High School Academic Coach - remote

Who we are

The next generation deserves a better kind of school - so we built it from the ground up. We believe education should have two purposes: to instill a lifelong love of learning, and provide kids the skills to thrive in the future. When we built Prisma, we asked: if we started from scratch focused on those two goals, what might school look like? Today, Prisma looks like the best ideas in innovative education, crossed with the joy and flexibility of homeschooling. Prisma looks like harnessing technology, not only to personalize the curriculum, but to connect kids with the best educators worldwide. Prisma looks like a global community of families doing school differently.

Our ethos is ‘hard fun’: interesting problems to solve, creative projects to tackle, and an environment where learning is dynamic and exciting. We believe that learning should have purpose in the real world, learning isn’t one-size-fits all, learning happens in community and kids should learn how to think, not what to think. If you believe this too and you dream of a job where you can truly have an impact on the world, read on!

What the role is

Our high school began in 2022 and is a full 9-12th grade experience which prepares learners for college, career, or any path they want to pursue. At Prisma High, kids learn through interdisciplinary themes and projects, have a great amount of choice & flexibility over what & how they learn, attend engaging live virtual workshops & simulations where they debate relevant issues & collaborate with peers, and build a deep supportive bond with a small cohort of peers & an academic learning coach who gives feedback and pushes them to be their best self. Prisma high schoolers also build & curate an outstanding portfolio of projects that demonstrate their unique strengths and that will help them stand out when applying to colleges or other post-high school opportunities.

Our academic learning coaches at Prisma High School serve as subject matter experts in literacy, STEM, or social studies, facilitate live workshops and support learners to personalize their high school learning experience based on their particular strengths, interests, and future goals, such as through partner courses, internships and real-world projects. In our high school themes, learners explore a range of relevant, future-focused topics that spark their curiosity & acquaint them with the complexities of the world around them, from artificial intelligence to modern international conflicts, plus real-world life skills from financial literacy to writing great emails. Each Prisma High School learner is matched with a mentor coach and all coaches also serve as mentor coaches for a small group of learners. As a mentor coach, your role is to build a meaningful, motivating relationship with each of your mentees. As they navigate the project-based Prisma curriculum, you'll provide support in helping them manage their time, complete their best work, and personalize the experience based on their particular strengths, interests, and future goals, such as through partner courses, internships and real-world projects.

What you'll do

• Work with our Head of School and full high school team to refine, expand, and execute on our vision for Prisma High School curriculum.
• You will jump right into an active role mentoring and coaching learners, facilitating workshops, and communicating with families. This includes leading subject-specific synchronous workshops, facilitating office hours time for learners, providing learner feedback, supporting learners in 1:1 and group tutoring sessions, and communicating with families to ensure learners are making academic progress. You will also be expected to support other programmatic needs as they arise.
• Work individually with learners and parents as a team to support diverse needs, create structures to facilitate success, and achieve goals.
• Think outside the box & contribute to the team's vision for a learning experience that offers more engagement & choice than any other on Earth.

Who the ideal candidate is

You are:

• Passionate educator who has demonstrated success with learners in grades 9-12 and loves working with and building relationships with high schoolers.
• Experienced facilitator with a drive to iterate, grow, and improve while supporting learners with a wide variety of needs, backgrounds, and academic experience. Special needs instruction, college & career programming, and/or guidance counseling experience is a plus. Your portfolio demonstrates your experience as a tech-savvy maker with a toolkit of interesting ways to engage kids in virtual learning experiences (familiarity with Google Suite essential; tools like Padlet, Jamboard, Loom, Flipgrid, TinkerCad, Canva helpful) and an ability to explain concepts and procedures clearly in writing & through engaging visuals for kids at all levels.
• Thorough and detail-oriented support planner, who is invested in discovering the best ways to share information, nurture learner autonomy & executive function, reframe topics to support new insight, and help learners navigate social and academic complexities until they achieve mastery.
• Innovator with a strong entrepreneurial drive who is comfortable operating in a fast-paced rapidly-changing startup environment. You have experience creating and building programs and systems from the ground up.
• Organized & efficient project manager who can juggle multiple priorities and deadlines and communicate progress as part of a remote team.
• Virtual collaborator who is excited about working in a fully distributed team.
• This position is expected to require 40 hours per week.

Beyond possessing these skills, if you also exude these traits, we want to talk with you!

• Gutsy: Unafraid to speak up, take risks and think differently
• Humble: Quick to give credit and slow to pass blame
• Can-do: Optimistic, bring solutions, not problems, and always find a way
• Team player: Care about, respect, help, and speak candidly with others
• Driven: Go above and beyond to achieve our mission

How we compensate

• Starting coaches at Prisma’s annual salaries match what they would make in their local public school district, usually dependent on education, years of experience, and location and generally range from USD $55K-$75K per year. You can often access your local district’s teacher salary schedule online.
• Health insurance and 401(k) with access to optional benefits such as Dental, Vision, Life insurance, HSA/FSA, etc.
• Flexible work schedule (compatible with US-based working hours)