The Child Development, Early Childhood Education and Family Studies programs focus on the in-depth foundational knowledge, skills, and dispositions that prepare students with workforce competencies for various careers with the profession. The programs offer students the opportunity to complete general education requirements, coursework for education transfer to a four-year university in education.
The Butte College Child Development and Family Relations (CDF) discipline, which includes Child Development (CD) Early Childhood Education (ECE), and Elementary Teacher Education is housed in the Education, Child and Family Studies (ECFS) Department. ECFS is a thriving program with many and varied options for students to acquire educational achievements for competency in promoting child development and learning; building family and community relationships; implementing program and child assessment systems; teaching and learning in a diverse society, elementary education, and professional development. The program is complemented by the Child Development Center (CDC) that serves as a model laboratory for students in Early Childhood Education, Child Development, and other disciplines (Social & Behavioral Sciences, Nursing, Paramedics, Food & Nutrition, Drama, Elementary Teacher Education, other). ECFS offers students the opportunity to complete coursework for: general education, AS degree in Early Childhood Education (ECE), Child Development Transfer degree, AS-T in Early Childhood Education, AA-T Elementary Education, Certificate in Para-Professional, Certificate in ECE, Certificate of Achievement in ECE, Certificate Child and Family Studies, or a Social & Behavioral Sciences degree. The department offers several ECE courses in a Spanish cohort model that supports California's needs for Spanish speaking early educators.
Student Equity Funds for Spanish Program
The continuation of funding for this program, which was previously funded through student equity funding will support college and students to:
Perkins Funds
Perkins funds are being used for:
Strong Workforce
As educational technology moves forwards in leaps and bounds the Early Childhood Education field needs to be responsive in incorporating 21st technology tools to serve students, children, families and teachers. We are proposing to update regional ECE teaching classroom infrastructure and modernize the way ECE is delivered to student in the field.
EDUC 2
Child Development/Early Childhood Education
Past reflection with the SLO funds from last year allowed us to purchase a course set of Spanish California Foundations and Frameworks. These text will be utilized in multiple Spanish course offerings. During the fall SLO deep dive reflection we are seeing patterns of student dropping from CDF 78 after enrolling. In the spring of 2017, we had two of the twelve students drop due to the economic challenge of paying for criminal background checks. In Fall 2017, we’ve seen a similar patter therefore will track this pattern to determine if the need to reapply for student equity funds.
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2012FA |
70.49% |
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2013FA |
72.6% |
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2014FA |
66.5% |
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2015FA |
69.04% |
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2016FA |
71.23% |
The department continues to implement a variety a strategies to support students to meet the college’s achievement standards and goals set by the department. Each semester the department offers a Future Educator Advising Party. This event includes external agencies, CSU, Chico Child Development Department Chair, Butte County Office of Education Credentials Analyses, and degree and certificate advising by counselors and department faculty. The department started a Future Educator Club in 2016 with events currently being planned. In the spring 2018, the department held an advisory committee meeting and it was suggested that the Future Educator Student Club hold field trips to Chico State.
It is key to note that meeting the achievement standards set by college and the higher than normal numbers of student with learning disabilities declaring Early Childhood Education as their major would suggest these students’ need extra supports to meet the competencies set by the field. It’s been suggested by the department to offer paid lab assistant positions to these student to give them additional hours of practicum experiences to better prepare them for work.
Several faculty member are embracing the Open Education Resources opportunities on and off-campus. By fall 2018, the department will launch a Z-Certificate for the 12 units in ECE. The courses to be included in the Z-Certificate are CDF 12,14,18,48, 56, 57, 80 and 93.
With the increase of the requirements for students when taking a lab course (required prerequisites, immunizations, TB test, and criminal background checks or Child Development Permit) and 80 plus ECE students needing lab placement the department needs a lab technician.
To increase achievement standards and goals set by the college the department will need support in the follow ways:
The ECFC program continues to not just maintain core program elements but to keep course outlines up-to-date, offer students ongoing academic advising, recruitment and marketing of students through career days and campus visits; while maintaining a consistent and predictable offering of courses in a variety of modalities, locations, languages and times. Faculty continue to hold leadership positions in the local community, regionally and state professional organizations. We continue to find ways to balance the work commitments with personal wellness. The department is still committed to making our Child Development Center accredited with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
The department places approximately 106 student into a TBA lab. Approximately, 70 such students are placed at the Child Development Center while other students are placed off-campus. The time and collaboration needed to successfully match students with off-campus sites is enormous. The department could be more efficient in doing these placements by having a lab technican at the Child Devleopment Center. The department was faced with dilemma in the fall 2017 when Chico USD pulled 55 plus EDUC 2 students from their school campus. This dilemma created a need to get field placement agreements in place with several local charter schools to for spring 2018. During this dilemma secretarial support was denied to the chair yet the work needed to be done to support students enrolled in EDUC 2. Having a lab technican for ECE and EDUC 2 & 4 placement would support student success and ensure the health and safety of children.
The goals of Education, Child and Family Studies are as follows:
- Increase the chair's release time to 40%
- Request full-time faculty to teach our Education 2 and 4 courses
- Continue to support the ECE Spanish Program
- Continue to support advising event to address achievement standards
- Support strategies to address the higher than normal student population with learning disabilities in the ECE major.
Support the hiring of a lab technician to support the placement of lab students in Early Childhood Education, Para-Education, and Elementary Teacher Education.
Upgrade the key pad at the Child Development Center
Student completion and career readiness with cleared background checks
Teacher Pipeline Project (TPP)
Strategy 1 - Increase the chair's release time to 40%
The department added AA/T Elementary Teacher Education degree in 2015-16 without negotiating the release time of the chair. The degree has added several duties to the chair workload. For example, creation of new advisory committee, attending other advisory committee meeting at Chico State and school districts, collaboration with High Schools and school districts for student placements, additional faculty to evaluate, added department meetings, grant writing and course development and scheduling.
It is key the department chair’s is available to support students and faculty. The addition of a new degree and two new certificates the chair’s release time needs to be recalculated. Currently, 63% of courses in the department are taught by associate faculty and with no full-time faculty dedicated to teaching courses in the AA/T Elementary Teacher Education degree. If the college is truly committed to having the Education, Child and Family Studies department achieve the performance standards goals from 65% to 78% the need to recalculate the release time of the chair should be high consideration.
Strategy 2 - Full-time Educational Faculty
The department currently teaches three sections of Education 2 and will being adding an Education 4 to it course offering in fall 2018. All courses are lab/lecture courses. It is key to recognize that 4 of 5 courses are taught by associate faculty accept for one section of Education 2 which is taught by a full-time faculty member outside of the department.
With about a third of the teaching force nearing retirement, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning estimates that California will need an additional 100,000 teachers over the next decade. Top reasons cited by districts for shortage include; access and/or cost of teacher preparation program, teachers retiring, crowded classes, low perceived teacher salary, and need for specialized teachers in STEM, math, science and special education. Butte College can be a part of this solution by hiring a single full-time faculty to meet the demand.
Strategy 3 - ECE Spanish Program
Butte College always strives for serving our diverse population of students. Butte College’s Demographic Report (BCDR) 2015-2015 states that “With the ongoing increase in the percentage of Hispanic students (from 15% to 23% over the past five years) the college is within a year or two of meeting the threshold for applying to become a Hispanic Serving Institution – HSI,” (BCDR p. 11).” Hispanic/Latino students at Butte College are at this point at or above 19.9% of the total student Population (www.hacu.net).
The Spanish Early Childhood Education (ECE) Program has been serving Hispanic students since January 2008. This program provides the necessary education in Early Childhood Education for students to be hired as teacher assistants, associate teachers, and teachers in public and private child care programs. Students attending this program have a high rate of course completion, high percentage of class attendance, and tend to be hired in Butte, Glenn and adjacent counties.
The Education, Child and Family Studies Department (ECFS), has supported these students providing ECE advising, connecting students with campus resources such as counseling, financial aid, Assessment, and other internal services; The ECFS department has also provided student support for students to apply for Child Development Training Consortium (CDTC) funding, and to apply for ECE Teacher Permits through the California Department of Education, which are needed to apply and retain jobs.
The continuation of funding for this program, which was previously funded thriugh student equity funding will support college and students to:
During past years’ advisory meetings, child care programs have advised our ECFS Department of the need to hire Spanish speaking/bilingual staff to work in child care programs. Specific program performance standards mandate that some agencies hire staff who speak the child's home language. While the Hispanic population in Butte County is 15.7%, in Glenn County this population is 41.1% (US Census Bureau, updated 2015).
Butte College has been identified as an Emerging Hispanic Serving Institution with 19.9% of FTEs (HIS www.hacu.net. This status is given to colleges serving a large population of students who identify as Hispanic, Latina/o, Mexican, Mexican-American, or Chicano/o. The ECE program meets 100% this category of students.
Students attending this program are likely to be employed in Private and Public Childcare/Pre-K Agencies in Butte, Glenn and adjacent counties. Ed Join job search shows the need for bilingual staff under this category.
Upon availability of Student Equity Funding, the Butte College's ECE Program offered in Spanish, has been awarded for two consecutive years funding to mitigate the disproportionate impact of this group of students. Through funding received from Student Equity, this program has addressed the needs for ESL students through:
In order to maintain this quality program it is fundamental to continue its funding to create handout resources for students when no books are available, purchase books as materials become available in Spanish, purchase closed captioned videos in Spanish, allocate funding for marketing materials (including radio advertisements, which play a huge role in recruiting students and fund activity time for the instructor coordinating the recruitment and retention of students enrolled in the ECE Program in Spanish, and for the Instructor coordinating this effort to keep current in community college trends in serving Hispanic students through conference attendance at state or national level.
Strategy 4 - Lab Technician
Support the hiring of a lab technician to support the placement of lab students in Early Childhood Education, Para-Education, and Elementary Teacher Education.
Each semester the Child Development Center has 80 plus lab students and the Education 2 & 4 will place 100 students off-campus at local TK-12th grades.
To ensure the health and safety of the children at the Child Development Center and children in local schools districts the department is requesting the hire of lab technician. The person in this position will oversee all the requirements to be ready for lab e.g., finger printing, immunization, TB test, pre-requisites, scheduling of students days & times, and coordination with individual course instructors.
Strategy 5 - Key Pad Child Development Center
The Child Development Center (CDC) has a key pad system to track staff, faculty, students and families entering the center. This manufacture of this system has been bought out by Smart Care. This system has some added functions but will allow the department to track lab student’s hours and entry into the center. As noted, we place 80 plus lab students at the CDC each semester.
Keeping track of who enters the Child Development Center is vital to the safety of the children enrolled in this program. An upgraded key pad system is needed to monitor who is authorized into the CDC.
Strategy 6 - Student Completion & Career Readiness
Through program review and Perkins data (2015-16) we’ve identified the following barriers to student completion and career readiness.
Beginning in fall 2018, all students enrolled in any lab course (CDF 40, 63,78) will be required to have a cleared criminal background check (Live Scan). In fall 2015, all CDF 78 students were required to have a cleared criminal background. When this became a requirement we heard from students that this was a financial barrier to completion of certificates and/or degrees. Over the past eight semester the department has held an advising event to inform students of the cost of getting a cleared criminal background check. Students have reported having the information is helpful but they still can’t afford such cost. EOPS students are provided funds for such cost but not all low income students therefore becomes an equity issue.
Our ECE major serves higher than normal students with identified learning disabilities (25% in 2015-16). One identified strategy for such student is to provide them with additional practicum experience and a career coach.
Strategy 7 - Teacher Pipeline Project (TPP)
The Teacher Pipeline Project (TPP) will create a team of faculty members which will be called the educational faculty task force. The task force will design strategies to strengthening advising, outreach, marketing and identifying students who are seeking a career in education. The selection of faculty will be those faculty members interested in supporting students pursuing teaching careers in the STEM field. Furthermore, the grant will enhance our partnerships with surrounding TK-12 school district to market the new para-education certificate and increase the number field placement agreements for student field work placements. In moving forward will begin partnering with surrounding high schools interested in creating dual enrollment agreements.
The outcomes of this project are:
High School & college students on transfer pathways
Community college students successful in CTE & STEM
Butte College is committed to addressing the labor market demand for preschool, primary (includes middle school teachers) secondary, and other teaching occupation. The labor market data informs us of the need for 21 instruction related occupation including a career as a para-professional being the highest need (8,356) in the next five years. With about a third of the teaching force nearing retirement, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning estimates that California will need an additional 100,000 teachers over the next decade which has reached crisis proportions in some areas, is most acute in urban and rural schools. Over the next ten years, California would need to replace more than 106,000 teachers (over one-third of the current workforce) just to maintain current staffing levels.
Currently, Butte has established partnerships with surrounding Transitional Kindergarten-12 districts. Such partnerships include either a 2+2 articulations, field placement agreement, or as a member of the school site advisory committee. In addition, the ECFS department is currently partnering with College of Liberal Studies at Chico State University under the Integrated Teacher Preparation Program (ITPP) grant. The purpose of the grant is to streamline articulations and to strengthen the transfer success rate from Butte College into Chico State’s Bachelor’s-to-Credential in 4-years.
The scheduling of lab/lecture courses based on projections of student demands.
The use of facilities to offer the Future Educator Advising event.
The support from the Strong Workforce team in the implementation of the grant.
The support to allow associate faculty to participate in SLO deep dive dialogue.
The support from the distance learning team in support faculty online course design.
The support from the curriculum committee staff in creating/modifying course outlines.
The support from the staff in student life in the creation of the Future Educator Club.
The support from grants office to write grants
The support from the CA ECE Mentor Program to fund stipends for off-campus lab teacher to mentor Butte College Students.
The support from Child Development Training Consoritum to provide stipends to students seeking academic units to apply for a Child Development Permit.
The ECFC department was awarded a Regional Strong Workforce grants for three years. e.g., ECE Technology and Paraprofessional Certificate grant.
In 2017-18, the department became a subcontractor with Chico State Liberal Studies College. These funds help fund curriculum allignment activties, collaboration, and event planning to recurit future educators.
In 2017-18 the department was awarded a small Perkins award to create, market and provide professional development for the Para-Education Certificate.
Over the past six semesters the department was awared funds from student equity to support the ECE Spanish Cohorts.
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | Education, Child and Family Studies | Personnel | 110005201130500 | $2,000.00 | $2,000.00 | |
| Increase Chair release time to 40% | It is key the department chair’s is available to support students and faculty. The addition of a new degree and two new certificates the chair’s release time needs to be recalculated. Currently, 63% of courses in the department are taught by associate faculty and with no full-time faculty dedicated to teaching courses in the AA/T Elementary Teacher Education degree. If the college is truly committed to having the Education, Child and Family Studies department achieve the performance standards goals from 65% to 78% the need to recalculate the release time of the chair should be high consideration. |
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| 2 | Education, Child and Family Studies | Personnel | $109,000.00 | $109,000.00 | ||
| Full-Time Education Faculty | With about a third of the teaching force nearing retirement, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning estimates that California will need an additional 100,000 teachers over the next decade. Top reasons cited by districts for shortage include; access and/or cost of teacher preparation program, teachers retiring, crowded classes, low perceived teacher salary, and need for specialized teachers in STEM, math, science and special education. Butte College can be a part of this solution by hiring a single full-time faculty to meet the demand. |
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| 3 | Education, Child and Family Studies | Operating Expenses | 110005201130500 | 54200 | $10,000.00 | $17,000.00 |
| ECE Spanish Program | For the past three semesters student equity funding has supported with funding for marketing this program. Since 2008 the Student ECE program, in Spanish has proven to be a solid program preparing ESL students to obtain certificates for courses offered in Spanish while students learn ESL in order to join the workforce. Private and Public child care agencies are in need of Spanish speaking or bilingual staff who may speak children’s home language. While these classes have been successful, there is a great need for quality instructional materials (recently published) in Spanish such as books, close captioned videos, creation of handouts. This program has a continuous need for funding as we currently offer eight courses in Spanish in a two year cycle (two of these are lab courses). To sustain the ECE/CDF Spanish program and to align this program with the college mission to be Hispanic Severing Institution it is vital that the department is awarded these funds. Augmentation • Marking/Advertising $2,000 • Instructional Equipment/Supplies $1,000 • Instructional staff time $7,000 |
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| 4 | Education, Child and Family Studies | Personnel | $0.00 | $5,500.00 | ||
| Lab Technician | To ensure the health and safety of the children at the Child Development Center and children in local schools districts the department is requesting the hire of lab technician. The person in this position will oversee all the requirements to be ready for lab e.g., finger printing, immunization, TB test, per-requisites, scheduling of students days & times, and coordination with individual course instructors. |
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| 5 | Education, Child and Family Studies | Operating Expenses | 110005101130500 | 54200 | $15,500.00 | $10,000.00 |
| Permitting & Credentialing & Guided Pathway | Child and Family Studies Department and the Director of Butte’s Child Development Center are in agreement that our students, the instructional programs, the Child Development Center, student employment, local employers and area families and children would benefit if we were to fund and implement an internship program. This would allow us to increase students’ supervised field experiences (“clinical hours”), which is essential given the upcoming revision to the Child Development Permit (2017) which requires permit applicants to have completed a 3-unit supervised field experience course to obtain a Child Development Teacher Permit beginning in 2017/18. Support students with learning disabilities to be successful in seeking employment. |
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| 6 | Educaiton, Child and Family Study | Operating Expenses | $0.00 | $7,000.00 | ||
| Student Completion & Career Readiness | Beginning in fall 2018, all students enrolled in any lab course (CDF 40, 63,78) will be required to have a cleared criminal background check (Live Scan). EOPS students are provided funds for such cost but not all low income students therefore this becomes an equity issue. |
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| 7 | Educaiton, Child and Family Studies | Equipment | $0.00 | $7,000.00 | ||
| Key Pad | Keeping track of who enters the Child Development Center is vital to the safety of the children enrolled in this program. An upgraded key pad system is needed to monitor who is authorized into the CDC. |
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| 8 | Education, Child and Family Studies | Personnel | $15,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Teacher Pipeline Project | Butte College is committed to addressing the labor market demand for preschool, primary (includes middle school teachers) secondary, and other teaching occupation. The labor market data informs us of the need for 21 instruction related occupation including a career as a para-professional being the highest need (8,356) in the next five years. With about a third of the teaching force nearing retirement, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning estimates that California will need an additional 100,000 teachers over the next decade which has reached crisis proportions in some areas, is most acute in urban and rural schools. Over the next ten years, California would need to replace more than 106,000 teachers (over one-third of the current workforce) just to maintain current staffing levels. |
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