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, with health, dental, and vision coverage starting day one
- Full-time on-site at an Alpha campus in 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-hour workweek, 100% classroom-based with kindergarten through second-grade students
You've invested years perfecting structured literacy. Whether it's Orton-Gillingham, LETRS, Wilson, IMSE, or a Master's in reading instruction, you can detect a student's miscue and pinpoint the exact phonemic weakness to address. You can build a phonics lesson from scratch without a scripted curriculum. That's the baseline. It's not what sets you apart.
What sets you apart is that six-year-olds are genuinely excited when you enter the room. At Alpha, this position is Guide first: a captivating, high-energy presence children are eager to work with. Your structured-literacy credentials open the door; your capacity to engage a K-2 classroom for a full 20-minute workshop is what secures the offer. If "captivating, high-energy presence" doesn't fit you, this role isn't right.
Alpha has dismantled conventional instruction. Students work through academic material independently on AI-adaptive applications — no lectures, no textbooks, no pacing calendars. Your position is the singular point where a human expert cannot be replaced. You create small-group reading workshops using live student performance data, and you facilitate motivation sessions that 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 winning the room. Workshops must be engaging, appropriately leveled, and demonstrably effective. Student satisfaction metrics and "love your Guide" surveys (90%+ target) directly measure success. Once you establish that foundation, your responsibilities expand: reading AI-generated performance analytics to refine upcoming instruction, communicating fluency progress and decoding milestones to parents, and influencing how Alpha's K-2 reading strategy develops alongside adaptive technology. As Alpha opens new campuses, your work becomes the blueprint for reading instruction across the country.
Before hiring, you'll submit a short 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), informed by live student data
- Facilitating daily motivation sessions that propel 100% of your students toward their weekly adaptive-app targets, leveraging Alpha's motivational framework (school currency, leaderboards, age-appropriate gamification)
- Conducting and evaluating running records, fluency probes, and decoding assessments to monitor progress and refine subsequent instruction
- Analyzing AI-generated performance metrics from Alpha's adaptive learning platforms to personalize instruction dynamically, not only during advance planning
- Serving as the approachable, energetic adult your K-2 students are excited to see each day
What you will NOT be doing
- Implementing a published reading curriculum, scripted program, or district pacing calendar; you create your own lessons based on student data
- Delivering lectures to a full classroom; all teaching occurs in small, targeted 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 children every day
- Managing a traditional classroom schedule — subject-by-subject lectures, homework correction, test preparation; your time is structured around workshops, motivation sessions, and data-informed small groups instead
- Scoring homework or issuing report cards; student advancement is captured in app analytics 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, using 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; Fort Worth (Keller), Dallas, Plano, or The Woodlands, TX; or Park City (Salt Lake City), UT (relocation assistance available)
- Willingness to work with all K-2 students (not exclusively struggling readers) and to incorporate AI and adaptive-learning tools into everyday instruction
- Legally authorized to work in the U.S. without visa sponsorship
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 interpretation
- Documented record of measurable reading gains (fluency improvements in WCPM, accuracy gains, decoding level progression) you can quantify
- 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 traditional reading instruction
You will be working for
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