Who We Are:
Catalyst Academy Charter School is free, open enrollment public charter school serving scholars and families in Pittsburgh’s East End. Our mission is to create a world-class K-8 school where children are prepared for college, career, and life. We believe in creating a cohesive community in which scholars and families see themselves as catalysts for their communities. Our core values center around three words: Belong. Grow. Achieve. Catalyst is a place where scholars, families, teachers, and leaders exemplify the meaning of our core values.
Belong – We create spaces in which our people feel seen, heard, and valued for the lived experience they bring to our community.
Grow – Our people never rest on their laurels and continuous strive to be better than they were the day, hour, or minute before through feedback, coaching, and seeking support.
Achieve – We get results and celebrate the wins.
Why We’re Different
- High-Impact Coaching
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- At Catalyst, we know that one of the largest factors in the academic outcomes of our scholars are the teachers in front of them each and every day. With that being said, we will develop each and every teacher that joins our team; from the first year teacher to the teacher with 10+ years of experience. Our coaching model includes a Dean of Instruction per grade-level that is responsible for the development and training of their team. Through weekly observation and feedback/data meetings, live-coaching, and direct modeling, Deans of Instruction push the practice of their teaching teams.
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- Summer Development (Training Camp)
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- Catalyst Academy believes in the mindset of practice as an integral tool to spark growth. We will begin our summer development (Training Camp) 4 weeks before the school year begins. We don’t just talk about the art of teaching, but we hone our craft through intentional and nuanced practice in order to build automaticity. Over the summer, we will use our Training Camp as the time to hone our practice before scholars come into our building.
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- Rigorous PA/Common Core Aligned Curriculum
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- The art of teaching does not only center on how you teach, but what you teach as well. Utilizing a shared curriculum for Math, ELA, and STEM, our teachers will not have to spend their time creating rigorous and aligned lessons; but rather, they will spend their time intellectually preparing and practicing the execution of rigorous PA/Common Core Aligned curricular materials.
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- Wednesday Professional Development (Workshops)
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- Above, we stated our belief in coaching and practice. Well this belief does not only live during the summer, but extends into the work week as well. Every Wednesday, scholars will have a shortened instructional day (followed by Enrichment activities) while teachers use that added time to continue their development. Through Wednesday Workshops, teachers will analyze data, practice key teacher skills, discuss grade-level trends and create action plans to address them, and discuss and address school-wide trends. Our growth and preparation never end.
Who You Are (or) Who We Are Looking For:
- A steadfast believer that all scholars can achieve academic excellence, no matter prior lived experience or background
- A growth-minded practitioner who is constantly learning, improving, and hungry for feedback
- A tenacious problem-solver who is eager to approach challenges with smart solutions in mind
- An eternal optimist who supports and motivates your teammates by having their back
- A bond-builder, who believes that strong relationships across lines of difference that reach beyond the walls of a classroom are the lynchpin for strong schools
- A warm-demander, who knows that students will rise to the high expectations we set for them and that relationships matter in supporting all scholars
- A precise planner who backwards maps from big goals to drive daily actions
- A detail maven who recognizes that big things come from small, intentional actions over time
- A data-driven analyst who reflects and takes purposeful action based on results
- A proactive communicator who reaches out to students, families, and teammates across lines of difference
What You’ll Do:
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- Belong
- Build deep relationships with students, families, and staff to foster a culture of joy and community. Maintain strong lines of communication with families about student progress, and go above and beyond to support and collaborate closely with teammates in the united pursuit of Catalyst’s mission.
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- Have stamina and the ability to set and achieve ambitious goals, and handle the intensity required to bring your best self to a high-performing school environment where the stakes are high for kids.
- Share feedback to solve problems, reflect on how your actions impact others, and take ownership over creating the staff culture you want to show up to each day.
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- Grow
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- Offer and receive constructive feedback from colleagues in order to create a professional working atmosphere that aspires to excellence and is conducive to constant improvement; dive humbly into school-wide and individual professional development, including pre-service training over the summer and weekly sessions during the academic year.
- Create rigorous curriculum aligned to Catalyst’s academic model and Common Core Standards, do the intellectual prep needed to deliver rigorous instruction, and develop and demonstrate a genuine passion for your content area that is contagious to scholars.
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- Achieve
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- Ensure that students are growing. Continually internalize/plan lessons and analyze data to push scholars to master rigorous content.
- Dynamically lead students in whole-class and small-group settings, cultivate intellectual curiosity and a love of learning in scholars, and adjust using qualitative and quantitative data to ensure student understanding and meet differentiated student needs.
- Develop, uphold, and implement Catalyst’s values and systems to effectively manage a classroom, create a consistent experience for scholars across the school, and lead students to meet sky-high academic and behavioral expectations.
What you Need to Know:
- Prior Experience.
- Prior experience teaching elementary school, experience teaching in a low-income community, and a demonstrated ability to raise achievement levels of traditionally underserved students highly preferred.
- Ability to demonstrate a deep commitment to addressing historic inequity along lines of race & class required.
- Qualifications/Certification.
- All candidates must have a Bachelor’s degree; Master’s degree is a plus. By the time outlined in offer letter, all full-time Catalyst teachers must either (a) have a valid Pennsylvania teaching license and possess the correct endorsements for contents/grade levels served, (b) have a teaching license that has successfully been transferred from another state that offers reciprocity with PA, and / or (c) have demonstrated that he/she is on track to complete required steps to get certified while teaching full time (i.e. enrolled in a certification program, registered for, taken and passed state-required teacher certification exams, etc.).
- Compensation.
- Salary is competitive.
- Compensation at Catalyst includes a comprehensive benefits package.