Report of the Academic Program Review Committee (APRC) for Early Childhood Education

Review Period FY 2012-2014

Approved June 1, 2015

Quality, productivity, and viability of the unit

The degree programs of Early Childhood Education (ECE) are subject to state and local implementation of federal mandates, e.g., No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, that usually come with “insufficient funding and minimal research” (Self-Study, p. 2). From 2004 to 2012, nationwide enrollments in university teacher preparation programs declined by about 10% according to US DOE estimates. Combined with increased attention on teacher assessment and accountability, teaching careers appear to have become less inviting to prospective students. Other contextual influences are that (1) many states have eliminated pay raises to teachers upon attaining master’s degrees, (2) Georgia’s demographic shift to having the tenth highest Latino population has propelled a need to prepare teachers to teach English Language Learners, and (3) Georgia’s lottery has funded extensive Pre-K programs. These factors lead to ECE needing toreconfigure programs on a continuing basis to maintain their currency and relevance.

Quality of the Unit:The external review report was full of praise for the unit’s cohesiveness, creativity in responding to needs for new and changed programs and courses, resilience in accommodating cuts in state appropriations, and resourcefulness in securing research funding. For FY2015, ECE is the fifth ranked unit for external funding at GSU. ECE is well versed in using assessment of learning outcomes to improve courses and programs. From surveys, graduates of all the programs report positive views of their educational experiences.

Productivity of the unit, research: Over the three-year period ending FY2014, the unit published an annual average of 31.3 peer-reviewed journal articles, 3.7 proceedings papers, 2 books, 2 books edited, and 6.7 book chapters. The self-study was silent on quality characterization of the peer-reviewed journals. The average number of tenure-track/tenured faculty was 17.7 (4 professors, 7.3 associate professors, and 6.3 assistant professors), and the average number of non-tenure track faculty was 15.0. During the same period, faculty were awarded grants averaging $3,306,515 per year.

Productivity of the unit, teaching: Over the review period, the annual averagesfor credit hours were 1,048.2 for undergraduate lower level courses, 6,498.8 for undergraduate upper level courses, and 4,385.7 for graduate level courses.From FY2012 to FY2014, credit hours declined 19% for the undergraduate upper level and 26% for the graduate level, consistent with nationwide enrollment trends.

Overall viability of the unit: The data presented in the self-study show that the unit is viable, but that ECE has to be quick to revise its programs and reconfigure faculty deployment to maintain its viability in the face of changing external influences.

Viability of undergraduate programs: The unit offers two undergraduate programs (Birth Through Five Teacher Education Program (BSED) and Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education (BSE)). ECE students have a Freshman Index at the GSU average but a higher minority composition (75%, 61% GSU). In four years, 98.4% of BSED and BSE students graduated with an average of 142.0 degrees per year. Fiveyears post-graduation, 91% of graduates continued to teach compared to the national average of 46%.

Viability of master’s programs: ECE offers three master’s degrees: Urban Accelerated Certification and Master’s (UACM), Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), and Master’s of Education (MEd) in Elementary Education (begun in 2014). The UACM and MAT are alternative certification programscreated to respond to contemporary demands for state-certified classroom teachers. The average number of master’s graduates per year was 66.7.Master’s enrollment declined from 122 in FY2012 to 60 in FY2014.To respond to declining enrollment due primarily to Georgia’s elimination of pay raises for teachers earning master’s degrees, ECE streamlined six master’s cohort groups into three programs (i.e., MEDEE, UACM, and the MAT) during the period 2012 to 2014.

Viability of PhD programs: ECE offers two PhD programs: an existing PhD in ECE and the newly formedEdD(2014) in collaboration with Middle and Secondary Education. PhD enrollment increased from 18 in FY2012 to 26 in FY2014. PhD students were 30% African American, with an average of three graduating each year. Graduates have been hired as university faculty members, school leaders, federal agencies, and private educational enterprises. The doctoral programs feature students applying for funding and writing and presenting research papers.

Viability of the goals and recommendations

Goals of the unit:

  1. Maintain focus on high quality research productivity.
  2. Strengthen undergraduate and graduate programs in teacher education and leverage the metro Atlanta location to create programs for educators in non-school based settings.
  3. Increase the number, diversity and quality of the applicant pool in undergraduate and graduate programs.

Recommendations of the external reviewers:

  1. Capitalize on the opportunity for urban-focused growth afforded by GSU’s consolidation with Georgia Perimeter College.
  2. Renovate the Capitol Hill location of the Child Development Center.
  3. Emphasize linguistic and cultural experiences in Spanish-speaking countries and institute a dual language option for teacher preparation.
  4. Convert limited-term hires to more stable clinical positions.
  5. Make strategic faculty hires in literacy, mathematics, and social studies and hire a senior faculty member to replace a retiring person in science/STEM/urban education.
  6. Seek out diverse hires.
  7. Develop a more recognizable mentoring process for new hires.

Recommendations of APRC:

While it supports ECE’s goals and the external reviewers’ recommendations, APRC recommends reorienting one goal and adding two new explicit goals:

  1. Instead of “strengthen undergraduate programs…”, APRC recommends that ECE develop a practice of nimbleness in anticipating and reacting to the volatile external influences on degree programs.
  2. Consistent with the first recommendation, APRC recommends that ECE ensure explicit planning for workload management and hiring, informed by and coupled with curricula changes and enrollment fluctuations. Without the integration of curricula and enrollment dynamics, ECE would be more likely to lose positions upon faculty departures.
  3. APRC recommends that ECE consider how to reduce the number of programs to make the degree programs more manageable.

Consistency of Goals and Recommendations with University Strategic Plan:The committee believes that the goals of ECE, recommendations of the external reviewers, and recommendations of APRC are consistent with and supportive of the GSU Strategic Plan.