The Early Childhood Higher Education Faculty Initiative is a unique partnership among Wheelock College, Pacific Oaks College, and ACCESS (American Associate Degree Early Childhood Educators), in collaboration with Bank Street College and Erikson Institute. The Initiative objectives will challenge and support teams of faculty in higher education to–

• Enhance the quality of higher education programs serving Head Start teachers, administrators, and other early childhood and child care programs, including the reviewing and revising curriculum; developing new strategies, pedagogical models, and materials; and ensuring that the content and coursework translate into enhanced Head Start teaching.
  
  
• Improve access and remove barriers to higher education programs for Head Start, Early Head Start, and other early childhood providers, including supporting adult students from a range of cultural, economic, and linguistic communities; developing an institutional commitment to hiring a diverse faculty; and utilizing methods to provide effective learning experiences for faculty.
  
  
• Create new connections that will institutionalize these advances as part of a permanent infrastructure, including bringing the context of Head Start to institutions; strengthening structures that enhance articulation and communication among colleges and associations; linking the initiative to career development systems; and building on existing infrastructures.

The impetus for this initiative was the ambitious and challenging degree requirement mandated by the 1998 reauthorization of the Head Start Act. The degree mandate requires that, by September 30, 2003, fifty percent of all Head Start teachers in center-based programs nationwide must have an associate, baccalaureate, or advanced degree in early childhood education, or a degree in a related field with preschool teaching experience. The mandate marks another milestone in Head Start's long tradition of striving to improve the quality of services for young children and their families, and reinforces the program’s commitment to educational and career advancement for all staff members.

There are faculty members who are educational champions on every college campus. These faculty members are willing to take the necessary time to encourage students, help them find their voice, and build confidence in their abilities as students. Faculty members continue to be academic leaders, mentors, and resources to countless students and professionals. The Early Childhood Higher Education Faculty Initiative proposes to connect the efforts of these faculty members at two- and four-year institutions for the benefit of students. It proposes to support them to be change agents at their home institutions, leading to a wave of accessibility and success for potential students in colleges and universities throughout the country.

The Initiative recognizes the challenges that face today's institutions of higher education. Current trends in the field of early care and education have created a real and urgent need to ensure that higher education institutions and faculty are prepared to meet the needs of a diverse group of adult learners. They need assistance to remove complex systemic barriers, including lack of articulation agreements between programs and institutions, conflicts between work and class times, and inaccessibility of student services.

Many other significant issues that affect higher education will be addressed by this Initiative. There is growing concern about the content of higher education degree programs in early childhood education. Areas such as infant/toddler curriculum, for example, are minimally included in most college curricula. Another issue relates to inclusion and culturally responsive practices. Given the changing demographics of this country and who the families are in early childhood programs, there needs to be expanded focus on this content.

Finally, the Institutes will explore who is the faculty of institutions of higher education. Are they representative of the students and the children and families in early childhood programs? Recent studies indicate that faculty are largely from the mainstream, with those of color joining the ranks as adjunct and part-time faculty members (Preparing the Workforce, Early and Winton, 2001). The Initiative is proposing to challenge current understanding of the implications of this situation on effective teacher preparation.

Over the life of the Initiative, nine cohorts of ten three-member faculty scholar teams from two- and four-year colleges and universities will be engaged to examine the content, pedagogy, and structures of early childhood higher education programs. These teams will be community-based and diverse geographically, culturally, and linguistically. To achieve its goal of enhancing the capacity of faculty members from two- and four-year colleges to assist Head Start, child care, and early childhood teachers to successfully complete associate and bachelors degrees, the Initiative incorporates the following strategies–

• Hosting three, five-day institutes at a working retreat site
  
  
• Bringing together 30 participants (10 teams) to attend these institutes
  
  
• Establishing on-line chat rooms and distance education between each session of the institute
  
  
• Offering mini-grants to participating institutions to support building early childhood programming in their regions or states

It is estimated that, over the next five years, approximately 100 institutions of higher education will be directly affected by faculty participation in the Early Childhood Higher Education Faculty Initiative. Other two- and four-year colleges and universities will be affected at the state level through shared dialogue about the institute content with faculty scholars participating in the Initiative. The first (pilot) institute was conducted at the Bolger Center in Potomac, Maryland, in the spring of 2001. Ten faculty teams from across the United States and Puerto Rico participated in the event. These were selected from a pool of 50 applications representing over 30 institutions of higher education and 150 individual faculty scholars. The initial session exposed scholars to current trends and research in brain development, language acquisition, culturally responsive teaching methodology, and adult learning. This institute represented the beginning of a five-year process to address systemic change in the development of degreed early childhood professionals.

Two additional institutes were held in the fall of 2001. One consisted of faculty scholar teams that represented institutions within the Head Start Regions IV and VI; the second represented institutions from across the United States.

One goal of the Early Childhood Higher Education Faculty Initiative is to individualize the format to meet the needs of both faculty scholars and the student population. The national institutes will address this goal, as will special focused institutes convened as appropriate. In trying a variety of formats, we are looking to provide a stronger opportunity for networking and collaborative follow-up efforts within geographic regions of the country.