Job Details

Job DescriptionJob Description
Director of Curriculum & Instruction

Early Care and Education Programs

Children, Youth, Family, Transitional Age Youth Division

Agency Overview

Founded in 1889, the Felton is the oldest nonprofit social-services provider in the City and County of San Francisco and the Bay Area. Rooted in equity, our mission is to transform quality of life and promote social justice to accelerate community led change. Our vision is to drive positive and sustainable community led change where all have equitable access to innovative, high-quality, evidence-informed services.

Division Description
The Children, Youth, Family, and Transitional Age Youth Services Division (CYFTAY) offers an array of services to low-income and underserved clients with multiple challenges and abilities: Infants, toddlers, and preschool children, including those with special needs. Youth: including transitional age youth, pregnant| parenting teens, and youth in the foster care system. Families: including low-income, immigrant, monolingual, and homeless populations. The CYFTAY division offers multidisciplinary programs including Early Childhood Education, Early Intervention| Inclusion, Family Support, Mental Health Services, Health, Nutrition, Wellness, and Parenting Education Programming.

Our ideal candidate is a seasoned and strategic leader who thrives in collaborative, mission-driven environments and brings deep knowledge in early learning pedagogy, Universal Design for Learning, and curriculum development. They are passionate about equity, innovation, and creating impactful learning experiences for both educators and children.

The ideal candidate will:

• Bring exceptional leadership and interpersonal skills that inspire and mobilize teams.
• Possess extensive knowledge of child development theory, play-based and academic integration, and inclusive and universal practices.
• Be highly skilled in curriculum design, program implementation, and professional development facilitation.
• Have a proven ability to lead change, manage growth, and align instructional efforts with organizational priorities.
• Operate with humility, empathy, and accountability, valuing strong partnerships with staff, families, and communities.

Key Qualities

• Highly skilled at managing and supporting teams and individuals, while providing ongoing encouragement, recognition, and appreciation of superior work outcomes.
• Excellent communication and people skills, with an ability to stay calm and defuse stressful situations.
• Skilled at developing a keen vision for the workforce development and success functions of the organization that aligns with organizational culture, core focus areas, and current priorities of the division and organization.

The Opportunity

Felton Institute is seeking a visionary and experienced Director of Curriculum & Instruction to join our leadership team. This is a unique opportunity to lead with purpose and impact-designing and implementing a high-quality, play-based, and academically rigorous curriculum that supports school readiness, early literacy, STEAM integration, and equitable learning pathways for all children.

Brief Description

Under the leadership and guidance of the Chief Operations Officer, the Director of Curriculum & Instruction will lead the development and implementation of a structured, scalable, and collaborative curriculum development process that ensures fidelity, alignment, and scaffolding of learning from infancy through preschool. This role will focus on building the capacity of program supervisors and lead teachers to co- design and implement a play-based curriculum with strong academic rigor. The curriculum will be designed to promote dual language learning, school readiness, early literacy development, STEAM knowledge and skills, all while maintaining a balance between play-based exploration and structured academic foundations. Curricular content will be informed by the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to ensure flexible & accessible pathways for student progress for all learners.

The Director will work closely with Education Directors to ensure that all curriculum initiatives align with California's Early Learning Foundations and Felton Institute's school readiness goals. This leader will track learning outcomes and instructional effectiveness, ensuring that children receive developmentally appropriate, high-quality early learning experiences that build toward kindergarten readiness

Key Responsibilities

Curriculum Development & Implementation

• Develop and implement a structured curriculum framework that integrates play-based learning with strong academic rigor.
• Lead the design, alignment and continuous improvement of a developmentally appropriate curriculum, integrating the California Learning Foundations, The Creative Curriculum, and other evidence-based approaches such as Emergent Curriculum, Project
• Approach/Reggio Emilia, and High Scope.
• Develop a structured, collaborative curriculum process that engages lead teachers in co-creation ensuring consistency across age groups and alignment with program expectations, while remaining responsive to children's individual needs and cultural contexts.
• Develop a systematic approach to designing for access and agency across infancy through preschool, ensuring progressive skill development for all children, regardless of ability, in all areas of development: cognitive, language, social-emotional, and motor domains.
• Ensure that the curriculum builds foundational skills in social-emotional competence, positive learning approaches, and pre-academic readiness.
• Develop strategies to maintain curriculum fidelity while allowing for flexibility to meet the diverse learning needs and cultural contexts of children served.

School Readiness & Early Literacy

• Develop and implement early literacy strategies that foster language acquisition, oral storytelling, and pre-reading skills.
• Support classroom environments that encourage phonemic awareness, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension.
• Collaborate with teachers to enhance language-rich environments through read-alouds, conversations, and writing opportunities.
• Oversee the implementation of structured math and science activities that promote problem-solving and inquiry-based learning.-

Learning Environments & Instructional Best Practices

• Ensure classrooms provide structured yet flexible and accessible environments that promote hands-on learning, social-emotional development, and cognitive engagement.
• Oversee the integration of play-based learning activities, including blocks and manipulative toys, dramatic play, literacy-rich environments, gross motor activities, art and science explorations, and sensory experiences.
• Guide Program Supervisors, Lead Teachers in implementing individualized and responsive learning experiences, particularly for infants and toddlers, by following each child's unique needs and developmental trajectory.

Capacity Building & Professional Development

• In partnership with Education Directors, strengthen the instructional leadership capacity of program supervisors and lead teachers by equipping them with the knowledge and tools to support a play-based, yet academically rigorous curriculum development, implementation and alignment.
• Using the Professional Learning Community (PLCs) structure, provide training, and coaching to educators to enhance instructional practices and curriculum implementation.
• Develop and implement strategies to build teacher capacity in UDL, inclusive practices, and differentiated instruction to support children with diverse learning needs.
• Facilitate ongoing professional learning communities (PLCs) where educators collaborate, reflect, and refine instructional practices.

Program Evaluation, Continuous Improvement & Alignment with School Readiness Goals

• Establish assessment and documentation systems to track child progress, ensuring alignment with state and federal early learning standards.
• Ensure curriculum implementation aligns with school readiness goals, nature based, STEAM education, including cognitive, language, perceptual and motor, and social-emotional growth.
• Implement structured monitoring tools to assess the fidelity of curriculum implementation and instructional effectiveness.
• Support Lead Teachers and program supervisors in utilizing assessment tools to monitor children's progress and make data-driven instructional decisions.
• Use data-driven decision-making to refine curriculum, identify gaps, and improve instructional effectiveness.
• Conduct regular site visits to monitor fidelity of curriculum implementation and provide actionable feedback to Program Supervisors and Education Directors.
• Lead program evaluation efforts to measure the effectiveness of curriculum strategies in preparing children for kindergarten and lifelong learning.
• Implement a pre- and post-assessment process using the SFUSD School Readiness Assessment to evaluate and support the readiness of preschool graduates for kindergarten.

Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Early Childhood Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Educational Leadership, or a related education field (required).
• Minimum of 5-7 years of experience in early childhood curriculum development, instructional coaching, or program leadership (required)
• Strong knowledge of California Early Learning Foundations, The Creative Curriculum, and best practices in UDL and differentiated instruction (preferred)
• Experience implementing school readiness strategies and integrating early literacy frameworks in preschool programs.
• Proven ability to provide coaching and professional development to teachers and administrators.
• Familiarity with Head Start, Early Head Start, and state-funded early learning programs.
• Commitment to equity, inclusion, and culturally responsive teaching practices.
• Commitment to social justice, empowerment of families and support for diversity
• Effective communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams.
• Candidates should be reliable, self-motivated, and should be able to solve problems and make decisions based on Felton's mission and guiding principles.
• Must pass a Department of Justice fingerprint clearance, Child Abuse Index, Health Screening, TB test and COVID19 Vaccination
• Working knowledge of a variety of computer software applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat).
• Ability to proactively assess, strategize and communicate to meet objectives, deadlines and prioritize workload.
• Bilingual (Spanish/English) preferred.

Work Environment

This role requires a combination of onsite presence at our ECE programs across San Francisco and office-based work, with travel between program sites for observations, coaching, and training sessions. The position includes collaborating with educators, administrators, and external partners to ensure a high-quality early learning experience for all children.

This position offers a unique opportunity to lead a transformative ECE curriculum that empowers children, educators, and families in building a strong foundation for lifelong learning and success.

Additional Information:

Reports to: COO & Capital Development Director

Job Type: Full-time

Work Schedule: Onsite

FLSA Status: Exempt

Salary Range: $115,000 - $125,000 Annually (DOE)

Benefits (subject to election and eligibility): Fully-Paid Medical and Dental Plans; Health Reimbursement Card, Paid Time Off (personal, vacation, and sick time), 403B with company match.

Applying Instruction:

Candidates should apply for the position at our career page "careers.felton.org" OR directly email resumes to "...@felton.org".

IMP NOTE: Job responsibilities are subject to change according to program requirements.

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