Teaching Assistant

We are currently seeking a highly motivated Teaching Assistant to join our team. In this role, you will support Lead Teachers in providing a high-quality, multicultural, and inclusive educational experience that prepares children and families for both life and school.

Essential Functions

• Maintain a healthy, safe, and warm classroom environment through effective supervision, developmentally appropriate practices that allow learning through curiosity, experimentation, play, and implementation of individualized plans.
• Assist Lead Teachers in delivering weekly lesson plans by preparing materials, organizing supplies, and helping keep children (9 - 18 months of age) on task.
• Assist teaching team in completion of Teaching Strategies Gold observations and checkpoint data to assess child growth and development.
• Provide support for children's behavior with evidence-based strategies.
• Assist in maintaining children’s attendance, file documents in a secure, organized system for easy reference by other staff.
• Provide guidance and direction to substitutes, volunteers, and classroom aides.

Note: The job duties listed here are not intended to be an exhaustive list. Incumbent may be required to perform other duties in order to meet the needs of DLEC.

Skills, Competencies and Experience

• Must meet one of the following education qualifications:
  • Infant/Toddler Child Development Associate (CDA) credential.
  • Associate's degree in Early Childhood Education or a related field.
  • Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education or a related field is strongly preferred.
• Experience working with children ages 5 and under.
• Able to communicate in English verbally and in writing.
• Bilingual in a language spoken by DLEC parents (Spanish, Portuguese, Tigrinya, Amharic, Cantonese, and Vietnamese) preferred.

Physical Demands and Working Conditions

• Physical Demands: To perform the job, the employee must be able to lift and potentially carry a child weighing up to 50 pounds, routinely kneel, bend, crouch, and sit on the floor for extended periods and stand, walk and sit on child-sized chairs throughout the day.
• Working Conditions: The work is typically performed in an early childhood school environment, with moderate to loud noise.
• The physical demands described here must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. The working conditions are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Employment Requirements

All staff must comply with state vaccination guidelines, including MMR, and provide a negative TB test (within the last 12 months) or an x-ray, as well as a pre-employment physical. Medical or religious exemptions may be requested, and if approved, weekly testing will be required.

Employment or volunteer service at Denise Louie Education Center is conditioned on a criminal background check as required by child care licensing and Head Start Performance Standards. The 60 categories of criminal convictions or pending charges disqualifying a person from having access to children in child care are in WAC 388-330-040.

Certain positions require degrees, coursework, or other certifications. You will be asked to provide proof of your stated education prior to hire.

Pay Range and Schedule

The complete pay range for this position is $24.14 - $29.43 per hour. Regular Schedule Monday to Friday 9:00am - 5:30pm, subject to change.

Benefits

As a Denise Louie Education Center team member, you may receive some or all of the following employee benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, Long-Term Disability, and options for supplemental Insurance coverage. Team members are eligible to participate in the company 401(k) plan, which offers a non-elective employer contribution after an introductory period. In addition, eligible full-time and part-time employees will accrue up to 18 days of PTO, eighteen paid holidays, and one personal holiday annually.

Additional compensation may come in the form of tuition reimbursement, hiring, retention, longevity, referral, or special assignment bonuses, subject to budgetary limitation. Please visit our career page for more information on our current benefit offerings.