Literacy Specialist $100,000 USD/year Pay is set based on global value, not the local market.
Most roles = hourly rate x 40 hrs x 50 weeks
Description
- $100,000/year salary, paid weekly, with health, dental, and vision coverage starting day one
- On-site position at one Alpha campus: Phoenix, AZ; Oklahoma City or Tulsa, OK; Nashville, TN; Austin, Fort Worth, Houston (South Houston or The Woodlands), or Plano, TX; Park City (Salt Lake City), UT; or Dorado, Puerto Rico (relocation assistance available)
- 40 hours per week, 100% in-classroom working with K-2 students
You have years of deep experience in structured literacy. Perhaps Orton-Gillingham, LETRS, Wilson, IMSE, or a Master's in reading instruction. You can detect a student's miscue and immediately identify the phonemic gap to address. You can build a phonics lesson from scratch, without a scripted program. That's baseline. That's not what sets you apart.
What sets you apart is that six-year-olds get excited when you enter the room. At Alpha, this position is a Guide role first: a dynamic, compelling presence children are eager to work with. Your structured-literacy training opens the door; your capacity to captivate a K-2 classroom for a 20-minute workshop is what earns you the position. If "dynamic, compelling presence" does not describe you, this role is not the right fit.
Alpha has dismantled traditional instruction models. Students work through academic content independently using AI-adaptive applications — no lectures, no textbooks, no district pacing guides. Your position represents the one area where a human expert cannot be replaced. You create small-group reading workshops driven by real-time student performance data, and you lead motivation sessions designed to push 100% of your students toward their weekly app targets using Alpha's motivational framework (school currency, leaderboards, age-appropriate gamification).
Your initial months focus on earning the room. Workshops must be engaging, appropriately leveled, and demonstrably effective. Student satisfaction scores and "love your Guide" survey results (target 90%+) measure that directly. Once you establish credibility, your responsibilities expand: interpreting AI-generated performance data to refine subsequent instruction, communicating fluency gains and decoding progress to parents, and influencing how Alpha's K-2 reading methodology evolves alongside adaptive tools. As Alpha opens new campuses, what you develop becomes the blueprint for reading instruction across the network.
Before hiring, you will record a brief video sharing an engaging story for young children, and you will spend a full day on campus working directly with K-2 students. Low energy with children will not pass, regardless of credential strength. That is intentional. Apply today.
What you will be doing
- Creating and facilitating small-group K-2 reading workshops rooted in structured-literacy approaches (Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, LETRS, IMSE, or equivalent), informed by live student data
- Facilitating daily motivation sessions designed to drive 100% of your students to meet their weekly adaptive-app targets, using Alpha's motivational framework (school currency, leaderboards, age-appropriate gamification)
- Conducting and evaluating running records, fluency probes, and decoding assessments to measure progress and refine subsequent instruction
- Analyzing AI-generated performance data from Alpha's adaptive learning platforms to differentiate instruction in the moment, not just during lesson prep
- Serving as the engaging, energetic adult your K-2 students are excited to see every day
What you will NOT be doing
- Implementing a published reading curriculum, scripted program, or district pacing guide; you build your own lessons based on student data
- Delivering lectures to a full classroom; all instruction occurs in small, focused groups while students complete academic subjects through adaptive apps
- Serving as a reading consultant, instructional coach to other teachers, or district-level specialist; you are in the classroom with children every day
- Managing a traditional classroom block — subject-by-subject lectures, homework review, test preparation; your scheduled blocks consist of workshops, motivation sessions, and data-driven small groups instead
- Grading homework or completing report cards; student progress is tracked through app data and your running records
Key responsibilities
Provide structured-literacy instruction that demonstrably accelerates K-2 reading outcomes in phonics, fluency, and decoding.
Candidate requirements
- Structured-literacy certification (Orton-Gillingham, LETRS, Wilson Reading System, IMSE, CERI, Neuhaus, UFLI, or equivalent) OR a Master's degree in reading instruction
- Bachelor's degree in any field, plus 2+ years of full-time K-2 structured reading instruction in a school or clinical environment, utilizing systematic phonics or structured literacy
- Proven ability to create your own reading lessons and clearly explain what you teach and how, without depending on a published program
- Willingness to work in person full-time at one Alpha campus: Phoenix, AZ; Oklahoma City or Tulsa, OK; Nashville, TN; Austin, Fort Worth, Houston (South Houston or The Woodlands), or Plano, TX; Park City (Salt Lake City), UT; or Dorado, Puerto Rico (relocation assistance available)
- Willingness to work with all K-2 students (not exclusively struggling readers) and to incorporate AI and adaptive-learning tools into daily instruction
- Legal authorization to work in the U.S. or Puerto Rico without visa sponsorship
- Bilingual English/Spanish required for the Dorado, Puerto Rico campus
Nice to have
- Direct experience with AI-powered or adaptive reading platforms (e.g., Amira, Lexia, i-Ready, Reading Plus) for instructional planning or student data analysis
- Documented record of measurable reading outcomes (fluency gains in WCPM, accuracy improvement, decoding level advancement) you can describe with specific numbers
- Experience in non-traditional or innovative school environments (charter, micro-school, Montessori, hybrid)
- Experience performing, coaching youth sports, or otherwise engaging a K-2 audience outside the reading classroom
You will be working for
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