Executive Director – Center for the Early Educator

Executive Director – Center for the Early EducatorJob Code: 2024-FORT WOR-020Location: Fort Worth, TXFT/PT Status: Regular Full TimePosition Information:Child Care Associates (CCA) is partnering with Texas A&M University’s Institute for Early Education at College Station and seeking applications from qualified individuals for the Executive Director to launch and lead all aspects of the Center.The Center’s Executive Director will work closely with CCA’s CEO, CCA’s Chief of Staff, and Texas A&M’s Director of the Institute of Early Childhood Development and Education to envision and launch this exciting new partnership in North Texas. The Executive Director will carry the vision for the development of a center that drives the development of a quality early educator workforce in North Texas in partnership with higher education, workforce boards, nonprofits, apprenticeships programs, and providers. The position will actively be involved in developing financial resources for the early years of the Center and will be instrumental in shaping a vision for its long-term success and impact.Center for the Early Educator ProfileEnvisioned as a model for Texas for rethinking approaches to developing early educators, the Center for the Early Educator is a joint partnership between North Texas grassroots nonprofits and the early childhood arm of a world-class Texas university. The Center has a dual purpose: to help the North Texas region develop innovative strategies towards building an early educator workforce at scale and to ensure individual early educators have the career guidance and support needed to make informed decisions.The long-term goal is to be a leading center that helps convene and collaborate leaders in higher education and nonprofits, scholars, practitioners, government leaders, and policymakers towards advancing a unified approach in Texas that builds a quality corps of early educators. This Executive Director role is pivotal in building a Center that balances scholarly research, practical applications, and identified needs and opportunities for innovation.Minimum Qualifications:PhD in early childhood education (or a PhD with related topic to young children may be considered)5-8 years university-level experience teaching in the field of early childhood education and/or PK-3 teacher preparatory programs, preferably at a Tier 1 universityDemonstrated leadership in higher education (faculty and/or administration) and/or public policy arenas in early educationDemonstrated experience in working with nonprofits, grassroots organizations, and practitionersDemonstrated expertise in developing early educators, with preference given to those with knowledge and experience of applying system perspectives to early childhood workforce developmentKnowledge and/or experience with North Texas higher education institutions and the local context of North TexasKnowledge and/or experience of state and/or national trends related to early educator workforce, workforce credentials, and career navigation, particularly issues facing families and children placed at riskProven ability to collaborate while taking the lead for new initiativesInterest in and ability to conduct research within the early childhood workforce development field preferredDemonstrated leadership in promoting educational equity and workforce diversity policies and strategiesExcellent organizational skills and proven ability to manage complex projects and move them forward to completionExcellent creative thinking, written, and verbal communication skills.Responsibilities:Develop the vision for and operate the Center for the Early EducatorServe as the Executive Director of the Center and guide its long-term structure and organizational development to best achieve its missionDevelop organizational documents, vision, mission, values, and goals distinctive to the Center in collaboration with CCA, Texas A&M, and community partnersDevelop and/or promote early educators career pathwaysEnsure all degree, credential, and training programs in North Texas are meaningfully curated towards introducing opportunities and options to early educatorsTrain, support, and supervise career navigators working with workforce board areas to support early educators along a career pathwayEnsure early educators have supported access to financial supports to offset the costs of earning degrees and credentialsDevelop promotional information, social media, and literature to help promote career options among early educatorsDevelop initial research surveying the early educator workforce in North Texas as a baseline and snapshot of current statusConvene higher education and nonprofit partners to serve in an advisory function for current and future workforce studiesDevelop partnerships and systems to collect data that track progress on developing an early educator workforceHelp lead and coordinate priorities for research that impact the field of early education and early educatorsCollaborate with researchers on projects, analysis, and research related to developing early educators and the child care workforceDevelop a big tent, collective impact strategy towards ensuring North Texas has the early educator workforce it needs today and in the decade aheadSupport Texas A&M and CCA in joint fundraising and grant reporting on behalf of the centerOther related duties as assigned.Communications:The ideal candidate is adaptive and entrepreneurial while a team player who seeks to advance the Center and its goals.Knowledge, enthusiasm, and passion for early childhood and ability to establish credibility in the education, human services, and university communities.Must be a fast self-starter comfortable with attention to detail and ability to work independently.A strong sense of the requirements of a stable organization and its long-term needs with the ability to exercise significant initiative and creativity in developing new value-added relationships with the Center’s stakeholders.Should be an optimistic, positive, resilient, insightful, and performance-driven decision maker, problem solver, and consensus builder.

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