Soraya Rodriguez-Juarez is a Head Start teacher for the City of Rockford, where she lives.
Yet neither the 50 miles between her hometown and Elgin Community College, nor the hourlong, one-way commute in heavy tollway traffic, is deterring her from the pursuit of a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from NIU.
“My goal is to better understand and service the early childhood students,” says Rodriguez-Juarez, one of 18 students in the first cohort of NIU’s Early Childhood Education licensure program delivered at ECC.
Almost all of the cohort members received the state’s new Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity (ECACE) scholarship.
The ECACE scholarship program, which could cover all tuition and fees for members of the incumbent workforce with associate degrees from Illinois community colleges, was created to address the shortage of qualified early childhood professionals.
Recipients can use ECACE funds at NIU once they achieve junior status.
In the ECC cohort, licensure candidates participate in a portfolio assessment to receive college credit for prior work experience and collaborate with a dedicated academic advisor called a “completion coach” to foster success.
Graduates then are expected to continue or return to teaching or direct services in early childhood care and education in Illinois after they complete their degrees.
NIU offers two degrees that qualify: the B.S. in Early Childhood Education to teach PreK-2 in a school setting and the B.S. in Human Development and Family Sciences to serve infants and young children in home- and community-based settings.
“The courses have been very insightful so far and require a strong commitment of my time,” says Rodriguez-Juarez, who graduated from Rock Valley College in 2017.
“I have used what I’ve learned in my classroom, and I have used examples of situations from my classroom in some of my classes,” she says. “I’ve learned to take advantage of the teaching moments in the classroom in ways I didn’t know to do before I took the classes I’ve taken.”
Laura Hedin, chair of NIU’s Department of Special and Early Education (SEED), is pleased to hear that.
SEED administration and staff traveled in August to Elgin Community College, where the NIU classes are taught, to meet the candidates.
“They are an enthusiastic bunch who are extremely excited to be entering NIU licensure programs,” Hedin says. “They are just now completing their first eight-week session. We have set up the courses in quarters rather than full semesters because working adults really have a difficult time juggling five classes at the same time.”
Arriving at NIU “at exactly the same point where most transfers would,” Hedin says, the students are already in their first professional semester. Some did complete one or two courses over the summer they needed to fulfill the degree requirements, she says.
Support is provided by Tena Callahan, their completion coach; Alex Owens, their undergraduate academic advisor; and Tim Klagues, the university’s new ECACE advisor.
ELGIN’S COHORT PRECEDES one that will begin in January for students in Quincy.
Quincy is the base of operations for Julia Auch, a clinical assistant professor in SEED and ECACE program coordinator. Auch is currently reviewing the “overwhelmingly positive” feedback from cooperating teachers who are providing clinical placements to NIU candidates.
“Really, each time I review comments makes my day to see them doing so well out there,” says Auch, a seasoned veteran in early childhood with a 34-year career that includes two decades as a classroom teacher in pre-K and elementary settings and more than a decade in higher education.
In field experiences, licensure students are placed as close to home as possible or, in some cases, the schools where they’re already working in support roles.
They create lessons in conjunction with the classroom teachers, work with small groups of students, collect observational data, write reflections and even sit in on parent-teacher conferences.
They also film themselves teaching.
“I meet with them periodically and watch those videos with them, one on one,” Auch says. “I tell them all the amazing things they’re doing, and then we think a bit about what we might focus on a little bit more for the next lesson.”
Her Quincy students are thankful for the chance to complete fully funded bachelor’s degrees on their way to new careers.
“Being able to balance raising a family, school full time online and being able to work full time, I’m already teaching and getting that experience in the field I was meant to be in,” student Sarah Tipton says. “I am very excited and grateful to be able to have this opportunity and could not have done it without the help and guidance of Dr. Auch.”
Classmate Megan Howell also appreciates the scholarship.
“I chose NIU to complete my early childhood degree because the school came highly recommended,” Howell says. “It allows me to continue to work in the classroom: When it comes to student teaching, I can complete it where I work.”
For Beth Hammer, a paraeducator at the Quincy Public Schools Early Childhood and Family Center (QECFC), the lessons learned already include child development theories, how to write and implement lesson plans and how to deal with behaviors safely and effectively.
Hammer’s day job in a “blended” room has allowed her to assist children with – and without – Individual Education Programs.
“I really enjoy working with all of them and helping them learn and grow in my role as a paraeducator, but I’m looking forward to doing even more as a certified teacher,” she says. “My youngest daughter has Down syndrome, so I have really wanted to work with kids like her in an inclusion setting like we have at QECFC ever since she started school there four years ago.”
NIU’s coursework provides “valuable information I can use in the classroom,” she adds.
“My courses taught by Dr. Auch are, of course, my favorites. She has a way of teaching classes that really makes them interesting and informative and that prepare you for working with children in the classroom,” says Hammer, who earned her associate degree from John Wood Community College in 2004.
“One of the most beneficial things I have learned have been to stay the course and ask for help if you need it. I have a very busy life and, some days, it’s tough to get all of my schoolwork done, but I have managed to keep up with everything through perseverance and talking to classmates or Dr. Auch when I need help or clarification,” she says.
“I have been lucky enough to observe teachers every day at work and have noticed that perseverance,” she adds, “and asking colleagues for help or ideas is a huge part of being an effective teacher.”
NIU’S ECACE PIONEERS are playing a role in advancing the field.
“ECACE is a wonderful opportunity to carry out NIU’s mission, vision and values of addressing critical needs in our region, of upskilling the incumbent workforce and of changing institutional barriers for persons of color to get at that piece of promoting social justice and equity,” Hedin says.
Only 44% of the early childhood workforce is non-white, she says, including licensed teachers, day care employees, home-based child care providers and after-school program staff in that group.
The average salary across the profession in Illinois is $13.84 per hour, she adds.
“If you’re thinking about a $15 minimum wage, they are working below that standard for earning a living wage,” Hedin says.
“Programs like ECACE provide a pathway toward people improving their economic status as well as upskilling and improving their knowledge and skills,” she adds.
“These are people who have an amazing depth of understanding and experience that has not been honored by our system – our educational system – and using mechanisms like the prior learning assessment really does honor that and gives people an opportunity to receive college credit for the investments they’ve made in their profession already.”
Meanwhile, Auch says, that upskilling is part of the profession’s evolution.
Licensed child care centers and even Head Start programs have only in the last decade started to require credentials, she says, and “certainly not degrees with a licensure component.”
“We’re seeing more and more energy being put into the idea that the birth-to-5 time frame is really the foundation of all future learning and success,” Auch says, “so we are really at a turning point where we are valuing more the idea that this incumbent workforce – the people who are already doing this work – is seeking professional development and opportunities to grow, whether it be to own their own center someday, or to be a center director, or to move out of the child care world into a school district as a pre-K through second-grade teacher.”
ECACE’s offer of that ladder to non-traditional students will make differences far beyond their lives and the lives of their families, she adds.
“School readiness is going to be positively impacted, and that’s going to impact the entire community and the future workforce, creating a strong community,” Auch says. “That’s so important, and it really does start here at zero-to-five.”
