ED PARA,PRE-K,NC,NON-TITLE I

Salary schedule candidates that have taken the Para Assessment with a passing score, or have an Associate’s degree or 60 completed semester credits, may be eligible for a higher hourly rate in a certified position. Evidence must be provided. Please upload a copy of your official transcripts or certificate showing a passing score on the assessment.

About the Role

Under direct supervision, this position provides staff support in an educational or child care environment, performing paraprofessional work in assisting teachers and pre-kindergarten age students. Employees work with children individually or in small groups by providing basic instruction in abilities and skills developmentally appropriate to pre-school age children. The position assists teachers with transporting children to various scheduled activities, such as lunch, rest time, and restrooms. Essential functions are performed according to the needs of the assigned teacher(s).

Responsibilities

• Monitors activities and behavior of pre-kindergarten age children during and in the absence of classroom teachers to ensure their physical and environmental safety, as well as adherence to appropriate conduct and disciplinary controls.
• Assists teachers in the supervision of learning activities, circulating within the classroom and providing assistance and learning support to children.
• Provides instruction to children as prescribed by the supervising teacher and reinforces skills introduced by the teacher; may utilize games, stories, or other constructive activities to enhance learning skills.
• Assists teachers in checking and objectively evaluating progress; teaches children individually and in small groups reinforcing skills based upon instructional guidelines.
• 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.
• Assists in the preparation of lesson plans and teachers' pre-planning sessions; provides input and assistance in the development of classroom activities and learning tools.
• Assists in diagnosing and apprising teachers of potential learning or communication deficiencies; monitors children’s progressive learning skills; documents records of learning activities and diagnosis.
• Prepares or assists in the preparation of instructional materials; performs support tasks such as copying materials, laminating items, typing correspondence, and filing paperwork and documentation.
• Coordinates with media center staff for classroom learning resources; sets up equipment in the classroom for teacher's instructional studies.
• Assists in preparing classroom bulletin boards, classroom decorations, displays of children’s activities, and other classroom objectives.
• Maintains attendance records and assigns student seating; learns assigned bus route(s).
• Maintains accurate and complete records of a variety of data which may require the use of a computer terminal to enter scores and other children’s data.
• May be assigned monitoring duties, such as hallways, lunchroom, restrooms, and bus duty; ensures appropriate student conduct during these periods.
• May be assigned to various labs providing assistance to teachers and instruction/information to students.
• Responsible for keeping up to date on current technology as job-appropriate; attends training to ensure skill level in various technologies is at the level required to perform in the current position.
• Responsible for timely and accurate information maintained as part of job responsibilities.

Requirements

• High school diploma or GED.
• Demonstrated ability to fulfill the dexterity and physical requirements of the work, and effectively attend to the needs of pre-school age children.
• Previous vocational training or work experience with pre-school age children in a licensed child care environment preferred.
• Additional HRS training preferred.

Skills

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.

Human Interaction

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

Equipment, Machinery, Tools, and Materials Utilization

Requires the ability to operate, maneuver, and/or control the actions of standard office equipment.

Verbal Aptitude

Requires the ability to utilize a wide variety of reference data and information.

Mathematical Aptitude

Requires the ability to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

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.

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 Demands & Work Environment

Physical Ability

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.

The Orange County School District will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities to allow them to perform the essential functions of the job when such individuals request an accommodation.