Time to Revamp & Expand:The Early Childhood Professional

Development Highway

Dan BellmCenter for the Study of Child Care

Employment, Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California at Berkeley

March 3, 2006

Our Destination

• US is transforming its vision of the needs of children from birth to age five.

• Our vision for early childhood workforce has yet to change accordingly.

Professional Development Highway

– easily accessible from

many starting points; – promotes professional

preparation and renewal; and

– supports lasting and rewarding careers linked to higher pay.

Ideal Highway Conditions

Multiple On-Ramps

Well placed and Equipped Rest Stops

Service Station for a Variety of Vehicles

Existing Highway

• Heavily Traveled• Poor signage• Detours

H.S. or GED

R.O.P.

Foreign degree

ESL

Prof.Devt.Hours

ECEunits.

6 units 12 units 24 units

GEunits

AADegree

BADegree

MADegree

Certificate

Permit

Members of the Workforce start from different places

Traveler 1

• Has been doing child care for years

• Has been to numerous workshops and conferences

• Wants to move forward and needs a jump start to get on her path

Traveler 2

• More comfortable with her home language than with English

• Has completed 24 ECE units, but still needs 16 units of General Education

• Needs support to navigate her way towards an AA degree

Traveler 3

• Completed 60 units at a community college 5 years ago.

• Considers her training complete.

Traveler 4

• Just transferred to a 4 year college.

• Also finds new coursework repeats his community college work

• Feels like she’s working hard and not going anywhere

Traveler 5

• Earned a B.A. in History. Wants to teach preschool.

• Finds only way to earn required ECE units is to enroll in community college.

Traveler 6

• Completed MA in ECE

• Completed PH.D. in developmental studies

• In order to effectively teach adults, seeks continuing education

Our Study

• Follow up to 1999 study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Sought census of all programs

• Phone survey in 2004 with chair or director to learn about characteristics of students, faculty, courses and practica, challenges and supports

Participating Institutions

• To qualify, programs had to prepare students to teach children ages 0-4

• Achieved 98.5 percent response rate from 136 eligible institutions, including:– Community colleges– CSUs– UCs – Private 4 year colleges/universities– Public and private 2 year institutions

In California, 136 institutions of higher education are engaged in preparing teachers to work with young children

• Reflecting California’s current regulatory requirements, most of these programs are at the community college level…

97

5

2 12

2

18

University of California

California State University

Community collegeOther public agency

Two-year private college

Four-year private college or university

…Opportunities for upper-division and graduate-level work in early childhood are

very limited.

• Approximately 41,000 students studying at the community colleges,

• Approximately 5,000 students working toward BA., with 1,200 working for MA, and 10 working toward Ph.D.

Number of colleges overall and number of colleges providing early childhood education by type of

institution

2

18

97

1210

23

109104

University ofCalifornia

California StateUniversity

CommunityCollege

WASC-accredited

Private 4-yearinstitution

Colleges providing Early Childhood Education Total Colleges in CA

A closer look at the four year institutions offering ece degrees

1 10

15

11

0

7

5

1

Bachelor's Degree Master's Degree Doctorate Degree

University of California California State University Four year private college or university

ECE Student Characteristics

• California’s population of early childhood education students is very diverse in terms of language and ethnicity

• Most are working full time

Ethnicity

• Less than one-half of early childhood students were identified as White, non-Hispanic.

• 34 percent of certificate and AA students, and 24 percent of Master’s candidates, are Hispanic.

Mean percentage by institution of language capacity of undergraduate and graduate students*

*At the undergraduate level, data for the University of California (n=1), and the two-year private (n=1) and other public programs (n=5) are excluded because of their small sample size. At the graduate level, data for the University of California are excluded because only one program is represented in this group.

Mean percentage of students with the ability to speak a language other than English with children and families

43%36% 38%

31%

18%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

CommunityCollege(n=91)

CaliforniaState

University(n=14)

PrivateCollege(n=10)

CaliforniaState

University(n=9)

PrivateCollege (n=5)

Undergraduate Graduate

Mean percentage by institution of students who have difficulty with coursework in English

21%

13%10%

6%3%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

CommunityCollege(n=90)

CaliforniaState

University(n=14)

PrivateCollege(n=10)

CaliforniaState

University(n=10)

PrivateCollege (n=5)

Undergraduate Graduate

Career Paths Of Graduates

• About ¾ of AA and ½ of BA earners continue working with children 0-4

• About twice as many BA as AA earners work in K-12 settings;

• Fewer than 10 percent of degree earners work in a home-based setting;

• More than 90 percent go on to teach or work with children.

Ethnicity of faculty

Ethnicity background of full-time faculty (in percentages)

69%74%

82%

71%

12%

3%0%

11%10%7%

0%6%6%

15%18%

6%2% 1% 0%

6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Community College(n=93)

CSU (n=18) UC (n=2) Private Four-year (n=9)

White, Non-Hispanic Black, Non-Hispanic Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander Other

Educational background of part-time and full-time faculty (in percentages)

Highest degree earned by faculty (includes full-time, part-time, and adjunct)

8%

69%

96%

25%

83%

31%

4%

69%

8%0.40% 0% 5%1% 0% 0% 0%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

CommunityCollege (n=96)

CSU (n=18) UC (n=2) Private Four-year (n=12)

Doctorate Master's Bachelor's Associate

Educational background of part-time and full-time faculty (in percentages)

63%

85%

32%41%

57%62%58%

65%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

Percentage of all faculty with a degree inEarly Childhood Education or Child

Development that specifically coverschildren younger than kindergarten age

Percentage of all faculty with directemployment experience working with

children ages 0-5

Community College (n=87, 94) CSU (n=18) UC (n=2) Private Four-year (n=12)

Course Content Topics

• Education and care of children 0-2, 3-5, including those with disabilities

• Working with families and children, including English language learners

• Child assessment and observation

• Literacy and Numeracy

• Social-emotional and physical development

• Learning environments and activities

• Classroom management• Administration,

collaboration, professional conduct

• Adult learning• Leadership/Advocacy• Research and Evaluation

Course Content

• Many of California’s degree programs in early childhood education do not require a full course in a variety of topics widely identified as relevant to the profession—in particular, the topic of dual language learning and bilingualism, given the increasing number of dual language learners in California’s preschool-age population.

Faculty-Related Challenges

• The difficulty of attracting and retaining a diverse faculty, and the shortage of full-time faculty positions, are major challenges for California’s college and university programs in early childhood education.

Faculty Related Challenges Rated Somewhat of a Challenge or Greater by Institution

30%

70%

70%

30%

60%

50%

50%

40%

44%

25%

56%

31%

37%

80%

74%

30%

62%

19%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Lack of experience/expertise with

changing child/ familypopulations

Difficulty attractingand retaining

linguistically diversefaculty

Difficulty attractingand retaining

ethnically diversefaculty

Poor faculty workingcondition and wages

Lack of full-timefaculty in department

Lack of faculty inyour department with

expertise in earlychildhood education

Percentage

Private Four-Year College CSU Community College

Institution Related Challenges Rated Somewhat of a Challenge or Greater by Institution

10%

20%

20%

63%

44%

50%

54%

43%

52%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Inability to serve the number of students whowant to enroll

Lack of support from your college/ universityfor early childhood teacher preparation

Problems with transfer of credits andarticulation

Percentage

Private Four-Year College CSU Community College

Community and Policy Related Challenges Rated Somewhat of a Challenge or Greater by Institution

50%

40%

90%

30%

47%

69%

73%

60%

52%

68%

86%

66%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

State mandated standardized test forteaching credential candidates*

Changing standards and degreerequirements for teachers and assistants

mandated by state and federal government

Attracting and keeping students due to poorworking conditions and wages in the field of

early childhood

Lack of quality early childhood practicumsites (any ages 0-4)

Percentage

Private Four-Year College CSU Community College

Recommendation #1

Increased resources to California institutions of higher education to:

– Expand lower-division programs;– Develop more upper-division & graduate

programs;– Hire more full-time ECE faculty;– Attract and retain a more culturally and

linguistically diverse faculty;– Update and revamp the courses of study in

ECE that they offer.

Recommendation #2

Increased resources to California institutions of higher education to:

– Serve a diverse and rising ECE student population;

– Create new incentives to encourage students to pursue degrees in early childhood education.

Recommendation #3

A statewide process with the authority to:– Create a blueprint for a well-articulated higher

education system for ECE teachers– Develop a comprehensive set of ECE teacher

skills and competencies– Design a relevant ECE teacher certification

system– Promote improved ECE teacher compensation

Recommendation #4

A concerted effort to build public awareness of:

– The knowledge and skills required for working effectively with young children

– Why advanced levels of education are necessary & appropriate for ECE teachers;

– The need to increase compensation, to better attract and retain ECE teachers.