This page is intended for Faculty and Instructors at institutes of higher education (IHE), Career and Technology Education (CTE) and post-secondary education programs. If you represent an IHE interested in connecting your work to the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) or the Pennsylvania Key or if you are an IHE interested in offering the Director Credential, email Rebecca Lamar (reblam@pakeys.org).
The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) has released the Pennsylvania Early Childhood Higher Education Inventory. This report describes the early childhood degree programs offered in Pennsylvania, focusing on variations in program content, age-group focus, student field-based learning, and faculty characteristics, as well as how Pennsylvania ECE higher education programs responded and adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recommendations include:
Recent national frameworks, position statements, and evidence-based practices are motivating faculty to examine the ways in which courses build the capacity of future early childhood educators each and every child and family. Explicit tools, guidance and resources related to supporting the full and equitable potential of young children who are diverse in terms of culture, language, ability, opportunity, and life circumstances are now available.
The rubric is a tool that was developed to support faculty and instructors to reflect on and enhance the extent to which a course syllabus reflects explicit emphasis on each of 17 content indicators. The indicators were derived from key state, national, and federal early childhood frameworks (e.g., Pennsylvania Framework for Grades Pre K-4 Program Guidelines, Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004).
Rebecca Lamar
reblam@pakeys.org