Early Care Education Specialist

The Early Care and Education Specialist is a relationship builder and valued member of the Texas Rising Starprogram, responsible for developing close working partnerships with child care providers. Recruits new service providers and manages existing relationships through effective delivery of training, technical assistance and resource assessment, and distribution of developmentally appropriate materials and equipment. The Specialistconducts on-site technical assistance, mentoring, assessment and training visits to providers interested in Texas Rising Star (TRS) certification.

Prepares inclusions plans for providers caring for children with disabilities, and monitors all providers to ensure compliance with contractual regulations.

Essential Functions Recruits providers for Texas Rising Star (TRS) certification

Provides mentoring or conducts provider assessments for Texas Rising Star (TRS) certification as assigned

Performs technical assistance, training visits, and monitoring visits to providers’ facilities to ensure contractualcompliance as well as Texas Rising Star (TRS) certification compliance and progress

Works closely with Supervisor in developing inclusion plans for providers caring for children with disabilities

Prepares and maintains updated paperwork for all records within the time frames specified by the Texas Workforce Commission and Board area directives, policies and procedures

Updates The Workforce Information System of Texas (TWIST)
Conducts monitoring of providers to ensure compliance with contractual regulations, and provides technical assistance as needed

Conducts follow up visits on Service Improvement Agreements (SIAs)
Follows unit procedures and guidelines and participates in meetings and other events to increase understand ofthe Workforce Solutions system

Resolves any problems related to provider contracts and works well with management staff, accountrepresentatives, and Intake/Eligibility Specialists to resolve any provider complaints or issues

Insures all provider files contain all the required documents pertaining to the service agreements, tax forms,deposit forms, state licenses, etc.

Collaborates with other Child Care Services staff to enhance program operations

Identifies and documents process improvement opportunities

Performs other duties as assigned

Complies with all policies and standards

Education

Bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year college or university in early childhood education, child development, special education, child psychology,educational psychology, elementary education, or family consumerscience or Bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year college or university with at least 18 credit hours in early childhood education, child development, special education, child psychology, educational psychology, elementary education, orfamily consumer science with at least 12 credit hours in child development or Associate's degree in early childhood education, child development, special education, child psychology, educational psychology, elementary education, or family consumer science with two years of experience as a director in an early childhood program, with preference given for required experience with aprovider that is accredited or TRS certified

Work Experience1-3 years: 1 year of full-time early childhood classroom experience in a child care, Early Head Start, Head Star or prekindergarten through third grade school program

Knowledge,

Skills and Abilities

Intermediate experience in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and Internet Demonstrated ability to work with customers and vendors, keep detailed records, and enter data accurately and timely into automated data bases

Ability to handle escalated situations with critical thinking skills and problem solving techniques

Utilizes best practices in early childhood education

Ability to apply early childhood evaluations, observations, and assessments for both teachers and children

Ability to use related assessment instruments including:

Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ITERS-R)
Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R)
Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale-Revised (FCCERS-R)
Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS)
Must be able to work a variable schedule Monday through Saturday with some night and weekendtraining and travel

Understanding of TRS Certification Guidelines and the minimum standards of Texas child carelicensing

Ability to relate to individuals from culturally diverse backgrounds

Detail oriented with strong oral and written communication skills

Basic administrative skills, including recordkeeping and use of a computer or tablet for data entry
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