Senior Reading Specialist, Zambia READ at American Institutes for Research 39 views0 applications

Responsibilities

AIR is seeking a Senior Reading Specialist to work on a 5 year, USAID-funded Reading Project in Zambia. Let’s Read Zambia will target approximately 1.4 million students in 4,000 public and community primary schools, including Early Childhood Centers that are clustered in an estimated 400 zones in 48 districts in the provinces of Lusaka, Southern, Muchinga, Eastern, and Northwestern. The Activity will ensure that students attending Grades 1, 2, and 3 in Zambian public and community schools in five targeted provinces will have an opportunity to learn to read grade level text with comprehension and to write at grade level in one of the seven local official languages of instruction: Cinyanja, Chitonga, Icibemba, Kiikaonde, Lunda, Luvale and Silozi after three years of primary schooling in Grades 1-3.
The Senior Reading Specialist will provide overall technical oversight and guidance to the project on learning and reading instruction. This will include:
• Supervising the production of all program supported reading material, all teaching methodology improvement and teacher training, all teacher and classroom supervision and monitoring and all student testing efforts
• Liaising with government representatives at various levels on technical matters
• Bearing ultimate responsibility for ensuring that children in target schools achieve improved outcomes in reading
• Working directly with other senior specialists to achieve the expected results
Eligibility: Zambian nationals are encouraged to apply.
This position is contingent on funding.

Qualifications

• Requires a master’s degree in education, a focus on basic or primary education and/or early grade reading or learning is preferred. A Ph.D. in education is also preferred
• Must be an experienced educator with at least 10 years in areas related to teacher training design and delivery
• Experience in programs that work specifically to improve early grade reading is required
• Prior experience with the development of early grade reading materials, training programs, classroom monitoring protocols, and tests and assessments is required
• Proven knowledge of Zambia’s education system capacity, strengths, needs and challenges is strongly preferred
• Prior experience with supporting civil-society based monitoring of reading outcomes is required
• Sound knowledge of USAID rules and regulations preferred
• Proficiency in English is required