Vice President, Program Quality

VICE PRESIDENT, PROGRAM QUALITY

December, 2019

The Opportunity

Nurtury is an independent, nonprofit organization which provides Greater Boston’s youngest and often most vulnerable children the opportunity to reach their full potential. Nurtury is one of the city’s largest providers of early education and care, serving over 1,200 children and their families at its six Early Education and Care Centers and its 128 affiliated Family Child Care homes.

Reporting directly to Nurtury’s President & CEO, the ideal candidate will have a passion for driving change in these challenging, yet exciting times for early education and an appetite for evolving his or her own role as Nurtury’s needs evolve.

The Position

This position has been created to focus on continually improving the quality of Nurtury’s programs. The successful candidate will oversee Nurtury’s three-person Quality Assurance and Training team as well as its family childcare group which employs 14 people working with 128 family child care educators serving over 600 children in neighborhoods in and around Boston. This position will also take the lead on the design and tracking of the program observation and evaluation tools used by Nurtury, the curriculum used in both centers and family childcare, and the development and maintenance of strategic partnerships which support Nurtury’s work. In addition, the position will work closely with the family child care directors to expand family child care into new geographies and into new business models and funding streams, and with the VP, Center Operations to implement quality improvements and professional development across all six of Nurtury’s centers.

Essential Functions

• As part of senior management, assist the CEO in strategic planning and policy development.
• Attend meetings of the board and selected committees, providing information and recommendations as requested.
• Partner with the VP of Center Operations to identify what the centers need to improve and the plan for making those improvements.
• With the Family Child Care Directors, identify the needs of the family child care educators and the children in their care through data gathered in bi-monthly home visits and other data sources and oversee Nurtury’s choices of curriculum, program resources and professional development opportunities for the educators.
• Oversee the work of the Quality Assurance and Training group which supports observation and coaching of center based directors and staff, design professional development opportunities for center based staff and family child care educators, and develop individual professional development plans with center based staff.
• Support the centers and FCC educators in improving QRIS levels, NAEYC accreditation, and the attainment of certifications such as the CDA.
• Partner with the HR department to maintain strong relationships with local colleges and universities as sources of training, teacher recruitment, and internships.
• Regularly analyze the program quality data from the centers and family child care in the context of established measures of success and best practices, and work with the program teams to develop program specific and Nurtury-wide quality improvement plans.
• Continually review the program partnerships maintained by Nurtury to support our families and develop new partnerships and maintain existing relationships critical to Nurtury’s program goals.
• Partner with the VP of Center Operations and the Chief Advancement Officer to secure grant funding for Nurtury program priorities.
• Work collaboratively across all of Nurtury and encourage through personal example a transparent and inclusive style of leadership and communication.
• Represent Nurtury in industry specific meetings and task forces.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience Needed

• Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education required; Master’s Degree preferred
• 10+ years of related experience—early care and education program management, teaching, and coaching required and curriculum design, program analysis and evaluation desirable
• Qualification as a lead teacher and center director strongly recommended
• Spanish speaker preferred
• Strong Data Analysis and Presentation skills
• Effective oral and written communicator
• Experience building teams and developing and coaching staff

Organizational Overview

Nurtury opened its first nursery in 1878 for the children of working mothers and grew to become the first early education and care center in New England. Almost 50 years ago, Nurtury opened its first early education center to care for abused and neglected infants and toddlers near the Mission Main Housing Development in Roxbury. Over time, we have broadened our approach to early education and care to include strengthening families and communities and have emerged as an industry leader, transforming our childcare services to include the delivery of high-quality educational programming to promote language, literacy, and social/emotional development of children in Greater Boston.

Nurtury is a richly diverse organization, ethnically, linguistically and culturally. Our Centers and affiliated Family Child Care homes provide a range of services including academics, social/emotional development, nutritional and comprehensive family support, and professional development for staff. Nurtury also has a legacy of leadership in advocating for standards and establishing quality assurance measures in early education and child care.

Nurtury is operating in a highly regulated environment. Its budget is $18 million; 90% of the children served are supported with government funding. The organization is committed to continually improving the services it provides to children and their families, and sees a particular opportunity for growth of its family child care system over the next years.

Nurtury provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Work Location:

• One location

Benefits:

• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Retirement plan
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday