2024 Noncredit Exemplary Award Winner
CREDIT WORKFORCE PROGRAM
North Seattle College, WA
Early Childhood Education BAS Program
North Seattle College (NSC), is doing groundbreaking work to ensure diversity in the early educator field as the field professionalizes in Washington State. As the state raises its educational standards for early learning, NSC is working with local, state and national partners to build upon existing efforts to resist duplicating the unjust imbalance that exists in our K-12 system.
Current research shows that as educational standards for teachers rise, the field becomes more homogenous. We see this in K-12 education in Washington, where the percentage of students of color is increasing rapidly; from 40.9% in 2012-13 to 45.6% in 2018-19. We know that teachers of color produce better outcomes for these children, yet the population of K-12 teachers remains overwhelmingly white (89% in 2018-19) due in part to the high educational standards required for the profession and systemic barriers built into higher education institutions.
Methods for accomplishing this goal include creating language-specific on ramps to pathways that lead to baccalaureate degrees for early childhood education (ECE) professionals speaking first languages other than English; creating math pathways that will help ECE professionals complete requirements for Associate and Bachelor degrees; expanding wage advocacy; “fast tracking” diverse professionals through Master’s degree programs to diversify ECE higher education faculty; and information gathering to further identify barriers to diversity in the ECE field.
NSC has been particularly successful in this work as evidenced by its size and comprehensiveness of its program—one of the top three largest ECE preparation programs in the state–and the innovative work it has already done to support diversity in the field such as language immersion cohorts at the certificate level. We feel strongly that our work is not only helping to maintain the diversity of the field as it professionalizes, which is beneficial to children and families of color, but that it will ultimately help to bring economic justice to early childhood educators, which is beneficial to all who work in this field.
Upcoming & recent events
The 2024 NCWE Annual Conference was a huge success! Leaders in workforce education shared insights, built connections, and explored innovative ideas.
Want to be part of 2025? Connect with us about sponsoring, speaking, or exhibiting.
