Infant and Toddler Specialist

Position: Infant and Toddler Specialist (ITS)

Full Time: Full Time/Exempt

Pay Scale: 62,700 plus benefits 

Reports to: Early Childhood Education (ECE) Coordinator/North Central Regional Office Supervisor

Jurisdictions Served: Greater Prince William (GPW) Area: City of Manassas, Manassas Park City, Prince William County

Foundation First is an innovative, results-oriented agency that serves as a non-partisan steward and capacity builder for increasing quality, access, and affordability within the Ready Region North Central Area (RRNC). Foundation First/RRNC forges public and private partnerships based on the priorities and levels of coordination, accountability, and family engagement for early education programs within every community in the Commonwealth.

Position Summary:

The Foundation First ITS will fulfill two of the four RRNC core functions, Strengthening Quality and Building Relationships by integrating Virginia Quality Birth to Five (VQB5) and Child Development Resources (CDR) grant efforts to ensure high-quality educational experiences that provide affordable choices for families across the region.

Primary Responsibilities: To increase school readiness by improving the quality of care and education as defined by VQB5 received by infants and toddlers (0-36 months) and to increase the competency of their teachers and directors to promote children’s early learning and development.

Key Responsibilities/Duties Administrative:

• Works with the regional office supervisor to plan work scope and monitor timelines.
• Uses Classroom Assessment Scoring System® (CLASS®) and curriculum data to plan and offer VA ITSN services.
• Enter data into the VA ITSN database no later than the first day of each month following service delivery
• Participates in meetings, including ITS orientation, and all other trainings as required by position.
• Consults with Network Quality Coordinator on a quarterly basis, at a minimum, to discuss caseload progress and site/classroom issues.
• Completes training for Language Environment Analysis (LENA®), CLASS®, and CLASS Environment™.
• Maintains certifications and reliability.
• Works with regional office supervisor to develop a plan for meeting individualized professional development goals.
• Works with Training and Professional Development Coordinator to discuss ongoing individual TA needs
• Complies with VA ITSN Program Procedures Guide

Work with partners, infant and toddler educators, and administrators to provide services:

Coaching – Improve the quality of interactions that infants and toddlers receive while in child care centers and family day homes by providing individualized supports to VQB5 classrooms with the lowest CLASS score.

• Support high quality care and education in infant and toddler classrooms in VQB5 through coaching.
• Recruit and select only infant and toddler classrooms, directors, and new teachers with limited CLASS experience participating in VQB5 to receive intensive coaching services to improve the quality of teacher-child interactions and curriculum use.
• Use guidance provided by VDOE to prioritize publicly funded VQB5 sites/classrooms and new teachers with limited CLASS experience that need support the most.
• Collaborate on outreach and recruitment approaches with VDOE, Ready Regions, VECC, and other improvement partners who provide instructional coaching or have existing relationships with VQB5 sites.
• Provide coaching services to a minimum of 26 infant and toddler classrooms/directors, to include Family Day Homes, with an estimated 475 hours. Coordinate with Ready Regions to ensure VQB5 participating sites/classrooms have access to a VDOE-approved curriculum and/or supplemental materials.
• Share the option of STREAMin3 curriculum in infant/toddler or family day home classrooms.

Training and Technical Assistance – Increase the competencies of infant and toddler educators in VQB5 to improve the quality of teacher-child interactions and to support early learning and development of infants and toddlers as outlined in Virginia’s Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS), by providing training and technical assistance (TA).

• Support the competencies of teachers and directors in centers and family day homes by providing training and TA including peer-to-peer learning opportunities, on infant and toddler topics.
• Share the option of STREAMin3 curriculum in infant/toddler or family day home classrooms.
• Provide training on topics that support teachers and directors with the promotion of the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development of infants and toddlers aligned with ELDS, Infant and Toddler CLASS, and VDOE’s Early Childhood Curriculum Guidance, targeted to publicly funded sites participating in VQB5.
• Conduct training that focuses on the needs of VQB5 sites and consistently refers to CLASS.
• Conduct a total of 90 training and TA hours with a minimum of 20 hours of training for infant/toddler teachers and directors and a minimum of 25 hours of TA for infant/toddler classrooms/sites.
• Conduct training sessions at regional and cross regional institutes and state conferences for infant and toddler providers.
• Collaborate on outreach and recruitment approaches toVQB5 sites in collaboration with Ready Regions and other community partners who provide training as appropriate.
• Promote services and connect directors and teachers to other relevant services, education opportunities, events, and resources.

Other:

• Perform other job-related duties as requested by the regional office supervisor
• Attend or conduct training in the evening or during weekends, as needed.
• Return all materials and equipment acquired with grant funds to Foundation First upon termination of employment. 

Work Environment:

Employees will work in a combination of working remotely, onsite at early childhood facilities, and in the Foundation First office based on the task and the Early Childhood Coordinator’s requests. Currently we have offices in Fredericksburg (RAP), Woodbridge (GPW) and Warrenton (LFC). This ITS position will be based in the GPW office. 

Qualifications & Competencies:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in infant and toddler or early childhood education, child development, human services, social work, or child related field required. Master’s degree preferred.
• A minimum of two years of infant and toddler experience, with five years of experience preferred, or any combination of training and experience which provides the required skills, knowledge, and abilities.
• Demonstrated expertise in infant and toddler development, experience with childcare or other early care settings.
• Must possess a strong knowledge base in child growth and development, including planning and implementing developmentally appropriate early care and education for infants and toddlers.
• Must possess excellent planning, organizational, and time management skills, the ability to mentor and coach adult learners, the capacity to build collaborative partnerships with stakeholders, and provide services that are culturally competent and appropriate to the needs of the target audience.
• Must possess the capacity to plan and conduct training for adults.
• Must exercise independent judgment and initiative in working with stakeholders, IT caregivers/teachers, directors, families, and staff to carry out regional activities.
• Exhibits cultural sensitivity and has experience working with people from diverse backgrounds.
• Must be able to establish and maintain effective working relationships and communicate orally in person, virtually, by telephone, and in writing with stakeholders, IT caregivers/teachers, directors, families, and those from diverse populations.
• Must possess knowledge of center-based childcare and family childcare and VQB5.
• Must possess the skills and ability to use equipment necessary to carry out job responsibilities (e.g. computer and training software, cell/telephone, facsimile machine, projectors, digital cameras and video recorders).
• Must be able to travel throughout the region, including overnight travel as needed.
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office Suite, videoconferencing, teaching, or webinar tools (e.g., Zoom, Canva), virtual platforms (e.g., SharePoint, OneDrive).
• Completion of required background checks: child protective services, criminal history, and national sex offenders, as well as a TB risk assessment.