Career Center

The Director, Continuing Education & Professional Development will report to the Managing Director, Early Care & Education and will lead the provision of innovative, accessible, and high-quality professional development opportunities for early childhood educators and leaders in Agenda for Children’s service area (Southeast Louisiana). They will be responsible for the content development, quality, and logistics of Agenda’s early childhood professional development offerings and will manage Agenda’s internal and external professional development opportunities including workshops, summits, seminars, communities of practice, asynchronous learning, and fee-for-service contracts. Additionally, they will supervise, develop, and evaluate internal team members as well as oversee the observation and development of contracted facilitators and internal staff as needed. This is a full-time position located in New Orleans, Louisiana including office hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and some Saturdays as needed.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEADERSHIP (75%)

• Collaborate with Managing Director, Early Care & Education and Director, Early Care & Education to create annual professional development plan of workshops that promote and demonstrate research-based practices focused on improving the quality of early care and education for children birth to age 8
• Work with Manager, Continuing Education & Professional Development and Coordinator, Professional Development to organize, coordinate, and execute annual calendar of workshops for early learning programs in the surrounding region, Agenda staff, contracted facilitators, and external partners
• Work with Managing Director, Early Care & Education and Director, Contracts & Compliance to oversee execution of CCR&R contract
• Work with Manager, Continuing Education & Professional Development to meet monthly CCR&R unit targets and revise annual plan as needed
• Attend regularly scheduled LDOE CCR&R meetings
• Oversee preparation and completion of monthly Measurement of Success (MOS) reporting
• Support Manager, Continuing Education & Professional Development in creating and developing specialized workshops and targeted professional development activities as needed for internal and external learners
• Support Manager, Continuing Education & Professional Development in planning and offering professional development opportunities on adult learning and workshop facilitation techniques to Agenda early care and education specialists and contracted facilitators
• Support Manager, CLASS Quality & Improvement in planning and coordinating CLASS observations for the New Orleans Early Education Network
• Support Manager, CLASS Quality & Improvement in assuring CLASS observation quality
• Support Manager, CLASS Quality & Improvement in developing and implementing professional development of contracted CLASS observers, Agenda staff members, and leaders and teachers in the New Orleans Early Education Network (NOEEN)
• Work with Manager, CLASS Quality & Improvement to create annual calendar of CLASS trainings (Observer, Introduction, Group Coaching)
• Support Manager, CLASS Quality & Improvement in offering annual calendar of CLASS trainings
• Deliver professional development workshops as needed, both virtually and in-person
• Collaborate with Professional Development team to analyze registration management system data and data tracking tools to inform planning
• Oversee the updating, branding, and organization of Agenda's early childhood training workshops, with the goal of creating a dynamic and coherent training curricula that can be offered both virtually and in person
• Oversee internal creation or advise contracted content creator(s) as needed to ensure development of asynchronous professional development courses that are research-based
• Oversee internal creation or advise contracted content creator(s) as needed to ensure development of new professional development materials and workshops that are research-based and aligned with the Agenda for Children style guide, policies, and practices
• Oversee development and distribution of online learning resources for families, leaders, and teachers (ex. Two Minute Toolbox, Ten Minute Toolbox, Online Learning Resource Library)
• Market fee-for-service workshop opportunities to lead agencies, schools, and programs across the region and update state vendor guide as necessary
• Explore obtaining the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Trainings (IACET) approval to offer higher education continuing education units (CEU) and explore becoming an Institute of Higher Education

HUMAN CAPITAL SUPPORT (25%)

• Work with Manager, Continuing Education & Professional Development to observe and evaluate internal early care and education specialists and contracted facilitators on a quarterly basis, providing them with verbal and written feedback and resources for improvement and development
• Support Manager, Continuing Education & Professional Development in recruiting, onboarding, and developing new contracted facilitators and child care health consultants
• Supervise, develop, and evaluate members of the Professional Development team (Manager, Continuing Education & Professional Development; Manager, CLASS Quality & Improvement)

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree required; Master’s degree in early childhood, education leadership, or related field preferred
• Minimum of 7 years of relevant early childhood education experience
• Demonstrated regional, state, and/or national leadership experience related to advocating for children and the early childhood sector
• Demonstrated experience leading strategic planning and identifying short- and long-term goals and related strategies
• CLASS reliable in Infant, Toddler, Pre-K, and K-3 preferred; or, willing to obtain reliability in all tools
• Louisiana Pathways certification; or, willing to obtain certification
• TS GOLD Interrater Reliability certification; or, willing to obtain certification
• Familiarity with early childhood curricula/Tier 1 curricula and TS GOLD
• Demonstrated ability to professionally develop adult learners
• Workshop delivery, management, and coordination experience
• Demonstrated experience of effective project management
• Strong understanding of early childhood development and developmentally appropriate practice
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Digital literacy skills, including the abilities to work within Zoom, Excel, Microsoft Office, Google Docs, etc.
• Ability and experience creating dynamic and engaging professional development content to be delivered both virtually and in-person
• Ability and experience in converting engaging in-person professional development trainings to dynamic and engaging virtual trainings delivered via Zoom or other platforms
• Ability to work cooperatively and effectively with colleagues, educators, leaders and community partners, including the ability to create and nurture a professional community of adult learners
• Models continuous improvement, demonstrates lifelong learning and resourcefulness, and applies new learning to help all children and teachers succeed
• Ability to work both independently and as a member of a team
• Experience and commitment to providing high quality customer service support exemplifying respect, patience, attentiveness and culturally aware, competent and responsive interactions
• Possible travel to regional offices or training venues and in and out of state centers and organizations
• Genuine commitment to early childhood education for children age 0-8
• Experience designing, delivering and recording webinars