Scope of Work:
ExpandED Schools is a leading afterschool organization that advances educational equity for students from under-served communities across New York City. Founded in 1998 with a catalytic $125M grant from the Open Society Foundations, ExpandED designed the nation’s first city-wide, publicly funded system for after-school programming. Today, through advocacy, research, and program development, ExpandED continues to build the capacity of the NYC afterschool field to address the educational inequities that prevent far too many students from reaching their full potential.
STEM Educators Academy is ExpandED School’s signature afterschool STEM initiative. STEM Educators Academy is taught by collaborative teams of school-day and afterschool educators at middle schools across New York City. Focused on relevant, hands-on, and design-based projects connected to the city’s science standards, the program is designed to nurture youth interest and engagement in STEM while also supporting educator skill development. Educators have access to training, curriculum, coaching, and planning materials from ExpandED Schools and the New York Hall of Science, which they utilize for support in creating interactive and inclusive STEM learning experiences with young people.
ExpandED Schools is currently seeking an independent consultant to support curriculum revision for a set of approximately 10 lesson plans. For the past four years, ExpandED has been soliciting community input and revising lesson plans, co-authored or inspired by educators and participants in the program. Based on this feedback and seed ideas, our staff has been revising lesson plans to better achieve our goals of cultural relevance, youth engagement, and connections to young people’s lived experiences. As a result, we are looking for a consultant with significant experience creating STEM curriculum with a culturally relevant focus, as related to the Latinx community and experience.
Responsibilities:
The consultant will:
- become acquainted with the STEM Educators Academy program, key stakeholders, and programmatic learning events (trainings, skill shares, office hours, etc.).
- Analyze existing selection of STEM Educators Academy lesson plans (approximately 20 lesson plans) that were previously refined to be culturally responsive and anti-racist.
- Utilize existing backwards planning template developed by ExpandED staff and complete 10 lesson plans for STEM Educators Academy that bring the selected ideas to life and align with the NYC Department of Education Scope and Sequence for Science. We are prioritizing lessons that can center culturally relevant Latinx content and approaches, engage varied learning modalities and include hands-on, experiential learning activities and authentic discussions relevant to student lives.
- Share lesson plan drafts with ExpandED Schools staff for review and feedback, incorporating edits and feedback to lesson plans in a timely manner.
- Note: completed lesson plans are being utilized throughout the winter and spring. Each lesson plan must be submitted within a 2–3-week turnaround. Depending on the consultants’ desired pacing, the lesson plans can be completed earlier.
- Input approved lesson plan content from the 10 lesson plans into a provided graphic design template in Canva so that materials are visually appealing and branded when complete.
- Attend regular check-ins with ExpandED Schools as needed.
Qualifications:
- Significant expertise and experience designing and facilitating community co-development processes in education and/or youth development fields.
- Informal STEM education experience in out-of-school-time settings (ideally afterschool, but could be museums, libraries, or other informal settings).
- Significant experience creating STEM curriculum with anti-racist focus, with a strong background in Latinx cultural understanding.
- Commitment to educational equity and culturally sustaining practices in education.
- Knowledge of and experience in supporting students’ social emotional needs, particularly in trauma-informed care.
- Strong organizational skills with attention to detail.
- Excellent communication skills, both oral and written.
Other Terms:
This position is for an independent contractor and will be paid an hourly rate between $40-$55 for all aspects of this scope of work. We anticipate that this scope of work will take about 50-100 hours over six months for a total contract between $2,000-$5,500. The consultant will bill monthly, effective upon execution of contract through June 30, 2025.
To apply:
Please submit a detailed quote with description of qualification and proposed fees (number of hours you anticipate the work will take, your hourly rate, and a draft schedule to complete the work) to Ashley Johnson at [email protected] as soon as possible. Proposals will be considered on a rolling basis through early October.
