UP Teaching Fellow (SY21-22)

Locations: Boston, Massachusetts

Grade Level: Various (K1– 8)

Start Date: July 30, 2021

UP Education Network is a school turnaround organization whose mission is to rapidly transform chronically underperforming district schools into extraordinary schools that sustain high achievement over time. UP transforms schools into exceptional learning environments in partnership with families and communities. Students in UP schools cultivate sharp minds, share their kind hearts, and explore their path and potential. UP graduates succeed on the path to college and pursue their passions. Today, UP is the largest nonprofit school network in Massachusetts and is privileged to serve a highly diverse group of more than 2,500 PK-8th grade students across five schools in Boston and Lawrence. All of our school-based staff are district employees and receive district benefits.

The UP Teaching Fellowship offers aspiring educators a hands-on educational experience that incorporates rigorous coursework and practice with real-world, real-time experience in an urban public school.

UP Education Network partners with the Sposato Graduate School of Education (SGSE) to select several Teaching Fellows per year. Fellows work full-time at an UP Academy in Boston while taking courses, working toward their MA teaching license, and earning a Master’s of Effective teaching (MET) as students at the Sposato Graduate School of Education (SGSE). Sposato students commit two years to lead-teaching in a public school serving a low-income population (like UP) after their Fellowship year.

The UP Teaching Fellowship is meant to develop Fellows into exceptional teachers who understand the needs of students in urban schools. During year 1, Fellows work as full-time Cluster Substitutes at an UP Academy, attend Sposato classes and practice sessions with a cohort of fellows from UP and other Boston-based schools, and receive support and coaching from their host teacher, school leaders, and Sposato faculty and staff.

Fellows apply for a lead teaching role at UP Academy for year 2 and complete additional coursework and assessments with Sposato, culminating in a Master’s of Effective Teaching, based on exceeding an unusually rigorous performance bar.

Throughout year 1 of full-time graduate studies at SGSE, fellows will spend time in the classroom with a host teacher and engage in the broader school community as a building-wide Cluster Substitute teacher.

Year 1 of the UP Teaching Fellowship is an 11-month position, July 30, 2021, through June 30, 2022. The Fellow is hired as a Cluster Substitute Teacher and will receive a salary of approximately $40,000 (based on a daily rate of $206); total compensation will depend on total days worked. As an employee of UP Academy and your respective school district, you will receive the same access to personal and sick days, health insurance, and dental insurance as others within your union. 

The mission of the Sposato Graduate School of Education® (SGSE) is to prepare unusually effective rookie teachers for schools serving low-income students.  The program is mapped backwards from the demands of working in the highest performing urban public schools in America, and is distinctly different from other traditional graduate schools of education, or alternative programs like Teach for America.  The first of this two-year program involves full-time graduate study and placement in a high performing urban school (in this case, an UP Academy).  During the second year of graduate studies, individuals are hired as full-time teachers and receive coaching and support from SGSE staff. SGSE coursework begins in August 2021.  To learn more about the program, click here.