Greenfield Community College

GCC Offers Opportunity for Early Childhood and School Age Child Care Educators

Original publication date: 2008-03-31 08:16:31

Greenfield Community College is offering an exciting new program aimed at giving professionals in the early childhood education field a chance to earn an associate’s degree. The grant-funded program can pay tuition and fees for up to four courses over a year for students who are seeking degrees in Early Childhood Education, Liberal Arts in Education or a related degree. The program is offering one class to get everyone started beginning this summer. Additional courses will be scheduled at times when working professionals are more likely to be available and some online courses may be provided as well.

“We are excited about this because it is a great opportunity for people working in the field who have not attended college before, or who have only taken courses without matriculating into a degree program,” said Kim Audette, Coordinator for the Building Careers in Education program.

The first class will be Child Behavior and Development (Psych 233) and will start on May 21. The classes are being taught on Wednesday nights with two Saturday classes.
The program is funded by a state grant from the Department of Early Education and Care.

Candidates for the program are eligible if they have been working in the fields of early childhood education or school-aged care for at least a year and have not received a previous degree. Those accepted must plan to matriculate into a GCC program related to early childhood education; agree to work with an academic advisor for career and academic counseling and participate in work-site observation and supervision meetings over the course of the year.

Audette will serve as an advisor for students who are accepted into the program. The “cohort” model will be used in the program to further develop a peer support network and enable the program to arrange dedicated evening, weekend and online courses for students in the program.

There will be an orientation meeting on April 16 at 6 p.m. in the East Building, room 147. A light dinner will be served and information about GCC and the grant program will be presented.

For more information about the program, or about the orientation meeting, please contact Kim Audette at 775-1270 or e-mail her at audettek@gcc.mass.edu.