2026-27 Elementary School Counselor

Location: KIPP Nashville College Prep Elementary

Salary Range: BA Scale $56,171-$92,970 | MA+ Scale $61,909-$100,974

About KIPP Nashville Public Schools

KIPP Nashville Public Schools is a network of high-performing, free, open-enrollment K-12 schools that has been committed to positively affecting student outcomes in Nashville since 2005. KIPP Nashville is part of the acclaimed KIPP Network, which educates 100,000+ students nationwide and supports students from Pre-Kindergarten through college, career and beyond. Through the KIPP Forward program, our team helps students identify their career of highest aspiration and develop the skills and confidence to chase their dreams. KIPP Nashville currently operates 4 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, and 2 high schools and educates over 3,000 students in the Nashville metropolitan area.

The mission of KIPP Nashville is together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence they need to pursue the paths they choose - college, career and beyond - so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world. Our core values are GROWTH, TEAM, and SHINE. If you share in these beliefs and values, if you have a proven willingness to do what it takes for students to be their best, if you thrive in an environment that is both collaborative and entrepreneurial, then you are already a KIPPster.

Position Overview

KIPP Nashville seeks a highly dedicated school counselor who will bring a "whatever it takes" attitude to its team. The School Counselor will work directly with students and families to provide effective, high quality interventions that are data-driven. The Counselor will work directly with teachers to cultivate their knowledge of students' social and emotional development. To ensure that we are meeting the social and emotional needs of all students and families we educate, our School Counselor will be a key driver of our schools' student culture vision of creating safe, inclusive, and character building culture for every child. The School Counselor provides the following core services: prevention, intervention, assessment, and collaboration.

Responsibilities of a KIPP Nashville School Counselor include, but are not limited to:

• Prevention

• Build relationships and collaborate with external education and social services professionals to develop appropriate agency services for students and families

• Participate in weekly intervention meetings to thought partner with teachers around social and emotional supports

• Facilitate workshops and other learning opportunities for families

• Conduct home visits that support families to meet KIPP Nashville College Prep Elementary expectations and increases student/family involvement

• Participate on school staff teams to develop policies and practices to proactively build school culture including opportunities for team-building and collaboration among students

• Help drive a school-wide atmosphere that suits the needs to our students, teachers, and families

• Facilitate professional development for teachers to help them understand child development and how it affects student performance academically and social/emotionally

• Intervention

• Drive social and emotional intervention plans for our most high need students

• Run individual and group counseling sessions with research-based social and emotional practices

• Assist students, teachers, and families to develop solutions to family and community factors that influence students' capacity or ability to learn

• Assessment

• Complete high-quality progress notes for all students receiving counseling services weekly

• Conduct interviews with a student, family members, and KIPP staff members to gather information about each student's social, emotional and behavioral needs; help all constituents integrate information to best meet the student's needs

• Conduct observations to gather data in order to determine best options for interventions

• Collaboration

• Create professional learning goals each year and implement feedback towards these goals

• Offer support to and receive constructive feedback from colleagues in order to create a professional working atmosphere that is conducive to growth and improvement

• Family Engagement

• Establish and maintain strong communication lines with all parents and share progress

• Be available for open houses, parent teacher conferences and other events involving parents

• Make oneself available to students, parents and other staff members

• Growth Mindset

• Pursue challenging professional goals each year

• Willing to offer support and receive constructive feedback from colleagues in order to create a professional working atmosphere that is conducive to change and improvement

• Participate in school-wide and individual professional development, including pre-service training over the summer and weekly during the academic year (held during school hours)

Requirements and Desired Experience

• Valid Tennessee professional school counselor license or license eligible (required)
• Bachelor's degree (required), Master's degree (preferred)
• Pass Criminal Background Check (required)
• At least two years of counseling experience (preferred)
• Experience and demonstrated success teaching students from educationally under-resourced communities (highly preferred)

Desired Characteristics

• Unwavering commitment to KIPP Nashville's mission, students, families, and community
• Demonstrates excitement in growing students into their highest selves and believes that providing students with an excellent education is our largest lever as educators to wholly improve student outcomes
• Passionate about data-driven instruction
• Superb personal organization skills to keep on top of deadlines and measures of accountability
• Team player: demonstrates maturity, growth mindset, strong work ethic, follow-through and flexibility

Compensation and Benefits

• Starting salary for first year teachers begins at $56,171; those with a conferred advanced degree begins at $61,909. Salary is commensurate with experience. Staff members receive up to a 2% yearly raise. To establish consistent salary practices, the compensation package is derived from the regional KIPP Nashville Public Schools pay scale. This position is exempt and will follow a 10-month work schedule.
• Robust benefits package including medical, dental, vision, disability, supplemental insurance, and life insurance policy options. Application for these benefits may be made immediately upon employment. The policy is effective upon the first of the month following the first day of work.
• Certificated staff have access to the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System pension plan (TCRS). Eligible employees contribute 5% and KIPP matches up to 6%. Employees may also be eligible for 401k in which KIPP will contribute 5%.
• The vacation package for salaried employees includes 29 paid days throughout the 10 month work schedule (including holidays, fall break, spring break, thanksgiving break, winter break, as well as summer break. In addition, employees in this role are allotted 6 PTO days. Employees are allotted an additional 2 days after every 2 consecutive years of employment. Eligible staff members receive payment for unused PTO days at the end of the fiscal year.
• Adoption/Parental Caregiver Leave- up to 10 weeks parental leave for the primary caregiver and 2 weeks parental leave for the secondary caregiver paid at 100%.
• Teachers are provided with laptop computers with access to the internet and or email to assist them in performing their job responsibilities.
• Certificated staff are eligible for the Master Teacher Program after two consecutive years of employment with KIPP Nashville. Master teachers receive a $5,000 stipend and $2,000 towards professional development.
• Apply online at https://careers.smartrecruiters.com/KIPP/nashville. Please contact recruiting@kippnashville.org with any questions.

KIPP Nashville is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual preference, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, pregnancy, or veteran status.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.