Facts In Action

A wealth of research indicates that higher educational levels for teachers in early childhood education (ECE) programs result in many benefits, including lower turnover, higher wages, and better outcomes for children. However, the ECE workforce is faced with multiple barriers to achieving academic advancement. For instance, teachers working in the field of early childhood education often participate in random, disconnected training programs which don't build toward a goal, have no system to track what training has been completed, provide no academic credit, and have no quality control. High school graduates with vocational training in ECE face barriers to using those classes towards junior college credit. Also, many teachers with two-year Associates of Arts and Sciences (AA) degrees earned in community and junior colleges are being denied access to four-year programs unless they are willing to start their college careers "from scratch." These kinds of barriers are discouraging ECE professionals from advancing their education. One solution to this problem is the development of degree articulation agreements

Degree articulation agreements are formed between agencies and institutions that educate child care providers. They encourage professional development for early childhood professionals by counting previous training and coursework toward higher levels of certification and education.

A survey of faculty and staff members at universities and community colleges in North Carolina sought to examine the issues and barriers related to the development of articulation agreements between two- and four-year institutions, as well as to measure the success of AA transfer students when they enroll in four-year schools. The issues identified in the interview responses can be divided into two areas: student performance concerns, such as the perceived tendency for community college students to proceed slowly through their educational careers because of numerous stops and starts; and institutional barriers, such as poor communication between two- and four-year schools.

Although transfer students did require some additional support from academic advisors, faculty attributed this to the fact that non-transfer students often received this type of assistance during the freshman orientation process. In addition, transfer students commonly have work and family obligations not faced by non-transfer students. In interviews, faculty frequently cited the unique contributions that transfer students made to classes and the program as a whole due to their maturity, work, and life experiences.

Researchers also looked at students' grades, and while they found transfer students had initial difficulties, transfer students performed just as well as non-transfer students after adjusting to the general education coursework. Also, there was little difference in the dropout and retention rates between non-transfer and transfer students. The study suggests student performance issues are not sufficient to hinder degree articulation agreements.

Encouraging degree articulation agreements is one of the main priorities of the Child Care Careers Institute (CCCI), a Boston-based organization that promotes the professional development of the early education workforce and works to influence the institutions and policies that are essential to that development. Tasha Davidson of CCCI indicates that the issue of degree articulation came to the forefront as welfare reform focused attention on child care policy in the mid-90s. Those states that have made degree articulation agreements a priority (for instance, California, North Carolina, and New York) have done so due to the leadership of those with influence at the highest level of state government, often the governors themselves.

Davidson states that an important step for Massachusetts is to establish standards - specific classes and "core competencies" that allow students to move seamlessly from one educational level to another. The North Carolina study suggests, for instance, that four-year schools should accept a completed AA degree in early childhood education as at least 55 semester hours of credit, with no more than 75 additional hours required to complete a Bachelor's degree. To achieve the goal of standardization requires cooperative efforts that include agencies that offer training to child care professionals, the Departments of Education and Higher Education, and representatives of colleges and universities. Davidson notes that in addition to the need for high-level leadership, the tremendous workload faced by the chairs of junior college departments of early childhood education is another barrier to developing meaningful articulation agreements, in that they simply have very little time for advocacy outside of their teaching and administrative duties.

In order to overcome the institutional barriers that hinder the development of degree articulation agreements, the North Carolina study makes several recommendations:

• designate articulation coordinators at both the two- and four- year colleges to simplify the agreement process;

• establish a state-level Early Childhood Transfer Advisory Committee to foster communication between institutions;

• continue and/or establish funding for scholarships aimed at teachers with AA degrees working in licensed child care facilities to extend their education;

• encourage community college students to use elective credits to fulfill general education requirements of four-year institutions;

• increase student awareness of articulation agreements; and

• promote faculty involvement in the development of articulation agreements.

Davidson stresses that degree articulation is just one piece of a larger puzzle in the drive to make careers in child care more attractive. Salaries for workers in early childhood education remain relatively low regardless of one's level of professional development. A concerted effort by legislators, bureaucrats, providers, and parents is essential in order for degree articulation agreements to be implemented successfully and for these agreements to lead to better pay and benefits for early childhood educators.

Source:
"The Facilitation of the Transfer of Credit Between Early Childhood Education/Child Development Departments in 2- and 4- Year institutions of Higher Education in North Carolina," D. Cassidy, L. Hestenes, P. Teague, and J. Springs, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Volume 22, 2001.

Source:
"A Position Statement on Articulation: Background, Barriers, and Objectives," Articulation Working Committee, New Jersey Professional Center for Early Care and Education, October 2000.

To view a copy of the report on-line:
go to www.njpdc.org/position.htm.

Facts in Action, August 2001