Reading 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 annual salary, paid weekly, including health, dental, and vision coverage from day one
- On-site position at one Alpha campus: Phoenix, AZ; Oklahoma City or Tulsa, OK; Fort Worth (Keller), Dallas, Plano, or The Woodlands, TX; or Park City (Salt Lake City), UT (relocation assistance available)
- 40 hours weekly, entirely in-classroom with K-2 learners
You've dedicated years to mastering structured literacy. Whether Orton-Gillingham, LETRS, Wilson, IMSE, or a Master's in reading instruction, you can identify a student's miscue and pinpoint the exact phonemic weakness to address. You can build a phonics lesson from scratch without relying on a scripted curriculum. That's baseline. It's not what sets you apart.
What sets you apart is that six-year-olds brighten when you enter the room. At Alpha, this position is a Guide role first: a dynamic, engaging presence that children are excited to work with. Your structured-literacy background opens the door; your capacity to captivate a K-2 classroom for a 20-minute workshop is what secures the hire. If "dynamic, engaging presence" doesn't describe you, this isn't the right fit.
Alpha has reimagined traditional teaching. Students progress through academic content independently on AI-adaptive applications — no lectures, no textbooks, no district pacing calendars. Your position represents the one area where human expertise remains essential. You create small-group reading workshops based on live student performance metrics, and you facilitate motivation sessions that propel 100% of your students toward weekly app targets using Alpha's motivational framework (school currency, leaderboards, age-appropriate gamification).
Your initial months focus on winning the room. Workshops must be engaging, appropriately leveled, and demonstrably effective. Student satisfaction metrics and "love your Guide" feedback (target 90%+) assess that directly. Once you establish this foundation, your responsibilities expand: analyzing AI-generated performance metrics to refine subsequent instruction, communicating fluency improvements and decoding progress to parents, and influencing how Alpha's K-2 reading methodology develops alongside adaptive technology. As Alpha grows to additional campuses, the systems you build become the blueprint for reading instruction across the network.
Before extending an offer, you'll submit a brief video sharing an engaging story for young children, and you'll complete a full day on campus working directly with K-2 students. Low energy with children is disqualifying, regardless of credential strength. That's 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), driven by live student performance data
- Conducting daily motivation sessions that ensure 100% of your students achieve their weekly adaptive-app targets, leveraging Alpha's motivational framework (school currency, leaderboards, age-appropriate gamification)
- Conducting and evaluating running records, fluency assessments, and decoding diagnostics to monitor progress and inform next-session instruction
- Analyzing AI-generated performance metrics from Alpha's adaptive learning applications to differentiate instruction dynamically, not only during lesson prep
- Serving as the engaging, energetic adult your K-2 students are eager to see each day
What you will NOT be doing
- Implementing a published reading curriculum, scripted lesson plan, or district pacing calendar; you build your own lessons from student performance data
- Teaching full-class lectures; all instruction occurs in targeted small groups while students complete academic subjects through adaptive apps
- Serving as a reading consultant, instructional coach to other educators, or district-level specialist; you are in the classroom with students daily
- Managing a traditional classroom schedule — subject-by-subject lectures, homework reviews, test preparation; your time is devoted to workshops, motivation sessions, and data-informed small groups instead
- Assigning grades to homework or report cards; student advancement is tracked through app data and your running records
Key responsibilities
Provide structured-literacy instruction that produces measurable acceleration in K-2 reading performance across 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 discipline, 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 independently design reading lessons and clearly explain your instructional content and methods, without dependence on a published program
- Availability to work in person full-time at one Alpha campus: Phoenix, AZ; Oklahoma City or Tulsa, OK; Fort Worth (Keller), Dallas, Plano, or The Woodlands, TX; or Park City (Salt Lake City), UT (relocation assistance available)
- Willingness to serve all K-2 students (not exclusively struggling readers) and to incorporate AI and adaptive-learning technology into daily instruction
- Legal authorization to work in the U.S. without visa sponsorship
Nice to have
- Practical experience with AI-powered or adaptive reading platforms (e.g., Amira, Lexia, i-Ready, Reading Plus) for instructional planning or student data interpretation
- Documented reading outcomes (fluency gains in WCPM, accuracy increases, decoding level progression) you can quantify with specific numbers
- Experience in non-traditional or innovative educational settings (charter, micro-school, Montessori, hybrid)
- Experience performing, coaching youth sports, or otherwise engaging a K-2 audience beyond the reading classroom
You will be working for
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