New ‘Place-based’ Bachelor’s Program Aims To Invest Big In Colorado’s Early Childhood Workforce
“The position of higher ed has been, ‘Here’s our nice bachelor’s degree, come and get it,’” said Rebecca Kantor, dean of the University of Colorado Denver’s School of Education and Human Development.
That has not worked.
The barriers are significant: access, cost and the confidence to be a college student, particularly for marginalized communities and students of color. And for those already in the field who work long hours and who are poorly paid, they are unreachable. Still, in one Colorado study, more than 80 percent of those without a degree expressed the desire to pursue one.
Kantor and her colleagues thought, why not design a program that attacks those barriers one by one?
Together with three Denver child care centers, Clayton Early Learning, Sewall Child Development Center and Mile High Early Learning, the school designed the “place-based bachelor’s degree” pilot program. Twenty students are in the first cohort.