Opportunities and Resources
Opportunities + Resources
Early childhood directors and leaders play a crucial role in New Orleans’ early learning ecosystem. Part of NOEEN’s role is to connect leaders to opportunities and resources available throughout Orleans Parish in order to build their skills, strengthen their efficacy, and support workforce retention.
Class® resources
High quality teacher-child interactions are the foundation of a quality early care and education program. The Louisiana Department of Education uses Teachstone’s Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®) tool to assess the quality of teacher-child interactions.
Visit NOEEN’s CLASS® Resources drive for a variety of helpful documents and tools. Additional resources also can be found on Observations and Accountability.
Additionally, Agenda for Children offers periodic CLASS® Observation Trainings for interested stakeholders. For more information, please reach out to pd@agendaforchildren.org.
The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) also maintains CLASS® resources on their website, specifically under the CLASS® Observations, Performance Profiles, Director’s Toolbox, and CLASS® Classroom Video Library tabs.
Additionally, the LDOE EC Portal allows schools and centers to see score summary sheets, calibration videos, and other reports.
For questions and additional support, e-mail: class@agendaforchildren.org.
Early Educator Wage Enhancement Program
In 2022, the City of New Orleans Mayor’s Office of Youth and Families committed $2.4M to pilot a program designed to improve the retention and recruitment of early childhood educators across the city by providing wage enhancements in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 program years. After the success of that initial investment, which was also supported by state funds, this program was embedded within the New Orleans Early Childhood Education Millage budget.
Visit the Wage Enhancement Program webpage for more information, including how to verify eligibility and receive payments. For information to share with teachers, please go to the educator Wage Enhancement page.
For additional questions and support, e-mail: wageenhancement@noeen.org.
ECHO Fund Grants
The Early Childhood Opportunity (ECHO) Fund provides grants to programs and initiatives that support the development of young children. More information about the application process, guidelines, and open grant opportunities can be found on Agenda for Children’s ECHO Fund webpage.
For questions and additional support, e-mail the Agenda for Children ECHO Fund team at: echofund@agendaforchildren.org.
Louisiana Pathways
Northwestern State University of Louisiana leads the Louisiana Pathways Early Learning Center Career Development System which is focused on strengthening the quality of child care across the state by elevating and supporting the workforce. Pathways offers scholarships for training and education, as well as offering educator recognition opportunities. Visit the Louisiana Pathways website to learn more.
ECE Leaders ExChange
The ECE Leaders Exchange is a learning cohort which works together as a peer group to share ideas, explore new strategies, and grow together as a community of learners. Please visit Agenda for Children’s ECE Leaders Exchange webpage to learn more.
Professional Development
Agenda for Children offers a broad range of workshops for early childhood educators, focusing on child development, CLASS® and child assessment.
For additional support, e-mail: pd@agendaforchildren.org
Department Resources
Visit the Louisiana Department of Education website for information about standards, credentialing, professional development and more.
For additional general Early Childhood Support, e-mail: earlychildhood@la.gov.
Teacher Recruitment and Selection
Visit the Agenda for Children website for resources that can help with teacher recruitment, selection, and hiring.
Type III early childhood programs in Orleans Parish have free access to post jobs to the New Orleans Teacher Board. The benefits of this service include:
- Participating early learning programs have their own personalized profile page and will be able to post job vacancies, just like K-12 schools.
- Participating early learning programs receive regular “resume drops” via e-mail with the resumes of teachers looking for early childhood jobs (not just those that apply to their program).
- Job postings are searchable by people looking for jobs in education in New Orleans, and they are able to apply directly to your program through the job board.
For more information about using the New Orleans Teacher Board, please review this guidance document that provides instructions on how directors/owners can use the board once they have created an account. (Please note: programs should designate a primary hiring contact who will have access to posting vacancies to the job board.)
For questions, reach out to Ashley Gothard at: agothard@nsno.org or Imani Franklin at: imani@nsno.org.
Additional Provider Resources
Visit the NOEEN Provider Resources drive to access a variety of additional resources related to lead agency requirements. These include information about Child Count, SmartTeach®, calendars, and more.
Click here to add the NOEEN Provider Calendar to your digital calendar.
