New bachelor’s degree offered for early childhood professionals

Responding to projected growth and upcoming federal requirements for the early childhood education profession, University of Houston-Clear Lake introduced a new Bachelor of Applied Science in Interdisciplinary Studies. The new degree has three tracks in early childhood education: educator of young children, young children with disabilities and early childhood program leadership.

The non-certification degree program emphasizes teaching young children from birth through 5 years old and is designed for Head Start, preschool and child care teachers and directors who already hold an associate degree in child development or previous college credit in the field.

“When students receive a technical associate degree, they hit the glass ceiling in their field as there are no opportunities to further their higher education,” said UH-Clear Lake Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Carl A. Stockton. “The Bachelor of Applied Science will allow the university to meet the needs of these students to further their education and receive a four-year degree in their chosen profession.”

The program developed from collaboration with UH-Clear Lake and local community colleges. Most childhood education programs offer an Associate of Applied Science degree, a specialized technical degree obtained at community colleges. Graduates long had expressed interest in a bachelor’s degree, but the challenge was to create a seamless program that would maximize transfer credits from the associate’s degree. UH-Clear Lake’s new degree provides a solution as a 2+2 program, a formal agreement with community colleges that transfers their coursework to fulfill bachelor’s degree requirements at UH-Clear Lake.

For Dickinson’s Terri Bledsoe, the new program is exactly what she’s wanted for years but unable to find, until now.

“I could have gone back [to school] many times over the years if I would have felt it was worth the time and money for the degree I would have received. I never saw the point to get a degree I wouldn’t use,” said Bledsoe, a current preschool teacher. “I was so excited to find out about the new degree. It was truly a sign that it was time for me to go back to school.”

The new program launches as the early childhood profession faces increased federal standards. By 2013, at least 50 percent of Head Start teachers must hold a bachelor’s degree. Other child care centers also are affected: 75 percent of a center’s teachers must have a bachelor’s degree to be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. As these changes approach, a need has quickly developed for more four-year degree programs in early childhood education.

“It’s very exciting to be able to have this program because there’s such a strong need for it,” said Rebecca Huss-Keeler, UH-Clear Lake associate professor and early childhood education program coordinator. “One of the big pushes right now is to professionalize early childhood education.”
This movement to strengthen early childhood education is exactly why Clear Lake stay-at-home mom Adrienne Sun has returned to college after 10 years. 

“I’ve noticed how the government is emphasizing more standards for early childhood education, and I’m excited,” Sun said. “I want to be part of that change.”

Sun is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in early childhood program leadership, one of the three early childhood tracks available within the Bachelor of Applied Science program. The other two early childhood tracks available are young children with disabilities and educator of young children. Sun believes her leadership emphasis will be valuable when she opens her own child care center or obtains a master’s degree in early childhood education, already available at UH-Clear Lake.

Created with working students in mind, the bachelor’s degree program primarily offers courses in the evenings and also will be offering Saturday classes in the spring. Students who enroll at the same time are put into a group, or cohort, so they will take classes together throughout their education. This helps build support and forms bonds as students work through common experiences, Huss-Keeler said. Because the program emphasizes teaching children under 5, it does not offer certification to teach in public schools. However, the program provides 70 credit hours that can be applied toward certification.

For admission to the program, students need to either hold an Associate of Applied Science in childhood development or have completed at least 54 college credit hours, 18 of those in early childhood courses, with a minimum 2.0 grade point average. An academic adviser in UHCL’s School of Education will work with students to determine which completed courses are degree-eligible. For students who already work in child care, tuition benefits may be offered through their employers.

To learn more about UH-Clear Lake’s Bachelor of Applied Science in Interdisciplinary Studies with the three tracks in early childhood education, call 281-283-2500 or visit http://www.uhcl.edu/earlychildhood.

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