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Welcome to NACCTEP's Fall Institute 2022 Pre-Panel Discussion! The purpose of this panel is to take a moment to pause and reflect on the legacy of community college teacher education programs over the past 20 years!
We are excited to have four NACCTEP leaders share insight into their work: Dr. Cheri St. Arnauld; Dr. Ray Ostos; Mrs. Kim Tobey; and Dr. Linda Gronberg-Quinn. Each has written a blog post for us which we invite you to read.
Once you have, we invite you to respond to this post by answering this question: Who are you? What is your role, and where are you from? Where have you seen community college teacher education go over the past 20 years? And, where do you see--or hope to see--it go in the next 20?
We also invite you to respond to two other discussants' posts by Thursday to be eligible for professional development hours.
Panelist Blog Posts
Hello! My name is Tricia McKay and I am the Program Director for the Child Development and Early Education Associate Degree program at Lansing Community College in Michigan. When I think about the progress we have made in community college teacher preparation programs over the last 20 years, one of the first things that comes to mind, especially in early childhood education teacher preparation, is accreditation and meeting professional preparation standards. Achieving accreditation and aligning our teacher preparation programs with national standards has strengthened our credibility in higher ed. and increased the quality of education that we are providing for our students. Where do I hope to see us in the next 20 years? My biggest hope is that early childhood education as field is no longer viewed as a service industry with low wages, but is seen as the education profession that is truly is, in which early childhood educators are valued, respected, and well compensated.