Giving Compass' Take:

• Emily Tate covers Utah's new programs making college classes available to early childhood educators, and how two educators are making use of the programs.

• How can you support the early education needs in your community?

• Learn about the power of education data for early childhood learning.

Shotwell and Derbidge, the director of Little Leapers, have gradually remade the center and revamped their own instructional techniques over the last 10 months, thanks to experiential lessons and eye-opening discussions with peers that were made possible through Utah’s statewide rollout of free college courses for early childhood educators.

During her nearly eight years as a home-based child care provider, Derbidge developed an understanding of just how critical it is for early learners to get a high-quality education.

While Derbidge and her staff were considering how they could “bring in a more enriched learning environment for the kids,” the state was rolling out a suite of competency-based courses developed by the EarlyEdU Alliance, a collaboration of early childhood education experts led by the University of Washington. The courses were created to make higher education more accessible to early childhood educators and improve the quality of teaching in the field. Utah has few educational requirements for early childhood educators, most of whom only need to complete 2.5 hours of training prior to service and are not required to have completed a degree or credential.

In 2016, state officials began to discuss creating pathways for educators to obtain accessible, affordable degrees in the field. The governor’s office and the Utah Head Start Association joined forces on the effort and began to build out the EarlyEdU platform. In fall 2017, the first Head Start pilots began. The following spring, the Office of Child Care joined the collaboration and hosted its own pilot course.

As of this fall, the courses are fully implemented. So far, 64 educators across Utah have completed an EarlyEdU course, 11 of whom have gone on to take one or both of the other offerings. Another 36 educators are on track to finish a course this fall.

Read the full article about how free online college courses are helping early childhood educators by Emily Tate at EdSurge.