ID | 2023-1267 | Job Locations | US-IL-Chicago | Category | Career Development | Position Type | Staff (Full-Time) |
Who We Are:
National Louis is a 130+ year old university that has been grounded in the values of innovation, access, and excellence from its inception. As an institution we believe in providing access to educational opportunity and that education is our greatest lever for social and economic mobility. We are a student focused community that is committed to continuous improvement and asks how do we become more "student ready" so that we may better serve our students. We believe that through education we are able to empower change and build healthy communities. Our community works hard in the service of students and supports one another like a family.
At National Louis University we offer our employees an innovative environment to work together and inspire the ideas that will make an impact. As our external environment changes our employees are provided the opportunities and tools needed to grow both personally and professionally to remain successful. NLU employees and dependents are offered a wide range of benefits, including but not limited to, Health Insurance benefits, Retirement benefits, Paid Time Off and Educational Benefits.
We are a team of dedicated educators who have been working together to build the Undergraduate College (UGC) at National Louis University (NLU) focused on building academic pathways and providing holistic student support to ensure students are successfully employed in a field of their choosing upon graduation. We believe we are not successful unless students achieve sustainable employment and experience economic mobility associated with their educational investment. Our undergraduate majors serve first time freshmen as well as adult and transfer students in blended and online delivery formats - on and off campus.
We work fearlessly to educate and retain our students - but we know this is not enough. Accordingly, we measure our success by their ability to achieve meaningful, sustainable employment upon graduation from NLU. We have exceeded national benchmarks through our approach to appreciative advising and data-driven, personalized instruction. Our educational model is student-focused, professionally-focused, expects excellence, and provides personalized support in a data-driven environment, while grounded by pillars of continuous improvement and innovation to structure our work.
Job Summary:
This role has the primary responsibility of supporting undergraduate teacher candidates as they enter the final stages of their preparation to become teachers. The Teacher Development Coach is deeply committed to culturally responsive pedagogy and works to instill a deep understanding and motivation to enact culturally relevant and responsive teaching within NLU students entering the field.
Coaches help teacher candidates learn how to implement lessons, practice classroom management, develop effective assessments, and plan for instruction using appropriate technologies. The Teacher Development Coach guides scholars using a 100% virtual field coaching model. Through high leverage practices, the Coach provides feedback to students on their teaching through the use of video recordings. The Coach engages in multiple sessions of reflective practice with novice teachers and involves mentor teachers in providing constructive feedback to students as they practice in the field.
Intrinsic to this role is also the development of strong mentor teachers who are well prepared to support NLU scholars in the field. Coaches help to plan Communities of Practice (COP) with partner schools by creating support for mentor teachers where needed and requested. Working closely with the Project Director for the DHSI Title V Grant and the Associate Director of Field Coaching and Teacher Development, full time coaches help to present professional development sessions, provide training/onboarding of mentor teachers to the UG ED Prep. model, and conduct occasional field visits to partner schools, as appropriate.
The Teacher Development Coach is the teacher candidate's liaison to all of the wraparound, holistic supports available, including multilingual academic/writing and content test support. Each full time Coach carries a caseload of student teachers as well as a small caseload of students who require additional support (as identified through the Student Support Planning process) in our efforts to help students be successful and persist to and through graduation. Support Plan case management may include regular meetings with students to help students meet their academic and field goals and/or connecting students to available resources to them in the Department and university.
Teacher Development Coaches are an important part of the faculty team. As front-line team members, they are often the first to see trends in the field with teacher candidates and can help to identify barriers to student success. They inform curricular revision by providing quantitative and qualitative data to faculty and department leadership based on their experiences coaching students. Each Coach is connected to a specific Department Chair in the Department, as a way to create systems of communication and continuous improvement. This role helps to define best practices in field experience for the Department and also supports the instruction within the department by helping students make connections in the field to their coursework. Teacher Development Coaches report significant concerns about field sites and/or students to department leadership when applicable and provide insight into areas of strength and opportunities for growth in the overall preparation program.
Coach Students in the Field. Carry a caseload of 40-50 students per term (40 student teachers and up to 10 additional pre-service teachers) and execute the following:
Enact the Community of Practice (COP) Model. Work collaboratively with other members of the team, especially the Project Director for the DHSI Title V Grant to deliver innovative Communities of Practice. CoPs include:
Support Student Success. Collaborate with team members in the department, college, and field site to ensure students have access to wraparound supports available as needed in order to advance their skills as novice teachers. Attend team, SSC, department, college, and university-wide meetings regularly in order to stay informed, bring forward student challenges, and create innovative student-centered solutions. Manage Student Support Plans for a small load of pre-student teachers to help drive student success.
Inform Curricular Revision and Decision-Making. Provide feedback to full time faculty and departmental leadership regarding areas of strength and opportunities for improvement to the curriculum based on data collected from coaching work in the field. Provide insight into candidate performance and where gaps may exist in their training, early in the program as well as concurrent to the coaching experience.
Other duties as assigned by department leadership.
NLU Inclusion Statement:
National Louis University is deeply committed to serving its community, advancing access and equity, and ensuring that all individuals are welcomed and valued. We are dedicated to fostering a culture where diversity, equity, and inclusion remain at the core of who we are. These are more than just words to us: they are truly a way of life for the NLU community. We recognize that differences in abilities, age, ethnicity, gender (identity and expression), race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and background bring richness to our work environment. We affirm diverse perspectives, innovative contributions, and authentic presentations of self from every member within the NLU community. We believe inclusion is grounded in the actions we intentionally take each day. Our goal is to inspire and empower NLU employees and community members to cultivate an environment where we collectively focus on uplifting and advancing our institutional culture.