Great Start for Higher Education (GSHE)
PURPOSE
The purpose of Great Start for Higher Education (GSHE) is to enhance the quality of the early childhood curriculum offered at three community colleges in Michigan (Grand Rapids CC, Monroe County CC, and Mott CC) so that associate-degreed early childhood teachers are better prepared to meet the needs of young children with diverse needs and their families. Accordingly, GSHE will work with faculty and community partners from these IHEs to embed evidence- and competency-based content into early childhood courses and increase the number and quality of inclusive early childhood practicum settings.
FOCUS
Using the Blueprint Process for Enhancing Early Childhood Preservice Programs and Courses (Catlett, Maude, & Skinner, 2016), GSHE will have three primary foci.
1. The first is a focus on strengthening higher education pedagogy by ensuring strong alignment between program goals/standards and curriculum content (what we teach), process (how we teach it), and context (characteristics of our learners).
2. The second focus is on enhancing curriculum by ensuring appropriate coverage of content and topics related to early childhood inclusion of children with diverse needs, including those with disabilities as well as those who are culturally and linguistically diverse.
3. The third focus is on ensuring that the community college faculty have the full support of their community partners; partners with a vested interest in the success of their students. GSHE will provide intensive professional development related to these critical issues in EI/ECSE to faculty members employed at these three community colleges and provide evidence-based resources that they can use with their students in their classrooms and in the field