functions within academic content teaching and learning and how children and adolescents acquire a second language.• To provide teachers with practical research-based protocols, methods, and strategies, to integrate subject area content, language, and literacy development- per the expectations fo the World Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) English Language Development (ELD) standards- and thus to support EL students’ success with all academic state standards.Responsibilities:Rethinking Equity in the Teaching of English Language Learners (RETELL) instructor is responsible for creating a Zoom link for the course, teaching the DESE SEI Endorsement course, taking attendance, grading all assignments in the LMS, and submitting final grades to DESE..Qualifications:• Three+ years experience teaching experience in an SEI and/or bilingual setting• Two+ years providing professional development to teachers either in a university or professional development setting.• Completed the DESE RETELL Training or Refresher course and is currently eligible to teach.• Masters degree or higher• Possession of Massachusetts ESL teaching certificate.• Experience with English learners with disabilities and the intersection of language and learning differences• Demonstrated delivery of effective professional development opportunities that utilize teacher leadership and a strong understanding of the Common Core and World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment;• Demonstrated in-depth knowledge of closing the achievement gap for ELs and EL instructional strategies, evaluation, and theories;• Knowledge of the WIDA Standards;• Experience working with diverse student populations, including teaching EL students for a minimum of five years.• Strong organizational skills, with outstanding attention to detail;• Current authorization to work in the United States - Candidates must have such authorization by their first day of employment.Terms: stipend ($6000)The Boston Public Schools, in accordance with its nondiscrimination policies, does not discriminate in its programs, facilities, or employment or educational opportunities on the basis of race, color, age, criminal record (inquiries only), disability, homelessness, sex/gender, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, genetics or military status, and does not tolerate any form of retaliation, or bias-based intimidation, threat or harassment that demeans individuals’ dignity or interferes with their ability to learn or work.