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Project Initiatives

ECE³ Focus Areas

Pending content

Three Buckets Initiatives Model Graphic

Recruitment and Retention of Diverse ECE Students

The ECE Student Ambassador program is a pilot program that began in November of 2021 and supports students at Hawaii Community College, Honolulu Community College, Kauai Community College, and UH Maui College. The mission of the program is to assist prospective and new ECE students with their transition and ongoing engagement in ECE programs, as well as promote the community college ECE program within the local community.

Learn more about the Student Ambassadors Program

The purpose of the Early Childhood Educator Compensation Equity Study is to examine workforce compensation and financial assistance and other data on early childhood educators, ECE college students, promising program models, and develop a roadmap to increase compensation for early childhood educators, including ECE lead teachers, across sectors and settings, serving young children from infants through age eight.

Learn more about the Early Childhood Educator Compensation Equity Study

A vital component of a state professional development system to recruit and retain a highly skilled workforce is a clearly defined career lattice, framework or pathways.

Learn more Career Framework and Pathways

Early Childhood Educator Pathways and Programs

Faculty of UHM COE is designing a statewide bachelor in education degree (B.Ed.) in early childhood education (ECE) track to articulate smoothly with the ECE programs at Honolulu Community College (HonCC), Hawaii Community College (HawCC), Kauai Community College (KauCC) and University of Hawaii Maui College (UHMC).

Learn more about the BEd in Early Childhood Education

The faculty of our new B.Ed. in ECE, B-8 track and other existing ECE programs at the associate, bachelor, and master degree programs in the University of Hawaii system and Chaminade University are reviewing and aligning course student and program learning outcomes with the NAEYC’s Professional Standards and Competencies. Simultaneously, faculty are having discussions on how to best recognize and incorporate HCYC’s E Mālama i Nā Keiki, Hawai‘i’s Core Knowledge and Competencies for Early Childhood Care and Education Workforce (2019) which is a supplemental guide to ensure systematic and intentional planning or pre-service, in-service, and on-going professional development that considers Hawai‘i as a unique place of learning.

Learn more about Competency-Based ECE Teacher Education Programs

In our ECE associate or bachelor degree programs, students are required to participate in quality fieldwork or practicum experiences which represent the wide array of ECE settings or programs in Hawai‘i serving diverse B-8 children and families. This array of settings include Family-Child Interaction Learning (FCIL) and Family Child Care programs and school and center-based programs.

Learn more about Field Experiences through Mentorships

The Center will work with 4-year and 2-year faculty and administration from UH System, UH Mānoa, and UH Community Colleges to improve articulation agreements that will lessen barriers for prospective and current ECE students. The intention is to create smoother pathways that allow students to complete their  Associates in Science in ECE (Birth through age five) at UHCCs in two years and transfer to the B.Ed. in ECE (Birth through age eight) at UH Mānoa College of Education in their last two years.

Learn more about 2+2 Articulation Agreements

Prior Learning Assessments (PLAs) enable members of the current workforce to earn community-college credit for previous professional learning experience. The UHCCs will refine, market, and implement common PLAs to acknowledge early childhood professionals’ prior learning and award them with college credit.

Learn more about Prior Learning Assessments

Honolulu Community College (HonCC) has been designing an apprenticeship program with a community-based Native Hawaiian educational organization that employs a teaching workforce who serve young children, birth through age 5, and their families. This apprenticeship program is a job-embedded early childhood education training program, where the teaching workforce are working full-time and are interested in earning community college ECE credits and forming a cohort of students to pursue an associate degree that leads to a bachelor degree in ECE.

Learn more about our Apprenticeship Program

Job Embedded Professional Learning

In order to understand where mentoring and coaching are occurring in early childhood education programs in Hawaii, an environmental scan is being conducted through the ECE3 Project in collaboration with HCYC. This environmental scan will In addition to this scan, two guides will be developed.

  1. One guide will be for mentor teachers who provide guidance to our students or teacher candidates in field experiences in a variety of ECE programs.
  2. One guide will be for instructional coaches who are working with new ECE teachers, to support teacher retention and sustain quality teaching practices.

Learn more about the System of Mentoring and Coaching

In order to build a high quality early childhood workforce with the knowledge, competencies, education and support they need to promote children’s development and learning and work effectively with their families, early childhood educators need integrated and intentional professional learning opportunities, provided by well-prepared and well-supported trainers or facilitators of professional learning.

Learn more about the Capacity Building Plan for Trainers/Facilitators of Professional Learning