Director of Learning Support

With 275 students and over sixty years of experience educating Bay Area children and teens, Marin Montessori School is located on two bustling, beautiful campuses in Corte Madera and San Rafael. We seek an outstanding educator to direct our relatively new learning support program.

The Director of Learning Support works closely and collaboratively with dynamic and dedicated faculty and program directors. Their goal is to help identify children with learning challenges, design support plans, and provide direct support to students.

This is an especially thrilling time to join Marin Montessori, a school with recognized accreditations from both AMI (Association Montessori International) and CAIS (California Association of Independent Schools). Recent articles in the Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review tout the benefits of a Montessori education, and Bay Area families are increasingly interested in making MMS their long-term school.

The Director of Learning Support will bring expertise as a learning specialist and an interest in further study, supported by the school, to gain expertise in the Montessori approach to teaching and learning. This will ensure that s/he can most effectively integrate into the school and help faculty develop student support strategies that utilize the Montessori materials and approaches they already have in their professional toolkits.

The primary role of the Director of Learning Support is to support literacy development in students in the final year of Primary (Kindergarten year) and Lower Elementary (1st-3rd grades). Along with our Reading Specialist, the Director of Learning Support assesses students and designs, coordinates, and delivers learning support for students.

The Director of Learning Support also meets with program directors and faculty to discuss strategies for supporting all students, attends meetings with classroom teachers and parents as necessary, and manages the paperwork associated with the role, including summarizing Neuropsych and other outside evaluations, records related to student progress, and case management.

Start Date: The position is available starting January 2025, with a negotiable start date no later than August 2025.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Administer literacy assessments with Kindergarten through 3rd-grade students.
2. In concert with other specialists, provide direct intervention and support for students with literacy challenges.
3. Interpret assessment for faculty and parents.
4. Provide case management for students with learning differences: collaboration with specialists, evaluators, families, teachers, and administrators.
5. Participate in parent and teacher meetings and provide a summary of conversation write-ups and/or action plans.
6. Document learning profiles/action plans and share them with teachers.
7. Screen and hire independent specialists to provide support for students on campus.

Required Qualifications:

1. Three or more years of experience.
2. Growth mindset and excitement for learning the Montessori educational approach.
3. Demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion.
4. Strong interpersonal skills, with the capacity to build trust and collaborate effectively with faculty and parents.
5. Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
6. Ability to design, coordinate, and implement formal support plans.
7. Ability to interpret results of neuropsychological assessments.

Preferred Qualifications:

1. Experience with Montessori pedagogy.
2. Experience with language development programs (e.g., Ebli, SRSD, Orton-Gillingham, Lindamood-Bell, Leveled Literacy, Science of Reading, UFLI).
3. Advanced degree and experience in special education or related field.