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Form of workJob Description
Position Overview:
A Head Start Preschool Lead-Teacher manages general classroom operations in accordance with federal performance standards, state licensing rules and agency expectations. They ensure children’s safety at all times, coach classroom assistants and volunteers, prepare and deliver lessons and perform activities with the children, provide for the physical, social, intellectual, emotional and cultural needs of each enrolled child, in partnership with parents, and provide appropriate information and resources for families.
Where will I be working?
HS4KC has multiple locations all over Kent County, and openings occur regularly at most of our sites. We'd love to discuss which site(s) you prefer to work at when we interview you!
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
- Develop a culturally-responsive, inclusive and developmentally appropriate curriculum that aligns with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework according to the individual needs of children as written in daily lesson plans.
- Ensures implementation of the designated curriculum, with strong fidelity, in alignment with the Agency’s School Readiness Goals.
- Responsible for the completion and submission of fun and educational lesson plans and finalization of preliminary checkpoint data.
- Actively participate in all planned professional development activities and Professional Learning Community meetings (PLC).
- Responsible for completion of corrective action plans stemming from any monitoring findings.
- Conduct agency screenings and assessments.
- Must acquire and maintain reliability in current assessment tool.
- Responsible for gathering and entering children’s assessment data and assigning preliminary levels in online assessment tool.
- Responsible for entering documentation in our data management software, ChildPlus, as required by the Agency.
- Ensure safety of the classroom and outdoor environment for children at all times, including such things as active supervision, appropriate hand washing for children and adults, and knowledge of emergency procedures.
- Implement positive redirection and behavior guidance.
- Carry out the required components of the daily routine.
- Instruct children in practices of personal hygiene and other self-help skills.
- Prepare and serve meals and snacks for children in a relaxed, family style dining experience.
- Ensures that the classroom environment meets the Agency’s expectations in regard to CLASS scores.
- Provide feedback to use for the on-going evaluation and training of staff and volunteers as necessary.
- Empower parents by enhancing parenting skills and parent/child relationships.
- Participate in family engagement events to actively support parent engagement in program implementation.
- Conduct a minimum of two Education Home Visits and two Family Conferences per program year per student.
- Involve parents in decisions about individual goal setting and culturally-responsive practices.
- Assist in recruitment, enrollment and orientation of Head Start families.
- Responsible for knowledge and use of current Agency processes, procedures and forms, upon completion of training.
- Understand and implement the tiered support model to identify and follow up on family needs.
- Display sensitivity in meeting the needs of a diverse population of children, families and staff.
Required Education and Experience:
One of the following:
- A valid Michigan teaching certificate and an Early Childhood Education (ZA) or Early Childhood-General and Special Education (ZS) endorsement
- Minimum of an Associate Degree (Bachelor Degree preferred) with a stated major in ECE (Early Childhood Education) or (CD) Child Development
- A bachelor’s degree in early childhood education or child development with a specialization in preschool teaching.
- The transcript will document a major, rather than a minor, in child development or early childhood education.
DISCLAIMER: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employees may perform other related duties as assigned to meet the ongoing needs of the agency. Employees in this position must be able to perform the essential job functions of this position with reasonable accommodation.
We offer an excellent benefits package with health insurance that starts after just 30 days of employment. Several benefits are even at little to no cost to the employee. We provide generous time-off and paid holiday policies that start on your very first day. Additional perks include half-day work on Fridays, Employee Assistance Programs providing corporate discounts, wellness programs for both physical and mental health including free counseling sessions, retention and attendance incentives, professional development opportunities, tuition reimbursement, including paid in full CDA’s and assistance with Associates degrees and above.
Find out about these and other ways in which we invest in our employees at https://hs4kc.org/employee-perks
