Academic Coach, Alpha - $120,000/year USD

Crossover; Greenwich (CT); On-site; USD 102,000 - 138,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401(k)

Relocation allowance

Paid time off

Job summary

Alpha is hiring an Academic Coach for its Greenwich, CT campus. You will coach K-3 students through app-based core learning, diagnose reading gaps, and deliver targeted literacy sessions with small groups.

Expect morning launches, life-skills workshops, and ongoing data-driven goal tracking. You will spend ~70% of the day guiding students through routines and ~30% on targeted reading sessions, with relocation support and full benefits.

Qualifications

• Three years minimum direct work with children aged 4–9: teaching, coaching, tutoring, camps, youth programs or similar.
• At least 2 years teaching reading in grades K–3 within the last five years.
• Completed structured-literacy training (LETRS, IMSE, Orton‑Gillingham, Wilson, Fundations, UFLI, CERI, Neuhaus, SIPPS) or a master’s in reading or literacy.
• Bachelor’s degree required; teaching certificate not required.
• 70% of day spent guiding students through app-based learning and campus routines; 30% on targeted reading sessions.

Responsibilities

• Coaching students through app-based core learning and diagnosing gaps to unblock progress.
• Running targeted literacy sessions with small groups; design and teach intervention sequences.
• Lead morning launches, life-skills workshops, and check-chart activities to keep students engaged.
• Drive students to weekly app goals using data, leaderboards, and gamification.
• Stay with students through lunch, recess, closing, and interventions, addressing frustration with a plan.

Skills

Reading coaching

Structured literacy

Data-driven

On-site coaching

Education

Bachelor's degree

Structured literacy training

Tools

Amira

Lexia

i-Ready

DRA

DIBELS

AIMSweb

Job description

"All of my students came back in the top 1% for growth and achievement on their MAP scores."

— Sam DePalo, Lead Guide, Alpha Fort Worth Texas

Alpha is hiring.

The hardest part of this job is not coaching. A six-year-old will be stuck in front of you, frustrated, and the right move is almost never to give them the answer.

You are with the same students all day. Morning launch, core learning on the apps, lunch, recess, life-skills workshops, closing, and focused reading interventions. You will know which one is faking fluency by Tuesday. When you find the gap, you do not wait for a referral or a committee. You pull two to four students, teach the fifteen-minute sequence you built for that gap, and watch it close.

The apps carry core instruction, so you are not writing lesson plans for twenty-four children at eleven at night. You decide who needs you and what will move them, and you hold the daily goal without lowering it. About 70% of your work is full-day coaching across campus routines. About 30% is targeted reading-specialist work. "She's doing fine" is not an answer here; parents see weekly data and will ask you to name the gap.

Alpha is opening campuses across the country. The people who prove they can do this help hire and train the ones who come next, and write the curriculum standards other campuses follow. Some move into a lead role coaching that team, where the judgment behind the literacy work becomes the job.

Your resume will not decide this. Before an offer you record a short video telling a story to young children, then spend a day on campus. If what makes you good at this never fit on paper, that is the point.

This is a full-time, on-site role, five days a week, at an Alpha campus. We recruit nationally, so job boards may display this opportunity in nearby cities that do not have a campus.

Current Openings

• CA - Malibu, Palo Alto, Piedmont, San Francisco, Santa Monica, and South Bay (Los Angeles)
• CT - Greenwich
• IL - Chicago
• MA - Boston
• WA - Seattle

What You Will Be Doing

• Coaching students through app-based core learning: spotting who is stuck, asking the question that unblocks them, holding the daily goal.
• Running targeted structured-literacy sessions with two to four students. Diagnosing a phonics or decoding gap from running records and fluency probes, teaching a sequence you designed, and checking for transfer.
• Leading morning launch, life-skills workshops, and check-chart activities that keep six-year-olds moving.
• Driving students to their weekly app goals with school currency, leaderboards, and gamification.
• Staying with your students through lunch, recess, closing, and reading interventions, meeting frustration and refusal with a plan for that child.

What You Won’t Be Doing

• Writing lesson plans for a full class every night. Your planning is narrow and diagnostic.
• Running a pull-out caseload from a quiet intervention room. Reading groups are targeted, short, and part of the school day.
• Delivering a published curriculum or scripted program with fidelity to someone else's sequence.
• Writing IEPs, 504 plans, chasing testing paperwork, or sitting on curriculum committees.
• Slipping away to a prep block while someone else covers your students. You are with them launch to closing.

Academic Coach Key Responsibilities

Get every K-3 student to their daily learning goals, and close the reading gaps stopping them from getting there alone.

Basic Requirements

• Willing to work on-site at a campus listed above, with relocation support
• At least 3 years working directly with children ages 4-9: teaching, coaching, tutoring, camps, youth programs, children's theater, or similar settings where kids showed up because of you
• At least 2 years of that experience teaching reading in grades K-3, within the last 5 years
• Completed structured-literacy training: LETRS, IMSE, Orton-Gillingham, Wilson Reading System, Fundations, UFLI, CERI, Neuhaus, SIPPS, Really Great Reading, or similar; or a master's in reading or literacy
• Bachelor's degree in any subject. A teaching certificate is not required
• Comfortable spending about 70% of your day guiding students through app-based learning, workshops, and campus routines, and about 30% on targeted reading sessions
• Willing to work with all K-3 students, not only struggling readers
• Legally authorized to work in the US without visa sponsorship

Benefits and other compensation.

Health coverage (medical, dental, vision), life and disability insurance, voluntary benefits, tax-advantaged FSA, HSA, and commuter accounts, and a 401(k). Paid time off and parental leave. A one-time relocation allowance.

Nice-to-have Requirements

• You held a six-year-old's attention with nothing but your energy and an engaging activity
• You kept tired children coming back to an after-school reading program
• Parents asked for you by name
• Experience with reading platforms (Amira, Lexia, i-Ready) or diagnostic assessments (DRA, DIBELS, AIMSweb)
• You can name a child whose decoding you fixed and how

About Alpha

Join the team building school around student growth

Alpha reimagines the school day around faster learning, stronger mentorship, and more time for students to build real-world skills.

Roles with real student impact:

Alpha hires teachers (guides), operators, admissions experts, school & curriculum leaders, and remote team members.

Education work that pays like it matters:

Alpha offers six-figure roles for people ready to help build a radically better school experience.

A culture built for builders:

Alpha is fast-moving, ambitious, and student focused. It’s for people who want to improve the system, not maintain it.

Alpha is where you can do the most meaningful work of your career.

There is so much to cover for this exciting role, and space here is limited. We look forward to meeting you!

Working with us

This is a full-time, W2 employee position with immediate access to benefits (https://support.crossover.com/article/7581-w2-benefits-u-s-paychex-paid-only). All roles are year-long positions. The compensation level for this role is $120,000 USD/year. The payment period is weekly. Consult www.crossover.com/help-and-faqs for more details on this topic.

Crossover Job Code: LJ-5632-US-Greenwic-AcademicCoach.006