Associate Preschool Teacher - Head Start

OUR MISSION: MWVCAA invests in people and their futures to reduce the impacts of poverty.

Our Vision: We envision a just future, where our communities are empowered to reach positive outcomes and everyone is respected for their infinite worth.

Join our Head Start team! The Head Start Associate Teacher works with children to promote their social-emotional, physical, cognitive and language development growth. The person in this position will also work to support parents by providing meetings, tools, resources and opportunities to practice the skills and activities with their child.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• 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.
• Two years of experience in early childhood programs.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATION

• The ability to complete an Associate's degree in Early Childhood Education within 3 years of hire.
• Successful registration with the Office of Child Care's Central Background Registry.
• Candidate must pass pre-employment physical.
• First Aid/CPR certification and Food Handler's Card, or ability to obtain.
• Driver qualifications not required for this position.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Basic proficiencies in computers, including MS Office (Outlook, Word, Teams, Excel) are required.
• Ability to work efficiently to accomplish tasks, and highly organized for follow-up to meet schedules and deadlines.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Bilingual English-Spanish capabilities may be required depending on the needs of the program. To qualify as bilingual, staff must possess demonstrated abilities to speak, write, and read fluently in Spanish and English and pass a bilingual test.

*Bilingual staff may receive a pay differential based on HS Program language needs.

**ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive.

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.
• 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.

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.

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.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Required to frequently reach with hands and arms; regularly required to climb or balance; occasionally required to stand; walk; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
• Regularly lift and/or move 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Mostly indoor classroom and bus riding environment.
• Frequent outdoor supervision of children and monitoring pick up/drop off.
• Occasional exposure to cleaning chemicals, creative substances such as paints.
• Occasional exposure to body fluids/biohazards (such as saliva, vomit and urine.)

**Enrollment in the Central Background Registry is beneficial if you are even considering working with children in the State of Oregon, since it will be required before you can start a position. Enrollment is free and it is recommended that you start now as the process can take time. Start enrollment online at: oregonearlylearning.com

MWVCAA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, veterans, and people with disabilities or any other protected category. We welcome all people to join us in achieving our Mission. If you require any assistance in the application process, or reasonable accommodations to perform the essential duties of the position, please notify a member of our team at (503) 585-6232.

**This is a partial list of essential duties and responsibilities. To review the full job description, download below.

If you need ADA accommodations to apply for MWVCAA job openings, please contact Human Resources at HR@mwvcaa.org or call 503-585-6232 to ask for a HR Team Member.