Lead Core Literacy Consultant

At Curriculum Associates, we believe in the potential of every child and are changing the face of education technology with award-winning learning programs like i-Ready that serve a third of the nation’s K–8 students. For more than 50 years, our commitment to making classrooms better places, serving educators, and supporting accessible learning experiences for all students has driven the continuous improvement of our innovative programs. Our team of more than 2,500 employees is composed of lifelong learners who stand behind this mission, working tirelessly to serve the educational community with world-class programs and support every day.

Core Literacy Leads are experienced literacy educators and pilot specialists who both lead a team of Core Literacy Specialists and continue to deliver hands-on pilot support themselves. In this player-coach role, they coach, develop, and manage the performance of Core Literacy Specialists while carrying an active, focused caseload of their own pilots — modeling the same high-quality professional learning and consultative support they expect from their team.

Core Literacy Leads own the consistency and quality of pilot delivery across their team. They co-observe professional learning sessions, calibrate expectations, and provide direct, actionable feedback that helps Core Literacy Specialists grow. They partner with the Senior Manager, Curriculum & Instruction on staffing, workload balancing, and hiring decisions, and they serve as the first point of escalation when a Core Literacy Specialists needs support with a complex district relationship or instructional challenge.

As a bridge between the field and Curriculum Associates' Curriculum & Instruction leadership, Core Literacy Leads aggregate insights across their whole team — not just their own pilots — and bring a team-wide view of what's working, what's not, and where deeper specialist support is needed. Staying active in pilot delivery keeps their coaching grounded in current, real-world classroom practice.

Essential duties/responsibilities:

Travel: Up to 65%; a blend of personal pilot delivery, team co-observation/coaching visits, and internal collaboration; overnight travel

Lead and Develop the Core Literacy Team:

• Coach, manage, and develop a team of Core Literacy Specialists, providing regular, actionable feedback that strengthens their facilitation, consultation, and classroom-modeling skills.

• Conduct co-observations and calibration sessions to ensure consistent, high-quality pilot professional learning and consultative support across the team.

• Partner with the Senior Manager, Curriculum & Instruction on staffing, workload balancing, and capacity planning across pilots and territories.

• Onboard and train new Core Literacy Specialists, helping them build deep program knowledge and facilitation confidence.

• Serve as the first point of escalation for Core Literacy Specialists navigating complex district relationships or instructional challenges, looping in Impact Specialists or National Directors when deeper expertise is needed.

• Partner with the Senior Manager on interviewing and hiring decisions for new Core Literacy Specialists.

Deliver High-Quality Pilot Professional Learning (Player-Coach):

• Carry an active, focused caseload of pilots, delivering the same high-quality professional learning expected of Core Literacy Specialists, so coaching stays grounded in current field experience.

• Facilitate pilot orientations and other professional learning experiences that build educators' understanding of program design, instructional routines, resources, and expectations for implementation.

• Apply principles of adult learning to differentiate professional learning based on educator experience, grade level, pilot context, and district needs.

• Tailor pilot professional learning and consultation based on the competitive landscape, helping educators understand the distinctions that matter most within the context of the district's evaluation.

• Maintain strong facilitation and presentation skills, modeling the bar for quality that the rest of the team is coached toward.

• Serve as an ambassador for Curriculum Associates, exemplifying the company's mission-driven approach and commitment to creating better classrooms for students and teachers.

Provide Consultative Support Throughout the Pilot:

• Build trusted relationships with teachers, coaches, school leaders, and district leaders and serve as a consistent instructional partner throughout the pilot experience.

• Provide targeted consultation related to lesson planning, pacing, instructional routines, use of program resources, and other questions that emerge as educators experience the program.

• Demonstrate lessons and instructional routines when appropriate, followed by reflection that connects instructional decisions to program design and student learning.

• Conduct classroom walkthroughs and engage educators and leaders in conversations that build understanding of how the pilot is taking shape across classrooms.

• Listen deeply to educator experiences and help teams problem-solve implementation challenges while building their capacity and confidence.

Elevate Team-Wide Insights and Connect Specialist Support:

• Aggregate insights from across the entire Core Literacy team — not only personal pilots — and communicate meaningful patterns, successes, and emerging challenges to Curriculum & Instruction leadership.

• Recognize when questions or implementation challenges require deeper content expertise, strategic intervention, or leadership support, and proactively engage Impact Specialists, National Directors, or other subject matter experts.

• Provide clear, timely context that enables specialists and field partners to quickly understand the need and determine appropriate next steps.

• Contribute a team-wide view of field insights that helps internal teams strengthen pilot strategy and better understand districts' experience with the program.

Support Installation and the Transition to Implementation:

• Support districts moving from pilot to adoption during the installation period, helping create continuity between the pilot experience and full implementation.

• Partner with district leaders and internal teams to identify key learnings from pilots — across the whole team — that should inform implementation planning, professional learning, and instructional expectations.

• Surface potential barriers or unresolved questions from pilots that should be addressed before broader implementation begins.

• Support the handoff from the pilot team to the teams responsible for ongoing implementation, ensuring important context, district needs, and pilot insights are carried forward.

Commit to Continued Professional Learning:

• Demonstrate a commitment to continuous professional learning in literacy, curriculum, instruction, adult learning, and people management.

• Stay informed about emerging literacy research, instructional practices, standards, and trends that influence classroom instruction and core curriculum implementation.

• Actively participate in ongoing product, facilitation, leadership-development, and instructional training to maintain a high level of expertise and effectiveness as both a coach and a practitioner.

Required Job Skills and Abilities:

• Deep knowledge of evidence-based literacy instruction and current best practices in reading and writing.

• Strong knowledge of elementary literacy instruction and the instructional demands of implementing a comprehensive core literacy program.

• Exceptional facilitation skills and ability to engage adult learners in meaningful professional learning.

• Strong classroom presence and ability to confidently model lessons and instructional practices with students.

• Ability to coach, mentor, and develop other consultants, providing direct, actionable, growth-oriented feedback.

• Experience balancing individual client-facing delivery with team leadership and management responsibilities — the player-coach dynamic.

• Comfort making staffing, workload, and capacity-planning decisions across multiple pilots, consultants, and territories.

• Ability to observe classroom instruction and professional learning delivery, recognize meaningful patterns, and clearly communicate insights to consultants, educators, leaders, and internal partners.

• Ability to provide consultative support while building educator capacity and maintaining appropriate boundaries between consultation and deeper specialist support.

• Ability to recognize when a district or team need requires additional expertise and effectively engage the appropriate internal partner.

• Strong organizational skills with an ability to manage a team, multiple pilots, stakeholder relationships, schedules, and competing priorities.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Comfort using digital tools and data to support professional learning, implementation insights, team performance, and communication.

• Embody and model the CA culture tenets in all activities, internal and external.

Required Education and Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in education with a strong focus on literacy instruction.

• Demonstrated experience coaching, mentoring, or managing other adult professionals, ideally in a remote or field-based setting.

• Prior people-management experience preferred.

• Demonstrated successful classroom teaching experience in literacy; experience teaching with a comprehensive core literacy program strongly preferred.

• Experience providing professional learning, coaching, or instructional support to teachers and/or school leaders.

• Experience supporting curriculum implementation and/or participating in a curriculum pilot or adoption preferred.

• Demonstrated effectiveness working cross-functionally, building relationships with remote teams, and working with a broad range of stakeholders.

• Bachelor's degree in education, literacy, English language arts, or related field required; advanced degree in literacy, curriculum and instruction, or related field preferred.

Travel: Up to 65%; a blend of personal pilot delivery, team co-observation/coaching visits, and internal collaboration; overnight travel

Working Environment: Typical office environment; remote

Benefits and Pay Range:

Pay Range – This role’s range is $69,250 - $118,250. The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that Curriculum Associates considers in making compensation decisions based on our Compensation Philosophy. Actual base pay within that range will vary based upon several factors including, but not limited to, prior experience and relevant skill sets. At Curriculum Associates, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances for each case. The Company recognizes that minimum wage varies by location and will ensure all compensation decisions comply with applicable state and local laws.

Benefits – Benefit eligible employees (and their families) are covered by medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance. Employees can enroll in our company’s 401k plan and receive an employer match. Employees have access to a flexible vacation and sick policy in addition to twelve paid holidays and a winter office closure between Christmas and New Year's, as well as a number of additional perks and benefits.