Early Childhood Educator, Alpha - $120,000/year USD

• Based onsite in New York City, NY
• Annual compensation of $120,000, paid weekly. Full health, dental, and vision coverage begins day one.
• Relocating? We provide relocation assistance.
  
  

Do you believe authentic learning begins with joy, movement, and trust?

Alpha School is redefining education—where children achieve academic mastery quickly and dedicate more time to developing essential life skills. In Pre-K, this begins with something even more foundational: emotional security, curiosity, and the resilience to attempt new challenges.

Your role: guide an onsite NYC Pre-K group that develops a love for school while demonstrating accelerated early-learning outcomes—approximately 2x the rate seen in traditional preschool settings. You will create purposeful, sensory-rich play experiences that integrate developmental objectives, then track progress weekly and adapt rapidly for individual learners.

NYC offers: Parks for experiential outdoor learning, diverse neighborhoods with engaged family networks, exceptional public transportation, and direct access to leading early childhood education communities.

Foster joy. Drive growth. Submit your application today.

What You Will Be Doing

• Plan and lead play-based learning blocks lasting 30–60 minutes that foster joy, emotional security, and quantifiable developmental progress
• Build a movement-rich and sensory-responsive classroom environment that sustains high engagement and enables four-year-olds to learn across multiple modalities
• Conduct real-time observation and documentation: Record same-day, objective observations linked to developmental domains, then refresh each child's milestone tracking weekly
• Leverage data to shape instruction: Review weekly documentation to pinpoint each child's next developmental opportunity and design responsive instructional strategies
• Craft individualized activity modifications based on each child's motivations and interests, embed a single clear developmental target, and reassess outcomes within two weeks
• Support children navigating frustration through calm co-regulation and emotional coaching instead of reactive behavioral management
• Maintain clear, proactive communication with families regarding student progress, daily routines, and emerging developmental observations
  
  

What You Won’t Be Doing

• Approach PreK as custodial care rather than purposeful early education
• Default to scripted worksheets or compliance-focused instruction as your primary teaching method
• Spend the majority of your day supervising academic software rather than facilitating live, hands-on learning experiences
• Apply reactive behavior management instead of calm co-regulation and emotional coaching
  
  

Early Childhood Educator Key Responsibilities

Ensure NYC Pre-K children develop a love of learning while achieving accelerated early-learning growth through purposeful play.

Basic Requirements

• Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education or Child Development, OR CDA/Montessori/Reggio credential
• At least 2 years of hands-on experience with 3–5-year-olds in a structured group environment (classroom setting, not exclusively individual care)
• Documented success leading play-based learning that produces measurable developmental outcomes
• Established capability to record developmental milestones objectively and reliably on a weekly schedule using a structured framework or rubric
• Advanced relationship-building and emotional attunement: Capacity to establish trust rapidly, interpret emotional signals precisely, and apply individualized motivators to drive engagement
• Co-regulation and frustration scaffolding: Support children through emotional escalation using calm modeling and systematic emotional coaching
• Authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship
• Available to work full-time onsite in New York City, NY
  
  

About Alpha

Want to join a learning rebellion that’s transforming the traditional classroom?

Alpha School is on a mission to reshape education with a bold approach that harnesses AI to accelerate learning and unleash student potential.

They don’t play by the old rules.

Alpha is creating a new paradigm where students master core academics in just two hours a day, freeing up time for hands-on, passion-driven learning that truly prepares them for the real world.

Alpha School is rewriting the rules of education.

Sounds too good to be true? It’s not.

There is so much to cover for this exciting role, and space here is limited. Hit the Apply button if you found this interesting and want to learn more. We look forward to meeting you!

Working with us

This is a full-time (40 hours per week), long-term position. The position is immediately available and requires entering into an independent contractor agreement with Crossover as a Contractor of Record. The compensation level for this role is $60 USD/hour, which equates to $120,000 USD/year assuming 40 hours per week and 50 weeks per year. The payment period is weekly. Consult www.crossover.com/help-and-faqs for more details on this topic.

Crossover Job Code: LJ-5746-US-Hartford-EarlyChildhood