Summary: Under the direction of the Special Services Supervisor, the Special Education Assistant provides educational services to the identified students according to their Individual Education Program by collaborating with the Special Education Teacher and classroom teachers.
Duties/Responsibilities:
The Special Education Assistant will ultimately be evaluated on a combination of skills, dispositions, and behaviors, some of which are related to the specific service area of this position and others that represent the general expectations of all United Community Center employees. The assistant teacher’s role encompasses effective practices in the following (as outlined in our Special Education Assistant Success Rubric):
- Works collaboratively with Special Education Teacher to assist students towards goals in IEP.
- Teach students to think through problems in Mathematics, Reading, and other areas identified in IEP.
- Administers tests, and records results while collaborating with Special Education and classroom teachers.
- Assigns lessons, correct papers, and hear oral presentations.
- Teaches rules of conduct
- Maintains order in the classroom.
- Counsel pupil’s when adjustment and academic problems arise.
- Discusses pupils’ academic and behavioral attitudes and achievements with parents.
- Keep attendance and records as required by school and IEPs.
- Participates in class field trips with identified students as needed.
- Attends meetings, conferences, and in-service, and participates in special events of the school and the agency.
Child Growth & Development: Uses knowledge of the principles of child growth and development to work with children and communicate with internal and external stakeholders.
- Implements a child-centered curriculum and learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation to promote development in all domains for children of all abilities.
- Addresses challenging behaviors by observing to determine possible causes of the behavior, implementing preventive measures, teaching the child new social and communication skills, and partnering with families to support the child at home.
- Uses observations of children and anecdotal notes to document children’s progress and individualize curriculum.
- Creates partnerships with families to establish positive interaction patterns in program, school, and home.
The Assistant Teacher’s responsibilities also fall within the following core functions, although s/he may perform other tasks as needed:
- Planning
- Program Implementation
- Family Partnerships
- Communication and Service Coordination
- Record Keeping and Reporting
- On-going Monitoring and Self-Assessment
- Supervision and Human Resources
- Planning and implementing learning experiences that advance the intellectual and physical development of children, including improving the readiness of children for school by developing their literacy and phonemic, print, and numeracy awareness, their understanding and use of language, their understanding and use of increasingly complex and varied vocabulary, their appreciation of books, and their problem-solving abilities.
- Establishing and maintaining a safe, healthy learning environment.
- Supporting the social and emotional development of children.
- Encouraging the involvement of the families of the children in a Head Start program and supporting the development of relationships between children and their families.
PLANNING
● Will assist in ensuring that the written curriculum includes:
- goals for children’s development and learning.
- the experiences through which children will achieve these goals.
- what staff and parents can do to help children achieve these goals
- the materials needed to support the implementation of the curriculum towards achieving the stated goals.
- Responsible for collaborating with the teacher in the preparation of daily lesson plans. Post them for parents, volunteers, and visitors in the classroom.
- Will assist in the development of individual plans for each child including goal setting based on identified needs and prescriptions for objectives and activities to meet established child outcomes.
PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
- Follow program curriculum providing developmentally and linguistically appropriate experiences appropriate to age, language and culture of children served.
- Provide positive guidance and discipline supporting children as they acquire readiness skills for kindergarten and beyond.
- Implement daily lesson plans in response to children’s needs and interests incorporating observations, anecdotal record keeping, knowledge of early childhood development and the key experiences.
- Implement Individual Family Services Plans (IFSPs) for children with disabilities.
- Provide children with a consistent classroom routine.
- Provide supervision and ensure the safety and security of children at all times in accordance with Head Start and day care licensing requirements.
- Supervise and eat nutritionally prepared meals and/or snacks with the children as a curriculum activity, to model good nutrition and proper social.
- Supervise all classroom field trips and outdoor activities.
- Understand regulations associated with prevention of disease and injury, including the exercise of universal precautions and the prevention of contamination.
FAMILY PARTNERSHIPS
- Invite parent involvement in the development of the program’s curriculum and approach to child development and education.
- Provide opportunities for parents to increase their child observation skills and to share assessments with staff that help plan the learning experiences.
- Encourage parent participation in staff-parent conferences and home visits discussing their child’s development and education.
- Establish positive and productive relationships with families focusing on building trust and rapport.
- Work with the teacher to schedule and complete two home visits per year and at least two parent-teacher conferences per year.
- Participate in parent orientation and ongoing parent training as required.
- Identify and refer parents wanting to volunteer in the classroom, work as substitutes, or in other volunteer activities to Family Advocate. Support parent volunteers in the classroom as needed.
- Share pertinent information with Family Advocate ensuring coordinated services to meet the needs of individual children and families. Participate in case conferences as appropriate.
- Maintain regular contact with parents and complete appropriate documentation.
- Forward classroom updates to the teacher to be included in the monthly newsletter.
- Direct developmental concerns to the Health, Nutrition and Disabilities Coordinator.
RECORD KEEPING AND RECORDING
- Request supplies as needed and participate in classroom/program inventory as requested.
- Gather and maintain individual, family and classroom data for documentation, on-going assessment, evaluation and recording keeping for successful individual and program planning.
ONGOING MONITORING AND SELF-ASSESSMENT
- Conduct daily health checks.
- Assess children on an on-going basis. Gather and organize anecdotal notes into the key goals and objectives and document in Ts-Gold.
- Work with the teaching team to analyze child outcomes on a classroom basis twice yearly, consult with the education coordinator and make adjustments to curriculum planning and implementation as needed.
SUPERVISION AND HUMAN RESOURCES
- Model appropriate classroom practices.
- Work with the Education Coordinator and Teacher to develop and support the individual development plan for assigned volunteers.
- Assist the Teacher in devising work methods and procedures that support improvements in existing work practices; supporting the volunteers you supervise in developing and setting goals, priorities and timelines.
- Maintain the plan to meet changing or emergent program requirements within available resources and with minimum sacrifice to quantity or quality of work.
- Participates actively in bi-weekly Team Meetings to reflect on performance, generate solutions and ensure high-quality classroom operations.
- Participates actively in bi-weekly Special Education Assistant Meetings.
- Participates in assigned meetings, events and training as required.
Non-Essential Duties:
- Performs any and all other duties as assigned.
Job Specifications:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to carry out each essential duty in a satisfactory manner. The job specifications listed below are representative of the education and experience as well as the knowledge, skill and/or ability (KSAs) required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:
- Ability to interact effectively with people from diverse backgrounds.
- Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing.
- Demonstrated computer literacy skills, using MS Office, Google applications and other basic data systems including internet navigation.
- Must be honest, dependable and able to meet deadlines.
- Self-motivated and able to work independently.
Physical Requirements:
- Ability to sit most of the time with some bending and reaching.
- Ability to stand, walk, and bend periodically.
- Ability to engage in the repetitive movement of wrists, hands, and fingers – typing and/or writing.
- Ability to work frequently at close visual range (i.e. preparing and analyzing data and figures, accounting, transcription, computer terminal, extensive reading).
- Ability to receive and respond to oral communication.
- Ability to exert up to 10 pounds of force to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects.
Working Conditions:
- Work is generally performed in a classroom/school/daycare environment.
- Noise level in the work environment is moderate to occasionally loud (examples: classroom with children playing, playground duty with several classrooms using the playground, (loud voices during classroom play or during recess: working with computers and printers, light to moderate traffic, human voices
- Standard office equipment generally used includes:
- Telephone
- Personal Computer (monitor, keyboard, and mouse) or Tablet
- Printer/Photocopy Machine
- Calculator
- Fax Machine
- May be required to operate a motor vehicle during the course of duties.
