Private Middle School Educator

Thrive Education Partners; Sarasota (FL); On-site; USD 35,000 - 48,000; Part time

Job summary

Thrive Education Partners is seeking a warm, confident educator to work one-on-one with a rising eighth-grade student in Sarasota, Florida. This role focuses on rebuilding foundational reading, writing, and math skills in a home-based setting with real-world learning and movement.

You’ll assess current skill levels, tailor instruction, collaborate with families, and plan engaging lessons that connect academics to the student’s interests. Start date August 2026; schedule ~12–15 hours per week.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required, education field preferred.
• Minimum of 3 years of relevant teaching experience.
• Demonstrated experience supporting students with learning disabilities.
• Experience with curriculum design and differentiated instruction.

Responsibilities

• Assess current skill levels in reading, writing, and math.
• Provide targeted, individualized instruction to close foundational gaps.
• Build literacy and mathematical skills with explicit instruction.
• Plan lessons, adapt curriculum, document progress, and communicate with family.

Skills

Experience supporting students with LD

Warm and relational

Professional judgment

Education

Bachelor’s degree

3 years teaching experience

Job description

We’re looking for a warm, confident educator to work one-on-one with a rising eighth-grade student who needs a different kind of school experience. He is social, energetic, capable, and intensely engaged when something captures his interest. After years of struggling in traditional classroom environments, he needs an educator who can help him rebuild foundational skills while also rebuilding his confidence in himself as a learner.

This is not a role for someone looking to recreate a conventional school day at home. You’ll have the freedom to slow down where foundations need repair, move quickly when something clicks, incorporate movement and real-world learning, and build instruction around the student in front of you. The larger goal is clear: help him close meaningful academic gaps and develop the confidence, stamina, and independence he’ll need to successfully transition into high school.

Student Profile

You’ll be working with a rising eighth-grade student who is highly social, energetic, and motivated by the things he genuinely cares about. Right now, those interests include his scooter, dirt bike, baseball, and jiu-jitsu. When he is interested, he can become completely absorbed. He responds well to clear purpose, real-world application, movement, and teachers with whom he has a genuine connection.

He has documented learning disabilities in math and language arts, with reading being an especially challenging and avoided part of school. Attention and executive-function needs can also make traditional classroom environments difficult for him. He tends to be at his best earlier in the day and needs an educator who can provide age-respectful remediation without making learning feel remedial.

The goal is not simply to “get through” eighth grade. It is to identify where foundations have broken down, close those gaps thoughtfully, help him experience real academic success again, and prepare him to eventually thrive in a more traditional, peer-based high-school environment.

What You’ll Do

• Assess current skill levels in reading, writing, and math, using existing educational records alongside appropriate formal and informal assessment
• Provide targeted, individualized instruction that closes foundational gaps while keeping materials, conversations, and expectations appropriate for an eighth-grade student
• Build literacy skills through explicit, systematic instruction in areas such as decoding, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and written expression
• Strengthen mathematical foundations and build toward middle-school proficiency and pre-algebra readiness
• Support executive-function development, including attention, task initiation, organization, planning, academic stamina, and increasing independence
• Design engaging lessons that connect academics to real interests and applications, using movement, hands‑on learning, projects, discussion, and community-based experiences when useful
• Adjust instruction in real time based on engagement and progress. You know when to push, when to change the approach, and when a student needs a reset before returning to the work
• Plan lessons, adapt curriculum and materials, document progress, and communicate regularly with the family and Thrive’s educational management team

What Makes Someone Successful in This Role

• You have meaningful experience supporting students with learning disabilities and know how to identify foundational gaps and teach directly to them
• You are warm and relational, but you are also a confident teacher. You establish clear expectations, hold students accountable, and know how to do so without turning learning into a power struggle
• You understand that disengagement is information. When a student is avoiding work or losing focus, your instinct is to figure out what needs to change rather than simply demand more compliance
• You are comfortable teaching both literacy and math at the middle-school level, including remediating skills that may sit several grade levels below the student’s chronological grade
• You bring initiative and professional judgment. You come prepared with ideas, make thoughtful instructional decisions, and do not need a parent to tell you what or how to teach
• You enjoy making learning active, relevant, and age-respectful, and you can use a student’s interests as an entry point without losing sight of meaningful academic goals

• Bachelor’s degree
• Minimum of 3 years of relevant teaching experience
• Demonstrated experience supporting students with learning disabilities, including foundational skill remediation in literacy and/or mathematics
• Experience with curriculum design, differentiated instruction, and individualized learning plans
• Experience partnering closely with parents and families
• Eligible to work in the United States
• Must reside in or be willing to relocate to the Sarasota, Florida area prior to employment
• Reliable transportation for in-home instruction

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Education, Special Education, Literacy, Child Development, or a related field
• Active or previously held state teaching certification; Florida certification preferred
• Experience with structured literacy, reading intervention, dyslexia-informed instruction, special education, or related learning-support approaches
• Experience supporting students with attention, organization, motivation, or executive-function needs
• Experience with project-based, experiential, or interdisciplinary learning that connects academics to real‑world applications
• Experience in private education, home-based education, or other highly personalized learning environments
• Experience teaching across multiple middle-school subject areas, particularly language arts and mathematics
• Experience working closely with a private family in their home

Professional Standards

• Current background check required; Thrive facilitates this process
• Verifiable references from prior teaching or tutoring roles, including at least one direct supervisor or administrator
• Strong professionalism, discretion, and adaptability when working within a family’s home, including comfort maintaining strict confidentiality and signing an NDA as a condition of employment

Compensation

• $35,000–$48,000 annually, commensurate with experience, credentials, and specialized expertise
• Part‑time, salaried W‑2 employee, employed directly by the family
• Family covers curriculum, materials, and other approved educational expenses

Logistics

• Location: Sarasota, Florida; primarily in‑home, with opportunities for community‑based learning and educational outings
• Schedule: Approximately 12–15 hours per week, likely across three weekdays
• Planning Time: The role includes responsibility for lesson planning, curriculum preparation, assessment, progress documentation, and family communication
• Start Date: August 2026

The weekly rhythm will be intentionally designed around the student’s learning needs and energy. He tends to be strongest earlier in the day, so more demanding literacy and academic work will generally happen first, with opportunities for movement, hands‑on learning, projects, and real‑world application incorporated throughout the week.

This is not intended to recreate a traditional school schedule at home. The goal is to use the flexibility of 1:1 instruction thoughtfully, focusing on meaningful learning, progress, and increasing independence rather than simply filling instructional hours.

Support

• Personalized matching through Thrive to ensure strong alignment between the educator, student, and family
• Dedicated placement coordinator throughout the hiring process
• Collaboration with Thrive’s Educational Management team on curriculum planning, assessment, progress monitoring, and educational strategy
• Professional development and instructional support
• Access to Thrive’s educator network and resources
• Ongoing collaboration so you have meaningful instructional autonomy without having to navigate every educational decision alone

Why This Role

This is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference for one capable, energetic middle‑school student at an important point in his education. He has experienced years of academic frustration and needs something different: an educator who can understand how he learns, rebuild foundational skills without sacrificing dignity, and help him experience genuine success again.

You’ll have the freedom to slow down when a foundation needs to be rebuilt, follow an interest when it creates an opening for deeper learning, incorporate movement and hands‑on experiences, and change course when an approach isn’t working. The family wants your expertise and initiative, while Thrive’s Educational Management team provides an instructional team to collaborate with on curriculum, assessment, and long‑term educational strategy.

The North Star is high‑school readiness. The work is not simply about getting through eighth grade. It is about helping this student strengthen his literacy and math foundations, develop greater academic stamina and independence, and begin seeing himself as a capable learner who can tackle challenging work.

For an educator who loves personalized education, this is a chance to know one student deeply and have the time, flexibility, and support to help change his relationship with learning.

About Thrive

Thrive Education Partners connects exceptional educators with families seeking highly personalized, values‑driven education.

Our placements go beyond traditional tutoring or classroom teaching. We help create thoughtful learning environments where students can grow academically, build confidence, and experience the joy of meaningful, individualized education.

Thrive Education Partners is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and make hiring decisions based on experience, skills, and business needs, without regard to any status protected by applicable law.