exploration || pre-season curriculum advisors

Pre-Season Curriculum Advisors (PCAs) have a different application process than our regular faculty. PCAs do not need to complete the regular faculty application (unless they are also applying for a summer Curriculum Advisor (CA) position).

Candidates interested in applying for the PCA position should download the PDF application below:

>> 2010 PCA Application (PDF)

Please complete your PCA application in Acrobat Reader. (If you do not have Acrobat Reader, download the latest version for free here: Acrobat Reader Download.)

When you have completed the application, save and rename the file, changing the “LASTNAME” portion of the filename to your own last name. Email the completed application PDF to: pca_applications@explo.org.

Once Exploration has received your completed application, you will receive a confirmation email.

Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until all positions are filled.

If you have questions about the PCA position or the application process, please contact Barb Trainor, Director of Curriculum + Instruction, at btrainor@explo.org or 781.762.7400.

In addition to hiring PCAs, Exploration also hires several Curriculum Advisors (CAs) who live and work on the campuses of our Programs during the summer. Summer CAs help coach new teachers in the development of their teaching skills through formal and informal observations, oral and written feedback, goal-setting, reflection, and one-on-one problem-solving sessions. Please complete the regular faculty application to apply for a summer CA position.

Exploration Summer Programs is seeking creative and experienced educators to serve as Pre-Season Curriculum Advisors (PCAs) during the winter and spring for one to six different summer enrichment courses. Over the course of a three-week development cycle, PCAs communicate with course Instructors via phone and email to help them transform their ideas into creative lesson plans for a three-week enrichment course that will be taught during the summer.

Each summer, Exploration offers more than 150 unique courses and more than 90 unique workshops and mini-courses in a wide array of academic disciplines. (Course examples: grades 10-12, grades 8+9, grades 6+7, grades 4+5.) These enrichment courses are student-centered, activity-based, not-for-credit, and ungraded. They are taught by summer instructors who are passionate about the fields in which they are teaching and who are primarily undergraduate and graduate students with little or no teaching experience. The primary responsibility of the PCA is to mentor these young teachers in the development of activity-based curriculum that will lead them to have a successful summer teaching experience, and will encourage our summer students to challenge themselves, discover the world of people and ideas, and experience the joy of learning.

Position Details
A brief online training for PCAs takes place in December. Curriculum advising takes place from January through May. Most PCAs advise between one and six courses. Exploration coordinates an advising schedule with PCAs, such that the advising process for a single course or workshop/mini-course is completed in a three-week period (of your choosing). A full course usually takes between 10-15 hours to advise; a workshop/mini-course usually takes 5-7 hours to advise.

Monetary Compensation + Graduate Credit
PCAs may elect to receive either monetary compensation or graduate credit (or a mixture of the two) for their work as PCAs. PCAs are compensated $200 per course and $100 per workshop/mini-course. PCAs that advise 3 courses (or the equivalent thereof), may elect instead to receive 4 graduate credits transferable to the graduate program of their choosing.

Exploration Summer Programs is operated by Exploration School, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)3 educational organization.