Professional Development Coordinator, Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood

Pay Grade: 29E

Context of Job:

The College of Education and Human Development is a diversified college with undergraduate and graduate programs that require a close working relationship with the state of Delaware, federal agencies, local school systems, and numerous health and service agencies.

CEHD houses the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC). The DIEEC supports early childhood workforce and programming services for children aged six weeks to 12 years of age through the translation of evidence-based practices as well as the generation of new knowledge via applied research. The DIEEC serves the state and nation through the provision of professional development for early childhood educators in home-based and center-based settings, technical assistance to early care and education programs through Delaware’s quality improvement system, direct services to children and families through the New Directions Early Head Start program and applied research in diverse early care and education settings.

The Professional Development Coordinator works under the general direction of the DIEEC’s Associate Director, Early Childhood.

Major Responsibilities:

• Develop, design, and coordinate the delivery of professional development content appropriate to the early-education and school-age audiences following quality-assurance system requirements. Professional development will be designed using an array of educational technology.
• Coordinate, modify and adapt professional development techniques and delivery mechanisms. Travel and attend conferences throughout the year to stay current on early childcare and education trends and apply new information to create new professional development training and update older versions of curricula.
• Collaborate with coaches and consultants to coordinate overall service delivery to programs.
• Document coaching and ECE quality improvement implementation efforts.
• Collaborate with school and childcare administrators to tailor professional development offerings to meet the current needs of the staff.
• Establish strategic and technical plans for planning, implementing, and evaluating professional development efforts in early-education and school-age childcare programs. Collaborate with various members of the instructional team and actively consider feedback about developing projects and curriculum redesign, including instructional team meetings.
• Design innovative ways to provide professional development content to the workforce. Initiate personal and professional development opportunities to ensure constant growth and maximum ability to contribute new ideas and information, increasing the effectiveness of professional development in the early care community.
• Make public training and presentations to DIEEC staff and the broader early-childhood and school-age community on specialized topics.
• Monitor and mentor instructors teaching workshops across the state. Evaluate curriculum submitted throughout the state to be offered by entrepreneurs and DIEEC sponsoring organizations to the school and childcare community to ensure compliance with Quality Assurance standards and procedures.
• Implement coaching strategies and tools including on and off-site coaching using various models in combination with online, face-to-face and virtual professional learning experiences to support individual and program quality improvement goals and action plans.
• Attend monthly committee meetings to assist in the planning and implementation of various DIEEC joint events, such as Children’s Book Week, Curriculum and Assessment events, and DIEEC-hosted conferences.
• Perform miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree preferred, in Early Childhood Education or related discipline with five years of job-related experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Knowledge and experience in a variety of areas including child development, curriculum and assessment, early childhood business practices, early childhood education and school-age environments, and/or professional development.
• Knowledge and use of a variety of educational technology strategies to develop and deliver innovative professional development strategies to the early education and school-age community.
• Experience instructing workshops and an understanding of adult learning principles.
• Knowledge and experience of coaching strategies.
• Experience in using early childhood curriculum and a variety of assessment tools is preferred.
• Highly detail oriented.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office suite of tools, Google suite of tools, and database software
• Experienced in program planning, implementation and evaluation skills.
• Effective oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to interact with a wide range of constituents.

Special Requirements:

• Must have regular access to a private reliable means of transportation and able to work a flexible schedule, including nights and weekends.