Scholar Success and Family Engagement… at Shining Stars… · Washington

Scholar Success and Family Engagement Specialist SY 2026 - 2027

Location: Washington, District of Columbia

AN EXCITING OPPORTUNITY TO BE PART OF AN ACCREDITED PUBLIC CHARTER MONTESSORI SCHOOL AND PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY IN WASHINGTON, DC

Scholar Success and Family Engagement Specialist

Position Summary

The Scholar Success and Family Engagement Specialist (“Specialist”) serves as the school’s lead specialist responsible for coordinating attendance improvement, scholar support, family engagement, behavioral interventions, and schoolwide initiatives that promote scholar success. Working collaboratively with school leaders, teachers, counselors, related service providers, families, and community partners, the Specialist develops systems and interventions that remove barriers to learning, strengthen family-school partnerships, improve attendance, foster positive behavior, and support scholars’ academic, social-emotional, and behavioral growth. This position is an individual contributor and does not supervise staff. The Specialist plays a critical role in advancing the school’s strategic priorities and achieving the ASPIRE Framework Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Responsibilities

1. 
   Scholar Success and Attendance
   • Lead implementation of the school’s attendance improvement strategy.
   • Monitor daily, weekly, and monthly attendance data to identify scholars at risk for chronic absenteeism.
   • Develop and implement individualized attendance success plans.
   • Conduct meetings with families of chronically absent scholars to identify barriers and establish attendance goals.
   • Send attendance correspondence, including beginning-, mid-, and end-of-year communications and final attendance summaries.
   • Coordinate attendance interventions with school staff and community partners.
   • Conduct home visits, when appropriate.
   • Develop systems that identify attendance concerns early and ensure timely intervention.
   • Maintain comprehensive attendance intervention documentation.
   • Prepare monthly attendance reports for school leadership.

1. 
   Family Engagement
   • Develop and implement the school’s annual Family Engagement Plan.
   • Build strong partnerships between home and school.
   • Coordinate family workshops, parent education sessions, and engagement events.
   • Increase family participation in school activities.
   • Conduct family needs assessments and surveys.
   • Connect families with community resources that address barriers to learning.
   • Support enrollment, orientation, transition, and re-engagement activities.
   • Serve as a trusted liaison between families and school staff.

• 
  Scholar Support and Behavioral Services
  • Participate in Student Support Team (SST) meetings.
  • Support implementation of MTSS/Response to Intervention systems.
  • Conduct classroom observations and behavioral consultations.
  • Provide short-term behavioral and social-emotional interventions.
  • Assist in developing behavior intervention plans.
  • Support restorative practices and conflict resolution.
  • Collaborate with counselors, teachers, and related service providers to coordinate interventions.
  • Monitor scholar progress using behavioral and attendance data.
  • Assist with implementation of schoolwide behavior expectations.

1. 
   School Climate and Culture
   • Promote a positive, culturally responsive, and inclusive school climate.
   • Coordinate initiatives that strengthen scholar belonging and engagement.
   • Develop scholar leadership and recognition opportunities.
   • Create and implement attendance celebrations that recognize positive attendance early and often throughout the school year.
   • Coordinate schoolwide initiatives that celebrate scholar growth, perseverance, and positive behavior.

1. 
   Community Partnerships
   • Develop partnerships with community organizations that support scholars and families.
   • Coordinate referrals for counseling, housing, healthcare, food security, transportation, and other family supports.
   • Serve as the school’s McKinney-Vento Liaison, if assigned.
   • Collaborate with outside agencies to coordinate services for scholars.

1. 
   Compliance and Documentation
   • Maintain confidential student records in accordance with federal, District, and school policies.
   • Maintain accurate attendance, intervention, and family engagement documentation.
   • Prepare required reports for school leadership.
   • Ensure compliance with attendance requirements and student support procedures.
   • Assist with school improvement planning related to attendance and family engagement.

• 
  Collaboration and Professional Responsibilities
  • Participate in school leadership meetings and student support meetings as assigned.
  • Participate in professional learning and continuous improvement activities.
  • Maintain strict confidentiality regarding student and family information.
  • Participate in schoolwide events, family engagement activities, and assigned duties.
  • Perform other responsibilities assigned by the Principal or Executive Director.

• 
  ASPIRE Framework Key Performance Indicators

The Scholar Success and Family Engagement Specialist is responsible for suporting measurable progress in:

• Increasing average daily attendance.
• Reducing chronic absenteeism.
• Ensuring 100% of chronically absent scholars have documented attendance success plans.
• Completing attendance conferences with every chronically absent scholar’s family.
• Increasing family participation in engagement opportunities.
• Improving scholar belonging and school climate indicators.
• Increasing timely documentation of attendance interventions.
• Reducing office discipline referrals through proactive interventions.
• Increasing successful connections between families and community resources.
• Implementing schoolwide attendance recognition systems that celebrate positive attendance consistently throughout the school year.