Instructional Assistant - PreSchool at Metropolitan School District of Warren Township

JOB TITLE:                 Early Childhood Development Assistant 

FLSA CLASSIFICATION:         Non-exempt, hourly employee.

WORK DAYS:                 181 days (those days when students are scheduled to attend school).

STANDARD HOURS PER DAY:     7 hours per day (not including a 30-minute unpaid duty-free meal break).

WORK YEAR: The Early Childhood Development Assistant is scheduled to work all days when students are scheduled to attend school, depending on which calendar the school follows.

SALARY SCHEDULE & BENEFITS: The Early Childhood Development Assistant  is paid on the “Instructional Assistants” salary schedule, and is eligible for benefits on the “Support Staff” benefits schedule. Starting hourly rate is $16.05.

REPORTS TO: The Early Childhood Development Assistant  is supervised by one or more teachers. Early Childhood Development Assistant s and teachers report to the building Principal.

SUPERVISES: The Early Childhood Development Assistant  does not directly supervise. 

GENERAL SUMMARY OF DUTIES:

Under direct supervision, the Early Childhood Development Assistant  provides support in an educational environment, performing paraprofessional work in assisting teachers and students. The Early Childhood Development Assistant  works with children individually or in small groups by providing basic instruction in abilities and skills developmentally appropriate for Early Childhood aged children. The Early Childhood Development Assistant  is responsible for supporting a variety of developmentally appropriate activities, as well as assisting teachers with escorting children to various scheduled activities, i.e., lunch, rest time, restrooms. Performs related work as directed. 

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: 

1. Monitors activities and behavior of children during the absence of the classroom teacher(s) to ensure their physical and environmental safe keeping, as well as adherence to appropriate conduct and disciplinary controls. 

2. Assists the teacher(s) in the supervision of learning activities, circulating within the classroom and providing assistance and learning support to children. 

3. Provides instruction to children as prescribed by the supervising teacher(s) and reinforces skills introduced by the teacher(s); may utilize games, stories, or other constructive activities to enhance the students’ learning skills. 

4. Assists the teacher(s) in checking and objectively evaluating students’ progress; instructs children individually and in small groups reinforcing skills based upon instructional guidelines. 

5. Assists children with gross motor activities such as grasping, holding objects, posture, crawling, walking, and running; assists children with fine motor activities through activities such as playing with toys, cutting materials, or coloring 

6. May be asked to assist in the preparation of lesson plans; may be asked to provide input and assistance in the development of classroom activities and learning tools. 

7. Assists the teacher(s) by noticing students’ potential learning, language and/or communication deficiencies; monitors children’s progressive learning skills; makes the teacher aware of students’ possible learning deficiencies; documents records of learning activities and diagnosis. 

8. Prepares or assists in the preparation of instructional materials; performs support tasks such as photocopying materials, laminating items, typing correspondence, and filing paperwork and documentation. 

9. Coordinates with media center staff for classroom learning resources; sets up equipment in the classroom for teacher's instructional studies. 

10. Assists in preparing classroom bulletin boards, classroom decorations, displays of children’s activities, and other classroom objectives. 

11. May be asked to prepare draft reports and to tentatively complete forms, schedules, and other data as directed. 

12. Learns assigned bus route(s) to assist with proper boarding of students.

13. Maintains accurate and complete records of a variety of student information which may require the use of a computer to enter scores and other children’s data. 

14. May be assigned monitoring duties, i.e., hallways, lunchroom, restrooms, and bus duty; ensures appropriate student conduct during these periods; escorts students to designated activity areas (i.e., music room, computer room, art classes, assemblies, etc.).

15. May be assigned to various labs providing assistance to teachers and instruction/information to students. 

16. Responsible for keeping up to date on current technology, as job appropriate, being used by warren. 

17. With the support of the district, attends training to ensure skill level in various technologies is at the level required to perform in current position.

18. Responsible for timely and accurate information they maintain as part of their job responsibilities. 

NON-ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

While the following tasks are necessary for the work of the unit, they are not an essential part of the purpose of this position and may also be performed by other unit members. 

1. Performs related duties as directed. 

ENTRY-LEVEL REQUIREMENTS:

1.    EDUCATION/TRAINING: High school diploma or GED is required; an Associate’s degree or higher; or at least sixty (60) semester hours from an accredited institution of higher education is preferred (Official transcripts are required to validate education.)

2.    EXPERIENCE: Previous vocational training or work experience with preschool or kindergarten age children is preferred.

3.    CERTIFICATIONS &/OR LICENSES: Able to meet the requirements of a paraprofessional as outlined in ESSA.  Pass the required Expanded Criminal History Check and Expanded Child Protection Index Check.  Must have at least an associate’s degree or two years of college or passed the ParaPro Assessment.   Highlander Park  offers the ParaPro Assessment at no cost for all Warren Township prospective employees.  Testing is offered Monday through Thursday at 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.  To register for your free assessment, email [email protected] or call 317-532-3000.

4.    OTHER: Ability to perform the essential functions, meet the performance aptitudes, and fulfill the physical/sensory/environmental requirements of the job (with or without reasonable accommodations) is required.

PERFORMANCE APTITUDES:

1. Data Utilization: Requires the ability to arrange, compare, count, differentiate, measure and/or sort data and/or information. Includes judging whether readily observable functional, structural or compositional characteristics are similar to or divergent from prescribed standards, procedures or routines. 

2. Human Interaction: Requires the ability to provide guidance, assistance, and/or interpretation to others on how to apply procedures and standards to specific situations. 

3. Equipment, Machinery, Tools, and Materials Utilization: Requires the ability to operate, maneuver and/or control the actions of standard office equipment. 

4. Verbal Aptitude: Requires the ability to utilize a wide variety of reference data and information. 

5. Mathematical Aptitude: Requires the ability to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. 

6. Functional Reasoning: Requires ability to carry out detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions. Involves routine work according to clearly prescribed standard practices, with some latitude for independent judgment. 

7. Situational Reasoning: Requires the ability to exercise judgment, decisiveness and creativity in situations involving a variety of generally pre-defined duties which are often characterized by frequent change. 

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: Tasks involve the ability to exert very moderate physical effort in light work, typically involving some combination of stooping, kneeling, crouching and crawling, and which may involve some lifting, carrying, pushing and/or pulling of objects and materials of moderate weight (12-20 pounds). 

SENSORY REQUIREMENTS: Most tasks require visual perception and discrimination. Some tasks require oral communications ability. Some tasks require the ability to perceive and discriminate sounds. 

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: Tasks are regularly performed without exposure to adverse environmental conditions, such as dirt, dust, pollen, odors, wetness, humidity, rain, fumes, temperature and noise extremes, machinery, vibrations, electric currents, traffic hazards, animals/wildlife, toxic/poisonous agents, violence, disease, or pathogenic substances.