Director of Early Care & Education

Description

We are looking for an experienced leader who is passionate about prevention and education to join our team! Reporting to, and in close partnership with, the Executive Director, the Director of Early Care & Education (ECE) provides strategic leadership and operational oversight of the agency’s prenatal services, home-based and center-based early education, and child care programming/partnerships. The Director of ECE collaborates with others to ensure program quality, regulatory compliance, fiscal integrity, and continuous improvement in alignment with the Head Start Program Performance Standards and the agency's mission to support children and families from prenatal stages through preschool.

• Serve as the unified leader of Early Care & Education service areas, maintaining alignment with Head Start performance standards, federal and state regulations, and organizational policies, procedures, and mission.
• Assist in the development and implementation of a comprehensive strategic plan encompassing prenatal services, home visiting (home-based option), center-based preschool education, and child care services.
• Establish systems and practices that support ongoing review of data and performance, open communication and feedback loops, and data-driven decision-making.
• Direct the implementation of high-quality, developmentally appropriate curricula across all program options.
• Direct the implementation of program evaluations that address instructional quality, teacher–child/parent-child interactions, and classroom environments using validated observation tools (e.g., CLASS, HOVRS).
• Ensure systems, partnerships, tools, and resources are in place to support timely and appropriate services for children with individualized care needs (i.e., those with Individualized Family Service Plans, Individualized Education Programs, and/or Individualized Support/Behavior Intervention Plans), including functional behavioral assessments and/or program observation instruments, such as the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool and/or Infant–Toddler Scale.
• Promote family engagement practices that support the parental role as the child's first and most important teacher and align with the agency’s school readiness goals.
• Maintain relationships with key stakeholders, oversee Memorandum of Understanding/Partnership Agreements, inform contracts, and represent RWCFS on pertinent community committees.

• Partner to achieve a healthy organizational culture that supports trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and developmentally appropriate practice, and emphasizes staff, child, and family well‑being.
• Oversee the agency’s policies and procedures related to early care, education, and family services.
• Help lead the agency’s self‑assessment, community assessment, and program design; assist with service and location changes.
• Participate in the development of the agency’s budget, grant management, and reporting.
• Engage with the agency’s Board of Directors to provide training, report on outcomes, and relay programmatic updates and/or adjustments to the strategic plan.
• Assist with the integration of Head Start and child care funding streams to provide wraparound care and/or programming that supports working families.
• Effectively team with other agency leaders to ensure safety, compliance, achieve outcomes, and provide sufficient and equitable access to services.
• Partner with Human Resources to create/revise job descriptions, recruit and hire staff, arrange for layoff and callback of part‑year staff, administer corrective action, maintain personnel records, manage leaves of absence, etc.; serve as the lead for the agency’s onboarding and staff development for ECE staff.
• Participate in leadership team meetings, retreats, and other activities designed to enhance collaboration and promote consistency.
• Ensure fiscal management by monitoring educational expenditures.

• Hold regular team meetings and foster a culture of trust, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Set clear goals and expectations, provide regular supervision meetings, and…