Science Teacher Jobs in Illinois

Job Title: Long Term Guest Teacher - Science
Reports to: Science Division Head
Terms and Conditions: Substitute Assignment
FLSA Status: Exempt
Rate of Pay: $30 per period for the first 20 days, then $250 per
day applied retroactively to the 1st day.
Please click here for more information regarding salary
and benefits.

OPRF – WHO WE ARE…

Oak Park and River Forest High School, or OPRF, is a comprehensive public high school located in Oak Park, IL, a suburb eight miles due west of downtown Chicago. We are a one-school district, with the majority of our students coming from two sender districts, River Forest Public Schools District 90 and Oak Park Elementary School District 97. We offer more than 200 courses, a variety of programs for students with special needs, 75 clubs and activities, and 29 competitive sports. We prepare our students well for post-secondary success, with an average ACT composite score of 24 and a 94% graduation rate.

Oak Park and River Forest are communities that highly value diversity. OPRF is a founding member of the national Minority Student Achievement Network, and our school is racially and economically diverse, with about 48% of our 3,300 students identifying as African-American, Hispanic, multiracial, or Asian. Our villages have long embraced the LGBTQ community, and we have a significant mix of homeowners and renters.

We seek faculty and staff who have high expectations for all students, and who value student voice in education. As a school, we are particularly focused on closing opportunity gaps for our students of color and other under-represented groups. OPRF is an equal opportunity employer that provides equal employment opportunities to all without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. OPRF’s goal is to increase the diversity of its workforce.

Qualifications:

• Valid Illinois Professional Educator’s License with Physics and Chemistry endorsement preferred.
• Commitment to equity and and creating a supportive and inclusive learning environment for all students.

Position Summary:

We are seeking an innovative, student-centered educator to join our Science Division with a dual teaching assignment in AP Physics 1 and Physics-Chemistry. The ideal candidate embraces "the power of doing," prioritizing practice-based mastery and transferable skill development over traditional rote memorization. A key element of the Physics-Chemistry assignment involves co-teaching alongside a Special Education educator to deliver an inclusive, highly supported curriculum. This position requires a skilled collaborator who thrives in team-oriented environments—both in a co-taught classroom and within a Teacher Collaboration Team (TCT)—to guarantee equitable, high-quality learning experiences for all students.

Key Responsibilities & Instructional Commitments

• Facilitate Discourse-Driven Inquiry: Design and lead classroom experiences rooted in driving phenomena and guided inquiry, fostering student-led discourse, active sense-making, and deep conceptual understanding across all student readiness levels.
• Assess & Track Transferable Skills: Align grading and assessment practices with core scientific competencies—investigation, modeling, data synthesis, and evidence-based communication—utilizing accommodations and scaffolded rubrics to support individual student growth.
• Cultivate a Safe, Iterative Classroom Culture: Normalize the scientific process by framing mistakes, model revisions, and data recalibrations as essential steps toward mastery rather than academic penalties.
• Collaborate in High-Functioning TCTs: Work productively with course-level teams to co-design units, analyze student work, refine instructional strategies, and ensure consistency of rigorous, accessible science content across sections.
• Foster Student Agency & Inclusivity: Empower every learner to engage in authentic scientific thinking, providing the necessary supports for students of all abilities to ask original questions, investigate real-world phenomena, and communicate their findings collaboratively.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This job may involve supervision of student teachers and/or teaching assistants.

Skills, Physical Demands and the Work Environment.

In order to perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform all essential duties and responsibilities. The requirements listed below are representative of the skills, physical demands, and work environment required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties.

Skills Required:

The employee in this position must have the ability to …

• read, analyze, and interpret documents including correspondence in print or electronic formats;
• establish and maintain effective working relationships with all members of the school community; and
• communicate clearly and concisely in verbal or written form.

Physical Demands:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to …

• sit, stand, talk and hear for extended periods of time, operate electronic equipment; and reach with hands and arms and will repeat actions with the same hand, arm or finger motion;
• have vision abilities required include close vision, and the ability to adjust focus (The ability to withstand long-term use of computer devices is required.);

Work Environment:

• The noise level in the work environment is usually low. However, on occasion, the noise level will be moderate.
• Work is usually conducted indoors.

The information contained in this job description is for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and is not an exhaustive listing of the duties performed in this position. The individuals currently holding this position perform additional duties and additional duties may

Please, no phone calls. The respective hiring manager will review candidates once the job posting closes. If selected to move forward, you will be contacted by phone or email. After reviewing the job posting, if you have any questions, please send an email to hr@oprfhs.org.

Oak Park & River Forest High School District 200 (OPRF) is an Equal Opportunity Employer