Recommendations and Action Plan

Recommendation 1: Increase efforts to recruit students

Action Plans Time Frame Expected Outcome Person(s)

Responsible

Resources Needed AP: Present the early childhood education

program to students in each high school in the communities served at least once per year.

AP: Work with the Youth Outreach Programs currently at LSCC to discuss early childhood education careers with high school students in those programs.

AP: Continue to work with community agencies that serve early childhood education providers, children and families.

AP: Seek creative ways to make participation in the program more convenient and affordable to all students.

AP: Continue to review articulation proposals that might provide a continuum of education for students entering the program and give them a start on their college requirements.

AP: Create a sense that LSCC is THE place for early childhood educators to meet and learn by developing a student affiliate of NAEYC and developing an ECE room with lending library in the extra room beside program manager’s new office.

Begin Fall 2011 and ongoing

Increased information about the program in the communities served will educate the student pool regarding the possibility of career opportunities other than childcare providers, which is the normal perception.

Often students seeking education in the early childhood field must work, have families, need financial aid, and never considered themselves to be college material. Often, once these concerns are addressed, these students are excited about obtaining their degrees.

By developing articulation agreements with good early childhood agencies and/or educational institutes, students who have obtained training in can receive a leg-up to their college career. If nothing else, this gives them a psychological advantage in that they don’t feel as if they are at the bottom starting all over again.

As stated above, normally, early childhood education students lack time and money. They work at low wages and feel underappreciated. Creating a special place for them should go a long way to helping them feel appreciated and boosting their desire to stay in the degree program.

Criterion for Evaluation:

Increased enrollment of early childhood education students by 100% by the fall 2013.

Recommendation 2: Increase the effort of early faculty advising for all students who are intent on entering the education field, including AA degree-seeking students.

Action Plans Time Frame Expected Outcome Person(s)

Responsible

Resources Needed AP: Continue to work with student

counseling services to insure that all students wishing to enter the education field are directed to attend advising sessions with one faculty member (preferably the ECE program manager) who can advise all education students regarding the courses they should take to complete their A.A.S. or A.A. degree in early childhood education or in preparation for attending a 4-year degree institute to achieve teacher licensing.

AP: Develop an advising plan with a specific schedule for students to meet regarding their faculty advising sessions.

Begin Fall 2011 and ongoing

Since most of the education courses available to students are under the early childhood education program, having the opportunity to consult with the ECE program manager carries several positive outcomes:

Often, after completing a large portion of their degree, students find they are not in a program that will allow them to accomplish their goals. As a professional in the field, the program manger can guide students to the best degree program for success in reaching their goals.

By self-advising, students do not know when courses will be available and are often unprepared to take the courses when offered, because they have not met the course prerequisites.

Making an early contact with students may ultimately lead to better retention as studies suggest that students who are engaged tend to have higher retention rates.

By assigning one faculty advisor to all education students, students would receive career advice from a professional in the field.

All potential teacher candidate issues would be considered when planning for faculty and courses, similar to a department of education.

Program

Criterion for Evaluation:

Achieve 85% participation of current students meeting with Program Manager for counseling on their degree program and sequence of courses by Spring 2012.

Recommendation 3: Increase retention and completion rates AP: Survey students who have left the

program or not completed the degree to ascertain their reasons.

AP: Work with all persons concerned to address student reasons for not continuing with the degree, when possible.

AP: Work toward 100% participation of current students meeting with Program Manager for counseling on their degree program and sequence of courses to take.

AP: Provide support for current student success through referrals to tutors, when necessary.

AP: Survey program graduates and review surveys for reflection on improvements for the program.

Begin Fall 2011 and ongoing

Students will feel less isolated and more supported and this in turn will encourage them to continue their education.

Some students who have had difficulties and have left the program will feel encouraged and supported to return and finish their degrees.

Program Manager

3 additional hours release time.

Criterion for Evaluation:

Early childhood education course withdrawals will decrease by 25%, beginning in the fall 2011.

Program retention rates will increase by 25% beginning in the fall 2011.

Graduation rates will increase by 10% by spring 2013.

Recommendation 4: Aggressively seek scholarships and financial aid for early childhood students and work more aggressively to make current opportunities and procedures for obtaining help known to students.

AP: Work with financial aid to discover all opportunities known and currently

unknown for student financial aid. This involves a closer exchange of information between the ECE program and financial aid.

AP: Develop a handout with financial aid possibilities outlined for students.

AP: Work with grants department to discover possible grants to support student education.

AP: Actively seek grant possibilities within the early childhood education network on all levels, including the national level.

Begin Fall 2011 and ongoing

Although some opportunities exist for financial aid, students still voice difficulty obtaining aid or ignorance about the process.

By aggressively seeking information regarding the existence and process for obtaining financial aid, developing a handout, and disseminating the information to students, more students would be able to secure financial aid for their education.

Program Manager

Use of same 3 additional hours release time as above.

Criterion for Evaluation:

Increased number of early childhood education students receiving financial aid by 10% by the fall 2013.

Recommendation 5: Enhance the continuum of education to include not only the ability for students to obtain credit hours by earning a national Child Development Associate certification (CDA), Florida Child Care Professional Credential (FCCPC), or Montessori credential, but also through courses presented in segments by the ECE program faculty as continuing education (CEU) courses.

AP: Gain permission from the Dean of Career and Tech Programs to explore the possibility for an articulation between the college’s continuing education department and the early childhood education program.

AP: Work with the continuing education department to develop 3 mini-sessions of a credit course that students could articulate into a 3-credit course, when they enter an early childhood education degree program.

AP: Aggressively advertise the concept and the mini-sessions to all early childhood providers in the communities served.

Present first course during the spring 2012 term

Persons who earn the national CDA must renew the original in three years and every five years thereafter.

Persons who earn the FCCPC must renew it every five years.

Both programs require candidates to earn 45 hours of professional education obtained within the past five years by meeting one of the following:

a. At least 4.5 CEUs;

Although the program manager

encourages candidates for renewal to earn college credits and work toward a degree, they continue to seek CEUs, due to the inability to pay tuition. The lack of CEU credit courses in early childhood available in the communities served forces them to turn to online training institutions for CEU courses that cannot articulate into our degree program.

Providing this training helps the communities served by providing ECE providers with a higher level of education.

Program

Criterion for Evaluation:

At least 10 students participate in the mini-sessions during the spring term 2012.

Recommendation 6: Hire adjuncts with at least 18 master level credits in early childhood education who are interested in working with the program manager to build the early childhood education program and are willing to be trained to teach online courses.

AP: Work with HR to continue the current aggressive search for adjuncts with qualifications that meet SACS

requirements and are specific for faculty positions in the early childhood education program.

Fall 2011 Program manager will be able to take advantage of current and projected release time by having adjunct faculty trained to teach online courses, understand student learning outcomes, and participate in program projects.

Program Manager

Use of same 3 additional hours release time as above.

Criterion for Evaluation:

Three adjunct faculty will be hired and will begin online training by the spring 2012.

Recommendation 7: Move toward Fully-Online Program.

AP: Hire adjunct faculty interested in being trained to teach online courses.

AP: Review ECE courses, all of which are hybrid, and determine changes to make in order to provide each course fully online.

AP: Determine the administrative system for a fully-online degree. This would include the determination of whether students would be placed in cohorts and travel through the program together or if each student would be independently enrolled; what order courses would be presented; length of courses and program;

and any other decisions to provide best practices.

AP: Wait for LSCC to receive SACS approval for the first fully online degree programs and work with the Distance Learning Manager to proceed with the fully online ECE program.

All early childhood courses had been taught partially online as hybrid courses by spring 2010. Two courses are fully online. Both of the fully online courses experienced an increase in enrollment, since they were more accessible to students. Providing a program that is fully online allows students who are already busy and have work and home obligations to save driving time to the campus, to study at their convenience, and seek an education they might not be able to achieve otherwise. Expectations are for a rise in the number of students enrolled in the program, not only from the

communities served, normally, but from places that cannot serve ECE students.

Program

Criterion for Evaluation:

By fall 2012, 25% of all ECE courses will be offered online.

Recommendation 8: Seek accreditation of the A.S. degree in early childhood education, preschool specialization, through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Commission on Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation.

AP: Investigate the process.

AP: Obtain a grant to support the project and pay a stipend to an adjunct faculty to help facilitate the project.

AP: Conduct the self-study

AP: Apply for accreditation by fall 2012.

Begin self-study by fall 2011.

NAEYC is recognized as the largest organization for the education of young children in the world. Within the past 15 years, the organization was sought out by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) to review accreditation applications from institutes desiring accreditation of their

baccalaureate and graduate degree programs. The current LSCC early childhood education program manager has been a lead reviewer for these reviews for the past eleven years. This

accreditation is highly sought in the ECE field.

Within the past five years, NAEYC has developed its own accreditation process for associate degree programs. Over 100 community colleges in 24 states have earned this accreditation. Currently, there are no community colleges in Florida with the accreditation however; there are several in the process.

Obtaining the accreditation would be one more way of saying that LSCC is THE place for early childhood education.

Additionally, by accrediting our current program, it would be easier to accredit a fully-online program when it becomes available. Achieving this goal would help attract more students to our program and assure the community that our graduates are among the best n the country.

Program

Hire adjunct to help facilitate process.

Criterion for Evaluation:

Application submitted by end of fall 2012.