Job Title: Facilitator of Learning, Science / Interdisciplinary STEM
Reports To: Chief Academic Officer
Approved By: Board of Trustees
Date Revised: June 30, 2026
Job Classification: Full-Time, Exempt
YouthBuild Preparatory Academy is looking for a Science Facilitator of Learning who can do more than teach from a textbook. We need an educator who can help students question the world, investigate real problems, use evidence, make meaning from data, and understand science as a tool for survival, innovation, health, justice, and community change.
The Science Facilitator of Learning serves as a teacher, advisor, curriculum designer, project coach, and member of an interdisciplinary learning community. This role is grounded in YBPA’s commitment to liberatory education, competency-based learning, project-based learning, and culturally responsive instruction. The ideal candidate understands that science should not be taught as disconnected facts to memorize. Science should help students understand their bodies, their communities, their environment, the systems around them, and the power they have to solve problems.
At YBPA, students demonstrate mastery through inquiry, experimentation, research, design challenges, data analysis, presentations, written explanations, exhibitions, portfolios, and real-world applications. The Science Facilitator of Learning must be able to design learning experiences that are rigorous, accessible, hands-on, and connected to students’ lives.
YouthBuild Preparatory Academy is a competency-based, project-based, interdisciplinary learning community rooted in liberatory education. We serve students who deserve more than a traditional school model that asks them to sit still, comply, and memorize information disconnected from their lives.
Our work is grounded in four core commitments: Growth, Relationships, Agency, and Belonging. We believe students learn best when they are known well, challenged with purpose, and given opportunities to demonstrate mastery through meaningful work. We are building a school where students do not simply earn credits. They build identity, voice, skill, confidence, and a path toward their future.
The ideal Science Facilitator of Learning is:
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Deeply committed to working with young people, especially students whose brilliance has too often been overlooked, underestimated, or misunderstood by traditional school systems.
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Skilled at making science relevant, hands-on, and connected to real-world issues.
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Able to design learning experiences that connect science to community health, environmental justice, technology, construction, design, sustainability, food systems, energy, the human body, and everyday decision-making.
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Comfortable teaching in an interdisciplinary model where science can connect with math, literacy, history, career pathways, public policy, entrepreneurship, and community action.
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Strong at building relationships while maintaining clear expectations, structure, safety, and accountability.
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Reflective, flexible, and willing to grow. This role requires an educator who can receive feedback, revise practice, and contribute to a developing school model.
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Committed to eliminating proficiency gaps by changing adult practice, not by lowering expectations for students.
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Grounded in the belief that students should have voice, choice, agency, and responsibility in their own learning.
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Design and facilitate competency-based science learning experiences aligned to YBPA’s curriculum, competencies, graduation expectations, and Rhode Island academic standards.
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Develop project-based units that allow students to demonstrate mastery through investigations, experiments, research projects, design challenges, presentations, written explanations, data analysis, exhibitions, and portfolios.
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Teach scientific thinking, inquiry, evidence-based reasoning, experimentation, observation, modeling, data interpretation, and technical communication.
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Help students understand science as a way to investigate real problems in their lives, communities, and the broader world.
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Create lessons that are accessible, rigorous, culturally responsive, and connected to students’ lived experiences and future goals.
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Support students in reading scientific texts, writing evidence-based explanations, using academic vocabulary, interpreting graphs and data, and communicating scientific ideas clearly.
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Design safe and meaningful lab, fieldwork, and hands-on learning experiences that support inquiry and mastery.
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Provide differentiated instruction and support for students with varied academic needs, language needs, learning differences, and levels of readiness.
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Integrate technology, digital tools, simulations, data platforms, and multimedia resources in ways that strengthen student learning and inquiry.
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Assess student learning through demonstrations of mastery rather than relying only on traditional tests, quizzes, or completion-based grading.
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Use rubrics, lab reports, science notebooks, portfolios, performance tasks, student conferences, exhibitions, and written feedback to evaluate progress toward competencies.
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Track student progress consistently and use data to inform instruction, intervention, enrichment, and advising.
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Provide students with timely, clear, and actionable feedback that helps them revise, improve, and take ownership of their learning.
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Support students in understanding where they are, what they need to work on, and how they can demonstrate mastery.
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Maintain accurate records of attendance, grades, competency progress, intervention efforts, and family communication.
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Collaborate with colleagues to design interdisciplinary projects that connect science to literacy, math, social studies, career pathways, community issues, and civic action.
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Participate actively in common planning time, professional learning communities, staff meetings, student support meetings, and curriculum development work.
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Work with other facilitators, advisors, support staff, and leadership to ensure students experience a coherent and connected learning model.
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Contribute to the development and refinement of YBPA’s competency-based curriculum, performance tasks, rubrics, exhibitions, and portfolio expectations.
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Support schoolwide learning experiences, including community projects, exhibitions, student showcases, advisory work, and other major student demonstrations of learning.
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Build a classroom culture rooted in respect, belonging, accountability, curiosity, safety, and high expectations.
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Establish clear routines and safety expectations for labs, materials, equipment, fieldwork, and collaborative investigations.
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Use restorative, relationship-centered, and developmentally appropriate approaches to support student behavior and conflict resolution.
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Create a learning environment where students feel seen, challenged, supported, and responsible for their own growth.
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Serve as an advisor, mentor, and advocate for students, helping them navigate academic progress, personal growth, and postsecondary planning.
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Communicate regularly with families and caregivers about student progress, strengths, concerns, and next steps.
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Work closely with student support staff, special education staff, multilingual learner support staff, and school leadership to address student needs.
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Teach science in a way that affirms students’ identities, challenges deficit thinking, and refuses to treat compliance as the goal of education.
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Examine science curriculum, instruction, assessment, and classroom culture through an equity and liberation lens.
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Help students ask critical questions about science, power, health, environment, technology, access, community conditions, and who benefits from certain systems.
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Support students in seeing themselves as scientists, problem-solvers, builders, designers, researchers, and community leaders.
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Participate in ongoing professional development connected to competency-based learning, project-based learning, culturally responsive pedagogy, restorative practice, special education, multilingual learner support, science instruction, and liberatory education.
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Reflect on personal practice and remain open to feedback, coaching, and continuous improvement.
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Model the intellectual curiosity, integrity, humility, and courage expected of students.
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Bachelor’s degree required.
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Current and active Rhode Island educator certification in the appropriate science content area, or eligibility to pursue certification through an approved pathway where permitted by Rhode Island requirements.
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Current B.C.I. required.
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Minimum of three years of relevant teaching, youth development, STEM education, or science-related experience preferred.
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Experience working in urban school communities or with students who have experienced barriers in traditional school settings strongly preferred.
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Strong verbal and written communication skills.
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Ability to build effective working relationships with students, families, colleagues, community partners, and the public.
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Ability to design and facilitate student-centered, project-based, inquiry-based, and competency-based learning experiences.
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Ability to maintain safe learning environments for labs, hands-on activities, equipment use, and field-based learning.
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Citizenship, residency, or work authorization required.
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Commitment to the mission, values, and educational model of YouthBuild Preparatory Academy.
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Rhode Island Secondary Science certification, including General Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth and Space Science, Environmental Science, or related science certification.
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Dual certification in Multilingual Learner education, Special Education, Reading, or another high-need area.
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Bilingual or multilingual ability.
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Experience with competency-based learning, project-based learning, inquiry-based science, portfolio assessment, advisory models, restorative practices, or interdisciplinary curriculum design.
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Experience supporting students with lab investigations, field research, environmental studies, health science, engineering design, data analysis, or community-based science projects.
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Experience designing performance tasks, rubrics, exhibitions, science notebooks, lab reports, or student portfolios.
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Ability to teach science across content areas and support reading, writing, math, and data skills through science instruction.
A successful Science Facilitator of Learning at YBPA will:
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Build strong, trusting relationships with students while maintaining high expectations.
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Design science learning experiences that are rigorous, hands-on, relevant, and connected to the real world.
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Help students demonstrate mastery through meaningful investigations, projects, presentations, research, and applied problem-solving.
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Collaborate with colleagues to create interdisciplinary learning experiences that reflect YBPA’s mission and model.
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Use student work, data, reflection, and feedback to improve instruction.
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Support students in becoming stronger readers, writers, researchers, problem-solvers, critical thinkers, and community leaders.
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Help students see science not as a distant subject, but as a tool they can use to understand, question, and change the world around them.
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Contribute to a school culture where students experience Growth, Relationships, Agency, and Belonging every day.
YouthBuild Preparatory Academy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building an inclusive workplace and learning community. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable law.
This role is for an educator who believes science should help students understand the world, not just memorize it. At YouthBuild Preparatory Academy, the Science Facilitator of Learning is not simply delivering content. They are helping students build skill, curiosity, confidence, purpose, and power.
We are building something that challenges the old model. That means we need educators who are ready to design, reflect, collaborate, and do the work with honesty and care. If you are looking for a traditional teaching job, this may not be the right fit. If you are looking to help build a school rooted in liberation, mastery, relationships, inquiry, and real-world learning, this is the work.
