Early Ed Watch

In our recent policy paper “Getting in Sync: Revamping Licensing and Preparation for Teachers in Pre-K, Kindergarten and the Early Grades,” I highlighted the University of Oklahoma - Tulsa’s early childhood teacher preparation program as a promising practice for bridging early childhood associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs.

Community college students with an early childhood associate’s degree who want to transfer to a university and obtain a bachelor’s degree often face several barriers. Too often early childhood bachelor’s degree programs do not accept all of the community college courses for full credit. This means that students must sometimes retake courses, which costs both time and money, making it especially challenging for older working adults.

In 2006, the University of Oklahoma (OU) launched an early childhood bachelor’s degree program at its branch campus in Tulsa in partnership with Tulsa Community College and with the support from the George Kaiser Family Foundation to reduce barriers that many transfer students face, create a fully aligned degree program tailored for working adults and offer loan forgiveness for graduates who stay and work in Tulsa.

Students complete their first two years at the Tulsa Community College with an associate’s degree in early childhood education, which transfers completely to the University of Oklahoma -Tulsa where they finish with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and obtain a birth-to- 3^rd-grade teaching license.

In this week's podcast, we talk with Diane Horm, George Kaiser Family Foundation endowed chair of early childhood education and director of the Early Childhood Education Institute at the Tulsa Campus of the University of Oklahoma. She talks about how the program meets the needs of its working adult students and about the collaboration between OU and Tulsa Community College.

Podcast: Making Degrees More Accessible for Early Childhood Professionals

With our guest: Diane Horm, George Kaiser Family Foundation endowed chair of early childhood education and director of the Early Childhood Education Institute 

 Don't miss our other podcasts. Browse the podcast collection.