The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) is the State Education Agency for the District of Columbia charged with raising the quality of education for all DC residents. OSSE is focused on sustaining, accelerating, and deepening the progress being made for the District’s 90,000+ students. OSSE serves as the District’s liaison to the U.S. Department of Education and works closely with the District’s 470+ early childhood facilities, 250+ schools, 60+ local education agencies (including DCPS and charter organizations), and community-based organizations to provide critical programming and resources to our stakeholders.

This position is located in the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, Division of Health and Wellness, serves under the general supervision of the State Director and reports directly to the Early Childhood and Out of School Time Programs Manager. The Specialist is responsible for training and communication initiatives for the Child Nutrition Programs and DC Healthy Tots Act Initiatives including: Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), Farm to ECE and other Healthy Tots Wellness programming, as well as local statutes mandates and laws impacting the programs.

This position functions as Training Specialist, responsible for providing the full range of external and internal training program activities, including the analysis and identification of training needs; the development of training plans and approaches; and the execution of the training program itself, i.e., content, other material and aids, and arrangements for conducting the training and presentations. This position will also provide technical assistance to program operators during the application and compliance phases and updates website to provide resources and training materials to all customers and stakeholders. As the programs’ training suite is finalized and moves into the on-going updating phase, this position will begin working in the field to offer coaching for additional training on efficient program operations strategies.

Specific functions of the Training Specialist include:

• Develops, reviews, and revises training material to support program operators in successfully onboarding to and operating the child nutrition programs, CACFP and SFSP, in accordance with the specific training objectives. Plans course content and references, addressing District and federal regulations and guidelines for use in training sessions for program operators.
• Researches, develops, evaluates, and revises training curriculum to ensure required standards are maintained by the agency. Reviews and conducts research pertaining to the training material in each subject, including developing relationships with external partners as needed.
• Determines objectives and scope of training courses, criteria for evaluation, and provides instruction in methods of program evaluation. Recommends adjustments and modifications based on measurement of the effectiveness of training and operational needs.
• Develops components of in-person and web-based training curricula, training assessments, surveys and statistical reports to identify categories of training needs and services and manages registrations.
• Designs and develops desk guides, job aid training modules, workshops, etc for internal customers.

Key qualifications for the role include:

• Experience in an instructional capacity (adult teaching and technical training).
• Experience with implementing LMS and/or other training technology tools or systems.
• Strong project management skills.
• Strong relationship building skills.
• Advanced public speaking & facilitation skills including the agility to adjust facilitation techniques, training goals, and programs quickly based on the needs of the participants.
• Must have adaptability to a variety of audiences including high level of professionalism required when working with clients and external stakeholders.
• 3-5 years of relevant, progressively responsible work experience.

Our ideal candidate will also have:

• Experience working with federal child nutrition programs; experience with the CACFP and SFSP is a plus.
• Experience working with early childhood educators
• Bilingual ability (Spanish preferred)

Interested applicants should submit a resume and cover letter to [email protected].