Professional Development Contractor
CommonLit
Remote
Posted on Feb 20, 2025
Overview of CommonLit
CommonLit is a nonprofit education technology organization dedicated to ensuring that all students, especially students in Title I schools, graduate with the reading, writing, communication, and problem-solving skills they need to be successful in college and beyond. We envision a world where all students get the opportunity to have a world class education. We operate an online reading program for grades 3-12, www.CommonLit.org, that is used by teachers in over 90,000 American schools.
The Opportunity
CommonLit is looking for a former educator to join our team as a Professional Development Facilitator (Part-Time, Contractor). The ideal candidate should have at least 5 years of demonstrated success in teaching, coaching, and/or school leadership and a strong command of best practices for English Language Arts instruction.
As a Professional Development Facilitator, you will be responsible for facilitating in-person and virtual professional development sessions around our CommonLit’s instructional program with a special focus on our 360 curriculum. CommonLit currently partners with thousands of schools throughout the United States and our evidence-based program has been shown to accelerate student learning.
CommonLit’s team is expecting a very busy summer and back-to-school season for its customers. To support them, Professional Development Facilitators will travel to their district to lead Professional Development. In order to be eligible for this role, candidates must be willing to travel to lead on-site PD at least once per week between June and the end of September.
Including on-site work with customers, contractors should be willing and available to work up to 20 hours per week. These hours may also include preparing for and leading virtual trainings for customers. However, customer needs fluctuate based on time of year and therefore the number of hours per week will vary. Virtual trainings typically occur during school hours across the United States (8 AM ET to 7 PM ET). CommonLit will provide contractors for this role with a work computer on an as-needed basis.
You’ll love this role if:
-You were highly successful as a teacher, coach, or school leader. You were obsessed with student outcomes and you understood what it took to ensure your students made meaningful progress.
-You are comfortable with and excited about leading adult learning. In the past, you’ve led Professional Development sessions for educators that are engaging and have helped to drive academic success for students. You have also taken part in curriculum decision-making and/or implementation and you can effectively communicate with teacher practitioners and with school leaders and other stakeholders.
-You enjoy solving problems and supporting educators. For many of CommonLit’s customers, this will be their first full year of using our full instructional program. While leading sessions or talking to customers, you’ll need to work with them to strategically solve problems by drawing upon your own knowledge of best practices and collaborative problem solving.
-You are eager to build new skills and are receptive to feedback. You love to learn new things and challenge yourself.
-You are highly familiar with CommonLit and are excited to learn more about our products and program. It is required that candidates for this position are familiar with CommonLit’s products and have used them in some capacity with success. We will give special attention to candidates who’ve had success either teaching CommonLit 360 or supporting the implementation of the curriculum in their school or district.
Apply by date: March 5, 2025 by 5pm ET. Please submit your resume and answer the application questions. Application questions take the place of a cover letter for this application. Where appropriate, narrative responses are expected.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain expertise in CommonLit 360’s instructional tools and professional development offerings
- Facilitate on-site Professional Development for customers that are in the process of adopting and implementing CommonLit 360
- Lead virtual trainings related to CommonLit’s full instructional program for CommonLit’s partners
- Collaborate with members of CommonLit’s Professional Development and Account Management teams to build knowledge around CommonLit’s PD offerings and specific customer needs
- Record and log notes from customer trainings and interactions
Qualifications
- 5+ years of ELA teaching experience
- A strong command of best practices for ELA instruction
- A strong understanding of best practices for facilitating adult learning in both virtual and in-person settings
- Strong public speaking and communication skills
- Highly receptive to feedback and is able to learn new information quickly
- Empathetic and knowledgeable about the common challenges that schools and districts face when implementing new academic programs
- Familiarity with CommonLit’s instructional program
- Familiarity with with CommonLit 360 is highly preferred
Logistics
- Candidates will be selected for this role by no later than mid April.
- Training for this role will occur virtually during business hours starting late April.
Compensation
-Facilitating virtual professional development, preparation for virtual trainings, or any internal team training = $40 / hr
-On-site Professional Development for customers = $600 / day
-Additionally, CommonLit will cover the cost of pre-approved air or train travel, car rental, rideshare, and lodging expenses in service of the on-site work.