The director of a preschool, child care center, daycare or other early education environment supervises all school activities, staff and operational needs. Similar to a principal, the director is typically in charge of making instructional and curricular decisions. The choice to use the Creative Curriculum system may be left up to the director, and the director may need to weigh the different curricular options before selecting this program. Additionally, the director will need to secure the funds to purchase the curriculum, introduce it to the staff, oversee any training and make sure the teachers correctly implement activities and lessons.
Teachers are essential to effectively implementing the Creative Curriculum in the early care setting. The teachers must review all guides and training materials prior to actually using the system. For example, the Creative Curriculum for preschool comes with a five volume set on the curriculum research and theory, six teaching guides, reference guides, a content overview and an instructional DVD for curriculum implementation. The teachers themselves should be responsible for reading or viewing all included materials, developing an understanding of the methods and using the curriculum. All lesson plans and activities for the classroom should be made in accordance with the guides in the Creative Curriculum system.
The teaching assistant is a paraprofessional who has experience working with children as well as educational knowledge of young children. The assistant works under the direction of a lead teacher, helping the students, preparing the classroom environment, monitoring student behavior and other similar tasks. The teaching assistant must help the classroom teacher to effectively implement the Creative Curriculum. In this supporting role, the assistant must help to enact activities according to the Curriculum style lesson plans the teacher creates.
Some larger early childhood centers, especially those within public school districts or Head Start programs, may employ administrator-type coordinators. Working along side other educational administrators, coordinators may have a specialized area, such as the arts, or a more general role, such as curriculum supervisor. Curriculum coordinators evaluate different types of curriculum and often make decisions as to which to use. The coordinator works with the center director to select the Creative Curriculum, ensure it is the appropriate method or approach for the school and staff and work in a leadership role to provide guidance to the teachers implementing the approach on the classroom level.