The Early Childhood Specialist will work to provide direction and leadership to achieve school readiness
goals in a high quality, early childhood education environment with meaningful family, community, and
public/private school engagement. This position serves to manage, monitor, and implement policies and
procedures to comply with funding standards and requirements to meet program goals with measurable
outcomes/results. To provide guidance, support and professional development opportunities for staff. In
addition, this position works to implement and carry out a comprehensive program with services to
children with disabilities and in monitoring aspects of the program related to child safety and safe
environments. Additionally, this position will serve as a coach for other identified program staff.

This position will also be responsible for the oversight and direct management of state funded programs,
which includes assisting with recruitment and enrollment, managing attendance, and data entry as
required by OCDEL.

Early Childhood Education/Disabilities/Safety
1. Implements funding standards and requirements for the delivery of comprehensive early childhood
education including parent/family, community and public/private school engagement.
2. Establishes policies and procedures for the education and safety portion of the program with parents
and staff that support the effective implementation of this content area.
3. Works closely with management to assure adequate classroom supplies and equipment are available
to staff and that buses and schedules are appropriate for young children.
4. Knowledgeable of Head Start Program Performance Standards, with specific knowledge of Program
Operations (1302).
5. Knowledgeable of the Pre-K Counts Regulations, PA Early Learning Standards, Head Start Early
Learning Outcomes Framework and any other applicable federal and state regulations.
6. Attends and leads as appropriate all general staff and service area staff meetings. Plans and attends
other meetings and training as requested by supervisor.
7. Observes individual children as requested by Teachers and provides suggestions for behavior
management and educational programming. As is necessary, develops basic behavior plans for
individual children. When appropriate, work with families to access other community resources for
additional mental health services.
8. Works to ensure that Teachers are implementing and using safety practices as related to: fire drills,
health & safety checks, emergency evacuation plans and additional items related to health and safety
education curriculum implemented in the centers.
9. Works closely with other staff, parents and specialists/consultants to support arrangements for
identification, referrals, parent permission, maintaining confidentiality of records, evaluation and
individual program planning for children with special needs.
10. Facilitates team staffing of children and schedules and coordinates any special meetings related to
child staffing, as necessary to support participation in the classroom.
11. Ensures Head Start/Pre-K Counts Services to children with Disabilities are in compliance with federal
regulations and laws governing disabilities efforts as defined in IDEA and ADA.
12. Implement the program’s referral process for any suspected disability, including a tracking system for
follow-up.
13. Arranges for further, formal evaluation of a child who has been identified as possibly having a
disability.
14. Collaborates with LEA's and special service providers to ensure integrated, coordinated provision of
special services to include joint parent and staff training and Child Find activities. Initiates community
partnership agreements.
15. Assists in implementing intervention strategies within the classroom with the intent and support for
Teachers and other classroom staff to be able to carry out strategies independently.
16. Attends home visits, parent conferences, and behavioral health or IEP meetings when requested or
as necessary.
17. Responsible for tracking that all staff has an individual development plan and works with the Program
Director for development of an agency-wide T/TA Plan.
18. Stays abreast of NAEYC, Head Start, Federal and State mandates and other applicable regulations
and regularly updates program procedures and informs centers of application in the workplace to
ensure program compliance.
19. Assists in recruiting families for all programs.
20. Assists the Management Team in providing parents with a Program Handbook that explains program
policies.
21. Ensures that the schedule for Pre-K Counts reflects appropriate instructional activities as defined by
the regulations.
22. Ensures the program is in compliance with State reporting requirements related to the Early Learning
Network (Pelican).
23. Assists classroom staff in maintaining an inventory of classroom materials and supplies, which will be
reviewed annually.
24. Assists teaching staff in understanding and interpreting child observation data and establishing
appropriate individual child goals based on knowledge of child development. Ensures that Teachers
have assessments completed by specific deadlines.
25. Assists teaching staff in developing a system which offers parents opportunities for enhancing their
skills as first educator of their children through the use of home learning activities, family nights,
planning educational activities, attending trainings and providing opportunities to volunteer, etc.
26. Assists other Managers/Specialist and teaching staff with transition of Head Start and Pre-K Counts
children to kindergarten as well as children transitioning into Head Start or Pre-K Counts.
27. Maintains strict confidentiality with respect to all enrolled children, families and staff in accordance
with established policies and procedures.
28. Assis with preparation for and participates in annual PRI review.
29. Performs other duties as assigned.

Transition
1. Provides Transition services to Head Start/Pre-K Counts families in cooperation with other
agencies/providers. Provides referrals of parents and children to other agencies/providers as needed.
2. Develops and implements a strategy which supports a successful transition for children with
disabilities or other special needs into the Head Start/Pre-K Counts programs or from Head Start/Pre-
K Counts into kindergarten or another community program. Works closely with the Part C Early
Intervention Program and Early Head Start to recruit and enroll eligible children into Head Start/Pre-K
Counts.
3. Organizes and participates in joint transition-related training or activities of school staff and Head
Start/Pre-K Counts staff.
4. Establishes channels of communication between Head Start/Pre-K Counts staff and their
counterparts in the schools (including Teachers, Family Services and Health staff) or with other
programs (Early Intervention, Private Preschools, Early Head Start, etc…) to facilitate coordination of
programs.
5. Develops and implements a systematic procedure for transferring, with parental consent, Head
Start/Pre-K Counts program records for each participant child to the school in which such child will
enroll.
6. Attends any meetings deemed necessary by supervisor.

Coaching
1. Provide evidence-based recommendations to develop site-specific and program-wide professional
development/TTA plans to ensure that appropriate professional development opportunities including
mentoring, peer sharing/networking, peer training, and practice based coaching are offered to
improve staff performance and impact to have positive outcomes for children and families.
2. Utilize practice based coaching and reflective supervision to provide opportunities for respective staff
to be more successful.
3. Identify staff who require intensive coaching. Identify, with the employee, areas in which they need to
grow or strengthen in order to increase overall quality of skills. Identified staff will be coached through
modeling and feedback regarding effective teaching practices aligned to the Head Start Early
Learning Outcomes Framework, PA Early Learning Standards, the curriculum and school readiness
goals.
4. Ensure staff participates in required and/or optional job-related training and professional development
opportunities to improve staff performance and impact to have positive outcomes for children and
families.
5. Provide information and leadership to coaching implementation team.
6. Attend coaching training as required.

Monitoring, Recordkeeping and Fiscal
1. With the other Managers/Specialists:
a. Monitors compliance with the Head Start Program Performance Standards, Head Start Act, Pre-K
Counts Regulations, and other federal or state regulations or standards.
b. Develops and implements a plan and system of continuous monitoring and evaluation of activities
within the program.
2. Maintains team filing, tracking and documentation systems.
3. Maintains program system for child files for the Pre-K Counts program.
4. Submit verbal and/or written reports to the Senior Manager for Early Education Services on the area
activities and status as needed.
5. Works with program director to create a specific schedule for monitoring and observation on a
frequent and re-occurring schedule.
6. Monitors expenses related to the areas covered.
7. Completes the identification, purchase and annual inventory of education supplies and equipment in
accordance with the budget.
8. Understands, generates and documents in-kind and other allowable costs applied toward the non-
federal share requirement.
9. Performs other duties as assigned.

Supervision and Training
1. With the other Managers/Specialists, plans and implements pre-service and on-going in-service
activities for Teachers, Assistant Teachers, Teacher and Program Aides.
2. Works with individual Teachers to develop training plans for obtaining an AA degree or higher in Early
Childhood Education.
3. Works with Assistant Teachers to develop training plans for obtaining a CDA credential or higher
degree in the field of Early Childhood Education.
4. Works in conjunction with Pre-K Counts Teacher to ensure completion of the teacher induction plan
and obtains the required number of hours for professional development as needed each year.
5. Works to ensure that Pre-K Counts Teacher Aides obtain the required number of hours for
professional development as needed each year and maintains CDA credentialing.
6. Develops, conducts or arranges training as needed, including volunteer training in the classroom, and
CDA training as appropriate.
7. Provides guidance and oversight to teaching staff through monitoring and in designing
developmentally appropriate classroom or home-based environments.
8. Works with Director and other management staff on health, nutrition and safety education curriculum.
9. Reviews and knows the agency employee recruitment and selection procedures to ensure
consistence and compliance with EEO, legal hiring practices and internal policies and procedures.
10. Monitors individual performance of Teachers, Assistant Teachers/Teacher Aides, and Program Aides
and provides appropriate levels of support to all education staff.
11. As supervisory issues develop, informs the Director of any continuing problematic performance
issues. When appropriate, develops individual, employee performance improvement plans.
12. Assists Teachers in obtaining and developing appropriate supervisory skills necessary to interact with
their respective staff.
13. Participate in all training and professional development activities as required under the Head Start
Program Performance Standards, the Head Start Act, OCDEL, and as planned for by the program.
14. Performs other duties as assigned.

Knowledge and Abilities
1. Must have knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices in Early Childhood Education.
2. A working knowledge of early brain development and research.
3. Understand the needs for supporting adult learners.
4. Knowledge of program planning and supervisory techniques and practices.
5. Knowledge of basic fiscal accountability.
6. Thorough knowledge of Head Start Program Performance Standards, The Head Start Act, Pre-K
Counts regulations, and best practice related to Early Childhood Education.
7. Knowledge of federal, state and local regulations.
8. Knowledge of local resources, language and customs helpful.
9. Ability to know and implement the Head Start Program Performance Standards and policies of the
agency.
10. Ability to exercise professional judgment in evaluating before making decisions.
11. Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with agency staff, children and
parents, and outside agencies.
12. Ability to keep all information strictly confidential.