ECE Programs Make Positive Strides
Between 2020-2022, NLU’s National College of Education received three rounds of funding from the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) totaling $1.2 million to support early childhood teacher preparation. The IBHE grant, referred to as the Early Childhood Credential Completion Cohort (EC4), provided higher education institutions funding to support cohorts of existing early childhood professionals through a licensure and degree program tailored specifically to support working adults. This grant-funded initiative successfully supported over 80 candidates across three cohorts and has since been adopted as a new program model in NCE’s Early Childhood Education department.
Led by NCE Early Childhood Education faculty members Drs. Xiaoli Wen, Ayn Keneman, and Sherri Bressman, NLU’s EC4 model centered on an accelerated, online model and emphasized collaboration among teacher candidates, university faculty, school-based mentors, and university supervisors. School communities acted as experiential sites of practice as teachers work with their students to advance teaching knowledge and skills. NLU partnered with public and private early childhood providers to recruit incumbent teachers, with a particular focus on BIPOC educators. The first year of the grant supported a cohort of teachers primarily from El Valor and YMCA, the largest early childhood community-based organizations (CBOs) in the Chicagoland area, while subsequent cohorts expanded to recruit across the region.
Alumna Chelsea Witherby, '21 M.A.T. Early Childhood Education had this to say about her experience as an EC4 candidate: “This program has helped prepare me to teach and collaborate with a diverse group of young learners, advocate for students and their families, and stay informed on local policies and programs that can positively impact students. I am incredibly grateful to have been part of this unique program.” Another EC4 graduate is Tessa Adams ‘21, who works for the Rock Island Regional Office of Education District 49 as a preschool teacher. Tessa was drawn to the EC4 program to further her education, noting that this opportunity allowed her to take this next step in her career. Her experience in the program has been invaluable: “I was able to meet new teachers from all around Illinois and we were able to share our experiences with each other and learn from one another through our ideas. I had amazing professors who taught me new techniques to use in the classroom and new tools to share with my co-teachers.”
While the EC4 grant funding is concluding and the final cohort wrapping up in December 2022, NCE is certainly not done with offering this kind of opportunity to early childhood educators. NCE faculty took the successes and lessons learned from the EC4 model to develop a similar one-year accelerated pathway, continuing to support educators long after the grant funding subsides. Learn more about this model here.
Want to learn more about NLU’s EC4 grant program? Contact Dr. Xiaoli Wen at Xiaoli.Wen@nl.edu.
