Director, Early Childhood Education (ECE) Strategy

Department
 

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About the Department
 

The TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health at the University of Chicago develops, tests, and implements evidence-based interventions designed to promote very young children’s cognitive and social-emotional development, with a priority placed on that of children living in poverty. TMW Center interventions are designed to be overlaid onto existing health, education, and social service systems working at scale in a given community in order to meet families where they already are. The TMW Center has a robust research and development strategy that includes further development and testing of TMW interventions; harnessing technology to support behavior change, intervention engagement, and analysis; and furthering strategies to engage parents in the TMW Center’s interventions across the health, early learning, and social service sectors.

Job Summary
 

The TMW Center seeks a Director of Early Childhood Education (ECE) Strategy to lead the testing, development and implementation of its suite of tools that support Early Childhood Education (ECE) practitioners. These tools harness technology and brain-development research to maximize the growth of children’s brains during their first years of life, the period of life when most of the brain is developed. The Director will manage the day-to-day responsibilities of the development and implementation of Professional Development resources for ECE teachers and other early childhood professionals, as well as parents and caregivers broadly. TMW Center research has identified that the quality of interactions between caregivers, parents and teachers has a powerful impact on children’s outcomes. The Director will test, refine, and expand the tools available for ECE professionals by working closely with TMW Center researchers and developers, and childcare and Pre-K providers around the United States. We are seeking a seasoned leader with a demonstrated commitment to supporting and implementing high-quality, inclusive early childhood education. The preferred candidate will have prior teaching and/or administrative experience within early childhood classroom settings (e.g., an accredited childcare center, Head Start Center,
Pre-K, etc.).

The preferred candidate will have a firm understanding of current best-practice pedagogy related to language development instruction, as well as some familiarity with quality improvement strategies, professional learning practices and tools (such as Teaching Strategies Gold, CLASS, LENA etc.) The preferred candidate will also have experience working collaboratively and respectfully with colleagues, especially those of differing backgrounds. Some travel will be required (approximately 10%).

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic direction, overseeing the effective implementation of existing and new ECE initiatives utilizing an integrated, cross-teams approach to achieve organizational objectives.  Provide educator expertise to inform strategy and develop content for TMW’s ECE professional development resources including new technology and tools.

• Lead the planning and execution of comprehensive ECE programming strategies for targeted engagement with external executive leadership and administrative teams fostering collaborative initiatives and advancing TMW’s mission.

• Maintain current knowledge on national ECE trends, best practices, research, and initiatives with keen insight on professional development, quality improvement measures, workforce development and technical assistance programs; use this data to inform and guide development of TMW’s strategic priorities.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of TMW Center programs and tools through a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures.

• Design and implement new programs and strategies based on the outcomes of evaluations and the emergent needs of partners or the TMW Center.

• Assist with the composition, editing, and proofing of programmatic reports, grants, and contracts; maintain oversight for and assist in execution of deliverables outlined in designated grant and/or contractual awards.

• Support human resource activities for assigned staff and future employees including hiring, orientation, supervision, performance planning and evaluation, staff development and employee relations.

• Tracks progress, conducts analysis, as well as prepares for and facilitates project meetings. Ensures adherence to quality standards and reviews project deliverables.

• Acts as a resource and subject matter expert for project team and provides analytical guidance. Interprets complex project issues and provides analytical guidance to a project team.

• Leads and coordinates the successful integration of vendor tasks and