Senior Director of Social Work Programs, DEC
Position Summary: The Division of Early Childhood Education (DECE) supports the operational and programmatic functions of early childhood education programs for NYC children in elementary schools, Pre-K Centers, and New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) contracted settings included in Community Based Organizations (CBO) and through Family Child Care (FCC) programs. DECE provides families with access to high quality early childhood options, for children birth to five, in rich diverse settings, supporting children’s growth and development. Working together with families and programs, DECE ensures that children are engaged, nurtured and supported.
The Senior Director of Social Work provides strategic leadership and oversight of social work services across Pre-K through Grade 3 programs citywide. This role sets the vision, drives implementation, and ensures high quality, equitable delivery of social-emotional, mental health, and family support services across all early childhood settings, including district schools, community based organizations, and FCC/home based programs.
The Senior Director is responsible for advancing trauma informed, culturally responsive, and developmentally appropriate practices; strengthening alignment across diverse early childhood delivery models; and ensuring that social work services contribute to improved student outcomes and family engagement. This role utilizes data, inquiry, coaching, and strategic planning to drive continuous improvement and system wide impact. Performs related work.
Reports to: Chief of Capacity Building and Family Engagement
Direct Reports: Director of Social Work, Leadership Coach/Social Work Administrator and Social Workers.
Key Relationships: DECE Chiefs, DECE Learning and Partnerships staff, DECE field offices and Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning.
Responsibilities
Organizational Strategy and Policy Leadership
- Set the vision and strategic direction for social work services across early childhood programs, aligned to NYCPS priorities and the needs of children and families.
- Lead and influence the development and refinement of system wide early childhood and social work policy, ensuring alignment with developmentally appropriate practice, social-emotional learning, and family engagement goals.
- Serve as a key advisor to the Chancellor and senior leadership on matters related to early childhood social-emotional development, mental health support, and family engagement.
- Advance equitable access to high quality social-emotional and mental health supports across all early childhood settings, with a focus on culturally responsive and trauma informed practices.
- Ensure coherence and alignment of social work support across diverse delivery models, including school based, center based, and FCC/home based programs.
- Build and sustain a high performing, collaborative team culture focused on continuous improvement, strong relationships with programs, and measurable results.
- Partner strategically with Early Childhood Education leadership and cross functional teams to ensure coherence across initiatives and priorities.
Program Operations and Systems Management
- Oversee the implementation of social work services across all early childhood seat types citywide including district schools, CBOs/CBECCs, and FCC/home based programs ensuring fidelity, quality, and alignment with NYCPS policies, contracts, and regulations.
- Ensure accountability and compliance with all State and City laws, regulations, and policies governing early childhood programs across all settings.
- Oversee and develop a citywide social work workforce strategy, including supervision structures, staffing models, and capacity building systems that are responsive to varied program types.
- Supervise and support program specialists and ensure high quality performance management, coaching, and professional growth across all levels of staff.
- Ensure that social worker assignments, schedules, and service delivery models are responsive to the needs of school, center, and home based programs and adjusted as necessary throughout the school year.
- Collaborate with Operations and Teaching and Learning teams on RFPs and provider selection processes across all delivery models (school based, center based, and FCC/home based) to ensure alignment with social-emotional and family support priorities.
- Oversee early childhood program quality observation processes in alignment with NYCPS policies and Pre-K regulations across all settings.
Professional Learning and Capacity Building
- Set the strategic direction for professional learning for early childhood social workers and contribute to broader system wide capacity building efforts.
- Design and oversee the delivery of professional development that strengthens social-emotional learning, family engagement practices, and developmentally appropriate approaches across all early childhood settings.
- Influence and support the professional learning of principals, directors, and FCC providers to ensure alignment with best practices in early childhood and social work.
- Lead large scale professional learning initiatives, ensuring coherence, quality, and impact across school, center, and home based programs.
- Foster systems and communities of practice that enable collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning across diverse program types.
Program Evaluation, Research, and Continuous Improvement
- Lead system wide efforts to use data and inquiry to assess program quality, identify trends, and drive continuous improvement in social work services across all early childhood settings.
- Provide strategic guidance to school, center, and home based program teams in analyzing student data, setting goals, and implementing evidence based strategies to improve outcomes.
- Oversee the evaluation of early childhood programs across all seat types, ensuring alignment with quality standards and improvement frameworks.
- Research, analyze, and apply emerging best practices in early childhood, social-emotional development, and family engagement to inform policy and practice.
- Support programs in developing and implementing action plans based on quality rating and improvement systems.
Qualification Requirements:
Minimum
Must currently possess or will possess by date of hire, New York State certification as a school district administrator (SDA) or school district leader (SDL); or the Administrator Certificate plus Superintendent extension. Please Note: We do not accept internship certificates.
For more information regarding the DOE’s supervisory certification requirements, as well as a link to the New York State Education Department’s website to apply for certification, please visit our website at https://www.schools.nyc.gov/careers/principals-and-assistant-principals/school-leader-and-supervisory-certification.
Preferred
- Minimum of five (5) years of satisfactory, full time experience as a social worker and/or tenured teacher and/or staff developer/teacher trainer of early childhood grades.
- Permanent State certification.
- Master of Social Work Degree; or Early Childhood, Bilingual Early Childhood, Common Branches, or Bilingual Common Branches license.
- Expert knowledge of developmentally appropriate early childhood practices, including social emotional learning and family engagement.
- Ability to assess program quality, use assessment outcomes to assist programs in developing quality improvement goals and strategies, and assist programs in achieving these goals.
- Strong program management skills, with the ability to plan, organize, develop, and lead the implementation of programs and large scale projects on a school, district or citywide basis.
- Strong leadership, relationship building and communication skills.
- Strong people management and communication skills, with the ability to mentor and coach employees to continuously improve their performance and achieve positive outcomes for themselves as well as for the programs they serve.
- Ability to plan, organize, develop, and implement educational technology services to large scale organizations.
- Ability to work effectively as part of a team.
Salary: $159,660 - $175,626
NOTE: The filling of all positions is subject to budget availability and/or grant funding.
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
It is the policy of the Department of Education of the City of New York to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to actual or perceived race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, age, marital status, partnership status, disability, sexual orientation, gender (sex), military status, unemployment status, caregiver status, consumer credit history, prior record of arrest or conviction (except as permitted by law), predisposing genetic characteristics, or status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual offenses and stalking, and to maintain an environment free of harassment on any of the above-noted grounds, including sexual harassment or retaliation. For more information, please refer to the DOE Non-Discrimination Policy. |
