Human Environmental Sciences, Child Study Center Curriculum Specialist and Lead Teacher

Position Classification:

Regular, full-time, salaried, exempt and benefit-eligible staff position. For more benefit information visit Why Work at UCO?

General

Schedule:



This position typically works 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday at UCO's main campus in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Position Overview

The Child Study Center Curriculum Specialist and Lead Teacher will serve as a lead educator, pedagogical guide, and mentor within UCO's laboratory early learning environment for children ages 3-5. This position blends the art of teaching young children with the scholarship of supporting university students as they learn to observe, engage, and reflect on human development in authentic settings.

Rooted in Reggio Emilia and Project Approach principles, this role supports an emergent, inquiry-based curriculum where children's questions, relationships, and discoveries shape the learning journey. The Specialist collaborates closely with the Child Study Center Director and Human Development and Family Sciences faculty to create rich environments indoors and in the Nature Explore outdoor classroom that honor children as competent, curious learners.

This position also serves a critical function in the academic mission of the Human Development and Family Science program by mentoring, coaching, and evaluating undergraduate and graduate students completing observations, field study, practicum, and internship experiences.

Department Specific

Essential Job Functions:



I. Teaching & Curriculum Leadership (60-70%)

• Plan and implement developmentally appropriate, inquiry-driven curriculum guided by children's interests, questions, and relationships.
• Design thoughtful provocations, invitations, and learning environments that encourage exploration, creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration.
• Use the environment both indoors and outdoors as a "third teacher," creating aesthetic, organized, and meaningful spaces for learning.

Instructional Practice & Guidance

• Model responsive caregiving, co-regulation, and positive child guidance using the Pyramid Model, Conscious Discipline, trauma-informed approaches, and other evidence-based SEL frameworks.
• Facilitate emergent literacy and early math experiences through play, conversation, storytelling, and hands-on investigation.

Documentation & Assessment

• Make children's learning visible through photographs, transcripts, observational notes, learning panels, journals, and narrative documentation.
• Create Learning Stories to reflect children's strengths, dispositions, and developmental progress through a relational lens.
• Implement formal assessments such as the DRDP and synthesize data into meaningful, individualized plans for instruction and support.
• Maintain individual child portfolios that combine narrative and standardized assessment information.

Family Partnership

• Build warm, trusting, culturally responsive relationships with families.
• Conduct one collaborative, informational meeting with each family at the beginning of every semester and one formal family-teacher conference each semester, while maintaining ongoing communication about children's learning throughout the school year.

II. Mentorship & University Student Development (20-25%)

• Supervise, mentor, and evaluate students completing Field Study, Practicum, Internship, or research experiences in the CSC.
• Offer reflective supervision, modeling, and coaching to help students understand child development, guidance strategies, curriculum design, and professional dispositions.
• Connect student learning to HDFS coursework, program outcomes, NAEYC standards, and best practice frameworks.
• Facilitate student orientations, ongoing debriefs, and structured opportunities to observe, participate, plan, implement, and reflect.
• Collaborate with Human Development and Family Sciences faculty to design meaningful university-lab school partnership experiences.

III. Program Collaboration, Leadership & Professional Contribution (10-15%)

• Work closely with the CSC Director in curriculum planning, program development, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Contribute to accreditation (NAEYC), DHS licensing, documentation systems, and safety protocols.
• Participate in…