Meeting & Agendas

New student members were introduced to the advisory committee. Everyone was welcomed for attending.

• Amy Escobar, First Amanda Hernandez Endowed Scholarship Recipient o Please spread the word about the Amanda Hernandez Endowed Scholarship. The Endowment Fund is at $23,490. We need about $30,000 to be able to grant a $1,000 scholarship each year. • Gale Spear, Minnie Piper Professor Nominee for Austin Community College o This is a prestigious award. Gale was selected as ACC’s nominee for the state awards.

• Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation (ECADA) Update – The first annual report for continued accrediation was submitted in September 2013. We are accredited for seven years with annual reports submitted each year. • Program Statistics – ECADA Results for 2012-2013. The faculty reviewed data from our five Key Assessments in relation to each standard. Standard 1: Child Development – Students continue to exceed goal set Standard 2: Family & Community – Improvements in Capstone results Standard 3: Observation & Assessment – Students perform at higher level in Capstone course Standard 4: Teaching & Learning – Concern with ability to express knowledge in writing Standard 5: Professionalism – Need to incorporate more learning opportunities across the curriculum Linda reported that the faculty discussed variability across courses. There are plans to do a reliability check in the spring to see if faculty members are applying the rubrics in similar ways. Anyone who wants more comprehensive data is free to contact the department for a report. • Lab School Update: o Dawn Leach reported that the Lab School was reaccredited by NAEYC in early Spring. • Program Enrollments: o Linda reported on program enrollments – Spring enrollments were up, but summer and fall were slightly lower. This is a reflection of reduced Teacher TRAC funding. Spring 2013 – 436 enrollments Summer 2013 – 106 enrollments Fall 2013 – 332 enrollments • Teacher TRAC – o From Spring – Fall 2013 177 students have taken one or more courses. Funding for Teacher Trac has been reduced. For Fall 2013 117 students are funded by Teacher TRAC  35 Comprehensive CDA;  41 Certificate and  41 AAS students). . • Graduates (Fall 2011 – Summer 2012) – o 34 students earned Marketable Skills Awards (Comprehensive CDA – 12 credit hours) – last year had 51 students o 17 students earned Child Development Certificates (33 credit hours) o 12 students Associate of Applied Science Degrees (70 credit hours) – up by 3 students • Requirement for Degree Plans to Have Only 60 Credits o Linda reported that the faculty is reviewing the AAS degree plan to determine how to reduce it by 10 credits. There is a new state law related to the number of hours permitted in a degree. There will be some kind of waiver process. ACC has not decided how to address this challenge o The Advisory Committee will have input in the final degree plan if we do need to make changes.

• Two of the program graduates and Lab School Assistant Teachers, Rebeca Olivarez and Shannon Saldana (accompanied by her newborn son, Legato) share their experiences with transferring to a four-year university. • Jenni Billingsley and Ruby Edwards were not able to attend, but Dawn shared some of their information. Dawn read a document from Ruby that the ACC CD program prepared her well for the Occupational Education degree plan at Texas State. Both reported that a large number of their ACC credits transferred and they also received credit for work and life experiences. They were also able to craft their area of concentration for coursework based on personal goals. Ruby completes her BAAS degree in December. Jenni completed her BAAS degree two years ago and just graduated with her MSW. • Linda shared a document that listed what was accepted from the different programs. • Rebecca explained her program, including information about the fees/tuition & loans, the structure of the courses, which are offered in different time frames including two-week, four-week and eight-week courses. One challenge is that advisers change frequently, often each semester. She considers it a quality for experience students if they have good writing skills and are self-disciplined. Dawn commented on how she has had to flex the scheduling of the Child Lab School for teachers to be able to complete their coursework. • Shannon discussed her experience with Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin (SFA). She started at Sam Houston, but moved to SFA because the cost was much less at SFA due to their special Head Start Completer Program.

• Linda presented a proposed curriculum change. The faculty would like to change the course credit waived for CDEC 2422 CDA II and CDEC 2424 CDA III from CDEC 1166/11392 Practicum I/Special Topics to CDEC 1318 Wellness of the Young Child. A document outlining the rationale for the proposed change was shared with the Advisory Committee. • It was moved by Larry Elsner and seconded by Elwin West that the Department change the course credit offered for CDEC 2422 CDA II and CDEC 2424 CDA III in the AAS and Certificate plans to waive the requirements for CDEC 1318 Wellness of the Young Child and substitute it with CDEC 2422 CDA II and CDEC 2424 CDA III with a grade of B or better. The motion was approved unanimously.

• The Advisory Committee was asked to provide input on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions desired for ACC Child Development Graduates. The list will be compiled and shared with the Advisory Committee. • The Advisory Committee had several comments o Writing requirements need to be emphasized due to experience & out of college o Members reported that they have had good students from ACC o Students who do not have experience in the field can be overwhelmed o It is hard for centers to have students release time for field experiences