An Early Childhood Bachelor’s Degree Program That

Authentically Prepares the Birth-Grade 3 Workforce

Greg Nelson

Susan Eliason

Bridgewater State University

OUR Goal: to….

• Share strategies used to merge a EEC certification concentration with the DESE public school licensure concentration, highlighting differences and divergence points

• Share materials we have developed such as handbooks, rubrics, and Blackboard sites

• Evaluate the effectiveness of the BSU model– does it have the necessary rigor, breadth, and depth to meet the needs of all stakeholders while remaining authentically early childhood in nature

• Evaluate the transferability of the BSU model - identify the barriers and possibilities we encountered in program development, state and departmental approval, delivery models, etc., and uncover barriers confronting other institutions

IssueS … & OPPORTUNiTIES

• Commonwealth of MA changes departmental oversight of early childhood

• Early Education and Care (EEC) increases expectations for quality

• Early Childhood Transfer Compact

• Universal Pre-K movement

Our dilemma

• Given the new landscape, how can our state university better serve the emerging demand for a bachelor’s degree program that meets the needs of the Birth-Five workforce? Existing Early Childhood Education major of Teacher of Students with or without Disabilities (PreK-2; Public School Licensure)

did not work:• Little emphasis on birth through five years• Public school focus• Courses scheduled for full-time day students• Double major and MTEL requirements focused on

content rather than developmentally appropriate pedagogy.

How do our issues compare with your experience?

Initial Solution

• Added a concentration Early Education and Care (Birth to K; Department of Early Education and Care Certification) • Use Massachusetts & National accreditation guidelines to

construct standards-based courses and practica expectations• Build off a shared three-course core

• Child Psychology • The Basics of Early Childhood Education• The Early Childhood Learner with Special Needs

• Commitment to prepare with the same rigor and expectations as public school educators, but with early childhood principles and practices as our guide, not Elementary licensure

• Identify by what it IS (Early Education and Care certification program) rather than what it is NOT (non-licensure)

Solution

• Courses available at non-traditional times • Up to half of major transferable from the

community colleges • Low entry requirements, high exit expectations • Allow most field-experiences, including practica,

to be completed at students’ work settings• Practicum a sequence of experiences:

• 490: Mentored Program Observations• 491: Mentored Field Placement 1 – 3 credit

(transferrable)• 492: Mentored Field Placement 2 – 6 credit

Leadership

• BSU supports creating a Director position for the major within the department, to handle the unique characteristics of the major:• Make course equivalency decisions• Conduct outreach and induction into the major• Collaborate with community partners and grant

agencies• Advise• Schedule and staff courses• Oversee practicum placements and supervision• Track accreditation data

Evolution

• Course from new ECPK concentration added to licensure requirements – ECED 280: Creative Techniques in Early Childhood to teach: • Coherent curriculum design• Rich infusion of the arts into programming

• Increasing emphasis on contribution of learnable moments to teaching in child-centered & intentional ways

• Redesigned assignments across the program • Emphasize high-quality observation and documentation • Use assessment to drive instruction• Use QRIS assessment tools

• Emphasize children’s learning more than teacher’s activity offerings in capstone course’s competency portfolio (ECPK 492)

Evolution

• Program growth allowed faculty hire in tenure-track position

• Held routine inter-rater reliability sessions with field supervisors (full & part time)

• Added Seminars with practicum students

• Course development • One-credit modules to select three-credit courses• More hybrid (half on-line) models• Add summer courses options, to maintain student progress• Partially uncouple supervision time-line from course

registration (400-level course sequence)• Impose minimum-quality standards on Capstone, separate

from BSU minimum grade standard

Partnerships

• Engagement with regional EPS

• Ongoing refinement of articulation with community college partners, through Readiness Center grant

Student & Faculty Materials

• Field Supervision handbooks

• Rubrics for Practicum experiences

• Blackboard sites

Where we are

• The ECPK concentration is one of the first Bachelor-level degree programs tailored to the B-5 workforce in MA to receive NCATE/NAEYC accreditation

• Graduation rates are similar in both EC concentrations

What do you think about the solutions we have generated?

What solutions have you developed?

To Do List

• Encourage Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care to develop its own rigorous licensure criteria, not simply accept DESE’s criteria designed for public school licensure

• Increase courses shared by concentrations

• Promote a coordinated academic career path between Community College and 4-year offerings – mutual respect, maximized transferability, added value, academic currency

• Create a single Birth-Grade 3 major with multiple areas of specialization • Licensure in public schools• PreK Lead Teacher• Infant-Toddler Lead Teacher• Administration and Advocacy• Out-of-School Time

To Do List

• Adapt licensure concentration for non-traditional students

• Design a shared capstone seminar for all Early Childhood Education areas of specialization

What’s on your to-do list?