Metro New York & Southern Connecticut

Position Vacancy – Director, Workforce Initiatives, Learning Starts at Birth, Bank Street Education Center

Background: In 2014-15, Bank Street’s strategic planning process identified the need for the college to partner with communities, early childhood organizations, school systems, and higher education organizations to advance educational practice with a focus on large-scale public impact. The Bank Street Education Center is the division of the college responsible for expanding Bank Street’s work in this way through external partnerships. To extend its impact, the Education Center recently established a unit devoted to systems change that seeks to influence policy and its implementation through strategic advisement and technical assistance, research and communications, and advocacy or movement-building work. Our goal is to create the conditions that support and nurture the proliferation of child-centered educational experiences for all children from birth through adulthood.

In support of this commitment, Learning Starts at Birth was established in 2019 to advocate for stronger investments in the early childhood workforce by deepening the expertise of educators, increasing compensation, aligning the policy and systems that define quality care, and generating the necessary public and political will to make this all possible. LSAB has released numerous publications, tools, and resources to make the implementation of this vision a reality. LSAB hosts communities of practice for residency/apprenticeship programs, partners with state, local, and educational partners to make change, and hosts leadership programs to build the capacity of our system to realize these kinds of transformational changes. We are seeking a new Director to join our team to lead a set of workforce initiatives designed to model and build more opportunities for high-quality professional learning pathways and compensation reform.

Key relationships:

The Director will report directly to the Associate Vice President at the Bank Street Education Center. The Director will also need to develop advisory relationships and collaborate with a range of stakeholders, including potential and secured partner organizations, apprenticeship or other program leaders and educators, policy or systems leaders, Early Childhood Graduate School faculty, and staff from across the college.

Responsibilities:

The Director will be responsible for identifying, developing, and implementing a range of initiatives that support the early childhood field to adopt more robust investments in the early childhood workforce. This includes but is not limited to, high-quality job-embedded support for pre-service and in-service educators and connected compensation reform. Partnerships will include both policy and practice-oriented forms of support, such as training systems or staff to implement reflective approaches to coaching, leading the development of new models for

grow-you-own staff development and certification, providing technical assistance and support for apprenticeship programs, and identifying policy or administrative opportunities for change to support the field. The Senior Director will also be asked to represent Bank Street’s approach and reform agenda at conferences and in collaborative work groups. He/she may also have the opportunity to co-author publications with the AVP or other leaders to highlight related learning through partnerships. This is not an academic position.

Partnership Development & Program Implementation

• Implement new partnerships with organizations committed to implementing or advocating for stronger investments in the early childhood workforce that align with Bank Street’s reform agenda
• Design and facilitate convenings, professional development opportunities, or other events for educators, leaders, or other stakeholders
• Work with identified organizations to offer targeted support that bolsters their efforts, including devising stronger professional learning pathways
• Support key stakeholders committed to executing our vision through joint advocacy
• Lead presentations on the learning and implications of this work at conferences as well as with funders, Education Center staff, and other internal college stakeholders (e.g., Graduate School faculty)
• Develop and execute strategies for effective documentation, research, and codification of efforts to share tools, resources, and experience with the field
• In collaboration with Bank Street leadership, build support from new funders and other stakeholders, resulting in additional grants or contracts to support ongoing work

Qualifications:

• Demonstrated expertise in early childhood policy and workforce strategies
• Deep understanding and alignment with Bank Street’s approach to reflective practice, coaching, and progressive education grounded in an understanding of human development
• Experienced facilitator and designer of professional learning through a variety of formats, including virtual learning modalities
• Knowledge of apprenticeship models or similar approaches to training early childhood educators
• Ability to conceive of and create a variety of training or communications materials for a variety of audiences, including powerpoint presentations
• Excellent presentation and interpersonal skills that resonate with audiences of different
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively and manage client relationships with external partners to manage key deliverables
• Demonstrated ability to design and manage complex projects.
• The ability to communicate persuasively, concisely, and unambiguously in writing and through presentation.
• Ability to work effectively with others at varying levels of an organization and to consistently display a high level of professionalism in all interactions.
• Flexibility in an ambiguous, fast-paced environment of quickly changing priorities and tight deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to design systems or processes to solve a problem.
• Strong critical thinking and project management skills.

Recommended Qualifications:

• 10 years of relevant experience in policy, systems leadership, higher education or other related work in early childhood with a focus on infants and toddlers preferred
• M.A. degree in education, public policy or related field

Salary Range: $100,000 - $125,000 annually

Additional Information:

• This position is contingent upon available funding.
• Up to 30% of travel is expected with reimbursement for approved travel provided for trips outside of New York City.
• Please apply online by submitting a cover letter and resume for the position in the “Job Opportunities” section under the “About” tab on Bank Street’s website: https://www.bankstreet.edu/administrative-offices/human-resources/job-opportunities/
• Please address cover letters to: Tracy Fray-Oliver - Vice President, Bank Street Education Center Bank Street College 610 West 112th Street New York, NY 10025

• Please include where you came across this job posting in your cover

BANK STREET COLLEGE OF EDUCATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF RACE, SEXUAL ORIENTATION ETHNIC ORIGIN, SEX, OR DISABILITY IN ITS EMPLOYMENT POLICIES AND OTHER COLLEGE ADMINISTERED PROGRAMS.

About Bank Street College of Education

The mission of Bank Street College is to improve the education of children and their teachers by applying to the educational process all available knowledge about learning and growth, and by connecting teaching and learning meaningfully to the outside world. In so doing, we seek to strengthen not only individuals, but the community as well, including family, school, and the larger society in which adults and children, in all their diversity, interact and learn. We see in education the opportunity to build a better society.

Connections working at Bank Street College of Education