Experienced Associate Preschool Teacher - Head Start Program Specialist for Remote Early Childhood Education

About Us

At Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency (MWVCAA), we are dedicated to empowering individuals and families to achieve their full potential. Our mission is to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, while providing essential services that foster a positive and supportive environment for all. As a leading provider of early childhood education, we are seeking an experienced Associate Preschool Teacher to join our team of passionate professionals. This is a unique opportunity to make a meaningful impact in the lives of young children and their families, while enjoying the flexibility of a remote work environment. Job Summary We are seeking a highly skilled and dedicated Associate Preschool Teacher to join our Head Start program. As a key member of our team, you will be responsible for promoting the social-emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development of young children, while supporting parents through regular meetings, tools, and resources. If you are passionate about early childhood education and possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills, we encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity.

Key Responsibilities

• Classroom (50%):
• Records children's daily attendance, working with site team to determine the cause of absences.
• Provides for the development of children's cognitive, physical, social-emotional, and language skills through implementation of curriculum, lesson planning, and individualization.
• Conducts and records child observations to utilize in setting goals, individualizing, and creating assessments.
• Creates lesson plans utilizing a variety of curriculum to address children's individual goals, taking into account each child's characteristics, strengths, and needs.
• Works with classroom team during pre-service, to set up classroom environment, and maintain the environment by regularly changing/rotating materials, supplies, and props, utilizing the Creative Curriculum, and the Monthly Environment Checklist.
• Prepares materials, activities, and projects for class.
• Participates in family-style meals, taking USDA required meal counts, and leading conversation at the table to enhance the social and emotional growth of children.
• Conducts, in the classroom, monthly emergency drills to prepare children and staff for fires, earthquakes, and lockdown situations.
• Office/Paperwork (35%):
• Effectively uses the ChildPlus and Teaching Strategies Gold databases to enter or obtain information.
• Completes home visits and parent-teacher conferences as required.
• Completes Progress Checkpoints for child assessment, using information obtained from child observations.
• Shares information with program administration and parents.
• Writes an article for parent newsletter each month.
• Uses office time efficiently to make and receive parent phone calls, order supplies, preparing children's work to go home, preparing materials for activities, and other office work as needed.
• Verifies and submits weekly Meal Counts and Attendance forms.
• Staff Development/Meetings (10%):
• Attends a variety of classes, workshops, seminars, pre-service training, and other Head Start Teacher trainings, and keeps current on developments in early childhood education, and developmentally appropriate practices.
• Attends a variety of meetings including individual reflection meetings, region meetings, site team meetings, debriefing after observations, and other meetings as necessary.
• Attends IFSP meetings or Triage meetings when necessary to support children with social-emotional or developmental concerns.
• Parent Involvement (5%):
• Supports parents as children transition to and from the program through a variety of transition activities.
• Provides regular opportunities for parent participation by training parents who volunteer in the classroom.
• Participates in planning for and implementing monthly parent meetings.

Essential Qualifications

To be successful in this role, you will need to possess the following essential qualifications:

• Education:
• High school diploma or General Education Degree (GED)
• Pre-School Certificate or CDA
• Enrollment in an Early Childhood Degree Program
• 30 credits in Early Childhood Education
• Experience:
• Two years of experience in early childhood programs