Hispanic or Latino residents make up 5.6% of Baltimore’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake anticipates 20% of the adult learners enrolling in its new Baltimore Excel Center will be Spanish/English bilingual.
To make sure the Excel Center is ready to accommodate them, Goodwill is hiring multiple Spanish/English bilingual education professionals to fill important roles. Not every math, special ed, english, social studies, science teacher will be bilingual, but Goodwill is working to hire a sufficient number of staff members specifically to serve the Excel Center’s diverse student body.
Other Excel Center positions for which Goodwill is recruiting bilingual employees include a Manager of Office Administration, life coaches, a school registrar, and an IT technician. (¿Hablas español? Visit careers.goodwillches.org.)
Here’s an overview of available positions:
- Manager of Office Administration: If you’re someone with a knack for organizing, coordinating office operations and procedures, and efficiently managing resources, this might be the perfect fit for you. The role comes with a starting salary of $46,000 per year.
- Life Coaches: A role dedicated to promoting student engagement, and assisting with barrier removal to support student success. As a Life Coach, you will be entrusted to handle a typical caseload of 60-80 adult students. The starting salary for this position is $42,000 per year.
- Subject Instructors: We’re hiring instructors for various subjects, including Math, Special Ed, English, Social Studies, and Science. The primary responsibility is the implementation and development of The Excel Center curriculum, catering to small class sizes of adult learners. Notably, no direct instruction is required on Fridays. The starting salary for instructors is $51,272 per year.
- School Registrar: The ideal candidate for this role will be responsible for all student academic record-keeping, including compiling, maintaining, and tracking student academic information and records. The starting salary for this role is $50,000 per year.
- IT Technician Excel Center: With a broad responsibility to maintain the IT environment for the school, this role involves managing student technology, troubleshooting software issues, and maintaining the Office 365 environment. The starting salary for an IT Technician at the Excel Center is $56,494 per year.
For those unfamiliar with the Excel Center, it is a tuition-free school helping working adults and parents get their Maryland high school diploma, then assisting them to secure and retain employment. Graduates will be able to go on to higher education or vocational training so they can earn a better living.
More than 80,000 Baltimore area adults don’t have a high school diploma. Without a diploma, income potential, job opportunities and the ability to build a better life are severely limited. (Research shows that Baltimoreans without a high school diploma earn an estimated $7,000 less per year than high school grads.) Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake decided to help solve that problem by launching the Excel Center.
The Excel Center has attracted overwhelming demand for adult education in Baltimore, with more than 700 inquiries already. The Center is preparing to welcome its first cohort of 150 students on September 25, 2023, offering a total of 30 classes during the school year.
Goodwill modeled Baltimore’s Excel Center after others around the U.S. It’s an approach that has proven successful in Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas.
For more information about the Baltimore Excel Center, visit https://excelcentermd.org.
