Education Specialist

At The New York Foundling, we trust in the power and potential of people, and we deliberately invest in proven practices. From bold beginnings in 1869, our New York-based nonprofit has supported hundreds of thousands of our neighbors on their own paths to stability, strength, and independence.  We help children and families navigate through and beyond foster care. We help families struggling with conflict and poverty grow strong. We help individuals with developmental disabilities live their best lives, and we help our neighbors access quality health and mental health services—core to building lifelong resilience and wellbeing. Together, our interrelated programs provide a whole-person, whole-family, and whole-life approach that unlocks solutions for a lifetime.

The Educational Specialist is responsible for providing academic support services to youth in the New York Foundling family foster care (FFC) program and reports to the Educational Program Manager who in turn reports to the Education Department Assistant Vice President.  The Educational Specialist meets with youth and collaborates with other stakeholders including foster parents, birth parents, school staff and agency staff to ensure that students are receiving all of the supports needed to reach their full academic potential. Educational Specialists manage a caseload of students that require direct and intensive intervention while also providing consultation to case planning teams for indirect intervention so that all FFC students within the assigned region receive educational advocacy support.  They also collaborate with New York Foundling tutoring programs including Road to Success and College Bound by providing both tutoring referrals as well as technical support to the tutoring teams. The Educational Specialist must be available when youth are available and may sometimes work evening hours

Duties  

• Provide individual education counseling services to youth who are at risk of failing or dropping out of school; advocate for these youth within the public education system to ensure that they are accepted into the most appropriate educational setting.
• Communicate regularly with foster parents and birth parents about youth’s academic performance, attendance, etc.
• Communicate regularly with school personnel to obtain updates on student attendance, progress and behavior in the classroom.
• Monitor educational DOE data and send notifications to agency staff and parents about youth performance, attendance, etc.
• Refer students to NYF tutoring programs for academic support.
• Identify students in need of special education supports and make appropriate referrals for evaluations as well as ensure appropriate services are in place within the classroom setting.
• Provide assistance and guidance in the college application process (college selection and admissions application, admissions essay writing, financial aid application, work study, scholarship selection and application process, room and board, etc).
• Provide assistance in high school application process (ensure quality schools are listed on the application and that a complete and correct application is submitted on time).
• Provide support for college students through monthly check in phone calls to assist with transitioning to college life, class registration, financial aid issues, etc.
• Refer out-of-school youth for HSE and Vocational programs and provide on-going support and guidance to them as they work towards their goals.                          
• Document all interventions performed in the Education Specialist Intervention online form.                    
• Develop contacts with relevant community resources.
• Conduct workshops on varying topics to enhance youth and parent engagement.
• Provide continuing education and support to case planners regarding educational related issues and how to best advocate for the youth on their caseload.
• Perform monthly case consultation with unit case planners and supervisors at Education Week meetings to ensure advocacy and planning for all students on our rosters.
• Actively participate in educational meetings/conferences with foster and birth parents.
• Complete other job-related tasks, as required.

The New York Foundling is committed to attracting and retaining a diverse employee population, the Foundling will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.

Other Requirements: 

• Two years in direct care position preferred (case planning/community service).
• Experience in youth/child welfare and/or NYC public school system preferred.
  Degree in Social Work, Psychology, Sociology Required

Additional Qualifications:

• Knowledge of the NYC DOE system, college admissions and financial aid process, high school enrollment process, and alternative educational settings.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to evaluate and aggregate educational data, put together reports and summaries and present information to other stakeholders.
• Ability to collaborate with other program staff and community resources in meeting client needs.
• Ability to engage hard-to-reach youth in academic services and provide them with guidance and support.
• Microsoft office suite proficiency (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).