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Teacher Pipelines: Career Pathways Extending From High School to Community College to University Debra D. Bragg Community College Review 2007; 35; 10 DOI: 10.1177/0091552107302375 The online version of this article can be found at: http://crw.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/1/10

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Teacher Pipelines Career Pathways Extending From High School to Community College to University

Community College Review Volume 35 Number 1 July 2007 10-29 © 2007 North Carolina State University 10.1177/0091552107302375 http://ccreview.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com

Debra D. Bragg University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

Because K-12 teacher preparation is enormously important to the future of the nation, university teacher education programs are being joined by programs at other educational institutions to address the teacher shortage. Community colleges are one of the most eager and entrepreneurial new providers. In addition to providing the first 2 years of teacher preparation through transfer agreements, some community colleges are taking a more comprehensive approach. Working with a variety of institutional partners, community colleges are developing career pathways that recruit high school students into teacher education programs extending from the secondary level to the 2-year college and, ultimately, the baccalaureate degree. Drawing on multicase research, this article describes efforts at three community colleges to implement career pathways for K-12 teaching careers, detailing implementation strategies, student enrollment in high school, and outcomes related to their transition including college matriculation and the need for remedial course taking. Keywords: community college; teacher education; teacher training; career education; technical education

T

he number of teachers needed to fill K-12 public school classrooms is substantial and growing. Darling-Hammond (2000), Hussar (1999), and others have projected that well over 2.5 million new K-12 teachers are needed because of retirement and turnover. The need for teachers is also stimulated by an influx of new students into the K-12 educational system because of an increased birth rate and new immigrants (Darling-Hammond, 2000). Complicating matters, the demand for teachers is uneven, with the most acute need in locations serving poor, minority youths in urban areas; in the subject matter areas of math and science and special, bilingual, physical, and technology education; and in specific 10 Downloaded from http://crw.sagepub.com at SAINT CLOUD STATE UNIV on July 28, 2009

Bragg / Teacher Pipelines 11

regions of the country such as the West and particularly California (Clewell, Darke, Davis-Googe, Forcier, & Manes, 2000). Moreover, the demographic profile of the highest need teaching areas contrasts sharply with the largely White, female, middle-class composition of the present workforce. Despite attempts by university teacher education programs to enhance their offerings, declining state support for higher education seems to have constrained many of these institutions’ ability to expand enrollments in high need areas. To help meet the demand for more teachers, community colleges are offering teacher certification programs for the elementary, middle, and high school levels. These programs are provided in a range of subject matter areas, although many are at the elementary level where community colleges already have a substantial track record (Townsend & Ignash, 2003). It is noteworthy that many community colleges have rekindled their interest in teacher education, which was once substantial when K-12 teachers could be certified with less than a bachelor’s degree. Responding to local labor market needs, in recent years community colleges have partnered with 4-year colleges and universities to strengthen articulation agreements for transfer to teacher education programs or to develop university centers located on community college campuses (Floyd & Walker, 2003; Townsend & Ignash, 2003). Alternatively, some community colleges have developed an array of teacher education options, including their own distinctive community college baccalaureate teacher education programs (Townsend, 2006). As yet another means to increase the number of available teachers, community colleges have begun to partner with secondary schools to develop career pathway programs for teacher education. Drawing on multicase research, this article describes the efforts of three community colleges to implement career pathway programs that enhance student preparation for teaching careers.

The Emergence of Career Pathways Community colleges have long played a critical role in preparing employees for the United States workforce, particularly through career-technical Author’s Note: This research was supported by the League for Innovation in the Community College, Phoenix, AZ, through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of supporting agencies. The author gratefully acknowledges the thoughtful contributions of Larry Warford, Terry O’Banion, Ken Kempner, and Elisabeth Barnett who reviewed an earlier draft and offered valuable suggestions for its revision. Downloaded from http://crw.sagepub.com at SAINT CLOUD STATE UNIV on July 28, 2009

12 Community College Review

education (CTE) and workforce training in occupational fields that have experienced worker shortages (Gray & Herr, 1998). Indeed, vocational education is one of the oldest and most firmly entrenched curricular functions associated with the comprehensive mission of the community college, complementing liberal arts and transfer education, developmental and remedial education, and continuing education (Cohen & Brawer, 2003). Over the past decade, vocational education has undergone an important transformation, shifting from its focus on preparing students for entry-level jobs to preparing them for employment in careers that require a broad set of academic, technical, and employable skills. Bragg (2001) and Lynch (2000) have labeled emerging forms of vocational education as the new vocationalism because of its focus on curriculum alignment, articulation, and integration between CTE and academic education, postsecondary education, and family-wage sustaining careers. The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 (Perkins IV) supports career programs of study that encourage student transition to college and entry into careers, with curricula linked to this perspective increasingly called “career pathways” (Hull, 2005, p. 14). Schwartz (2004) situated career pathways within a larger debate about high school reform as a means of enhancing college access, affirming the importance of multiple pathways to prepare more high school students to matriculate to college. Warford (2006) defined career pathways as follows: A career pathway is a coherent, articulated sequence of rigorous academic and career courses, commencing in the ninth grade and leading to an associate degree, and/or an industry-recognized certificate or licensure, and/or a baccalaureate degree and beyond. A career pathway is developed, implemented, and maintained in partnership among secondary and postsecondary education, business, and employers. Career pathways are available to all students, including adult learners, and are designed to lead to rewarding careers. (p. 8)

At the secondary level, ideal career pathways are expected to offer curricula aligned with state academic standards and grade-level expectations as well as with high school testing and exit requirements. Career pathways are also encouraged to award college credit through credit-based transition programs such as dual credit, dual enrollment, tech prep, and advanced placement, ensuring academic preparation consistent with students being college ready upon entry to the postsecondary level (Warford, 2006). These



programs are also expected to offer multiple entry and exit points leading to viable employment, business, and entrepreneurial opportunities. For the career cluster labeled education and training, of which teacher education is a critical part, these opportunities extend from the community college certificate to the baccalaureate degree, preparing students for jobs ranging from paraprofessional to professional level positions. As a strategy to enhance student persistence, career pathway programs encourage students to stay in school by helping them strengthen relationships between their academic studies and their educational aspirations and career goals. An underlying assumption is that once students understand the relevance of their education they will be motivated to stay in school, improve their academic performance, and realize that college is a viable option (Castellano, Stringfield, Stone, & Wayman, 2003). Furthermore, high school-to-college transition programs that include dual enrollment (or dual credit) give high school students the opportunity to test the waters of college while still in high school (Karp, 2005). Students enrolled in these programs may be able to develop the self-identity of a college student, thereby boosting their commitment to school and their performance at the postsecondary level.

The College and Career Transitions Initiative (CCTI) The CCTI of the League for Innovation in the Community College is designed to assist a select group of community colleges and local partner organizations to implement career pathways (Warford, 2006). In November 2002, the League, supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, identified a leadership team and several partner organizations including the American Association of Community Colleges, the Center for Occupational Research and Development, and High Schools that Work of the Southern Regional Education Board to provide technical assistance. Through a national competitive application process, 15 community collegeled partnerships from nearly every region of the country were selected by a panel of experts. Each of these partnerships was considered ready to lead a local consortium-type organization with several feeder high schools. The 15 partnerships were classified according to career clusters, with 3 partnerships dedicated to the following five career cluster areas: education and training; health science; information technology; law, public safety, and security; and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The



three partnerships associated with education and training are at Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) in Maryland, Lorain County Community College (LCCC) in Ohio, and the Maricopa Community College District (MCCD) in Arizona. Partnership responsibilities include the development of a detailed plan that identifies the sequence of articulated core courses extending from the secondary to the postsecondary levels and creates a visual display of the curriculum in the form of a matrix that specifies the roles and responsibilities of local partners (Warford, 2006). The partnership is charged with coordinating activities, collecting qualitative and quantitative data, using these data to improve programs, and engaging in active communication. Intended outcomes for student participants are to (a) increase secondary and postsecondary academic and technical skill achievement; (b) decrease remediation upon entry to college; (c) increase postsecondary-level program enrollment and persistence; (d) increase attainment of college degrees, certificates, and other credentials; and (e) increase entry into employment or further education.

Method A study of the partnerships was conducted using a multicase approach that involved a team of researchers working collaboratively (O’Banion, Barnett, & Bragg, 2005). The data-collection process was multifaceted, beginning with a 2-day site visit to each partnership during the initial year of the project. Each visit involved interviews with the project director or directors; the project research coordinator (usually an institutional researcher at the lead community college); the college president and other chief administrators; and representatives of partner secondary schools, businesses, and community groups. Some partnerships also provided the opportunity for researchers to interview students. In subsequent years, small group interviews were held with the partnership leaders at various project conferences. These individuals were asked to respond to probing questions about their progress on implementation as well as program and student outcomes. The interview data were supplemented with data on implementation collected using the Career Pathway Self-Assessment, an instrument developed by Bragg, O’Banion, and Barnett (2006) that asks partnership leaders to assess the stage of



implementation of 40 key components of career pathway programs on a 5-point scale ranging from planning to institutionalization. In addition, project-related materials and documents shared with the researchers via the postal mail, e-mail, and the Internet were reviewed as a form of triangulation to confirm patterns and themes emerging in the interviews. Information collected via this review included background information on the partnership’s goals, activities, and outcomes. The researchers also reviewed each partnership’s implementation plan outlining strategies for addressing the five intended outcomes of the project. Drawing on these diverse data sources, the researchers were able to build a comprehensive understanding of each partnership’s implementation activities as well as the program and student outcomes that were emerging over time.

The Teacher Education Partnerships The AACC Partnership

AACC, located between Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., began enhancing elements of teacher education several years ago. At the time the CCTI grant was awarded, Maryland’s community colleges were already playing an important role in workforce preparation, with over half of all teachers in the state having started at a community college. According to AACC’s President, Martha Smith, the college has made an “extraordinary commitment to the teacher shortage.” Smith is an advocate for teacher preparation programs, acknowledging that the college’s programs need to grow and expand to address critical shortages at the secondary-school level in mathematics, science, English, foreign languages (particularly Spanish), and in K-12 special education. The CCTI partnerships are based on a consortium model in which the community college partners with K-12 education, universities, businesses, and community organizations to design and deliver an articulated secondary-to-postsecondary curriculum. A primary partner of AACC is the Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS). Serving a diverse population of students, these schools are located in urban, suburban, and rural communities. More than 75,000 K-12 students enroll in 116 public school facilities including 12 high schools, 1 alternative high school, and 2 centers of applied technology. In 2002, AACPS high schools graduated 4,461 students, and of these, 76% attended 2- or 4-year colleges and universities.



This CCTI partnership focuses on various career-technical education initiatives. Tech prep was identified by local administrators as a primary stimulus to enhanced institutional relationships, the successful acquisition of grants, the creation of new curricula, and improved collaborations among administrators, teachers, and counselors. Having met continuously for more than 15 years since tech prep federal funding was acquired for the region, the Tech Prep Local Labor Market Team provides a support structure for CCTI. It is interesting that Maryland guidelines do not consider that teacher preparation curricula count as official tech prep curricula because the sequence of courses is not as extensive as state guidelines specify. However, the teacher education courses do qualify for federal CTE funding. Another key aspect of this CCTI partnership is the new University Consortium, which is a partnership between AACC and several 4-year colleges and universities. The University Consortium focuses on enhancing transfer by articulating associate degree programs with related baccalaureate and graduate degree programs, including degrees in teacher education offered by the University of Maryland University College. Another important partner is Daily Discoveries, a business partner that delivers private day care and early childhood education. The chief administrator of Daily Discoveries recognizes the need for employees to benefit from a career ladder, partly as a means of stemming problems with staff turnover. A centerpiece of AACC’s CCTI initiative is the Academy of Teaching Professions (subsequently referred to in this article as the “Teaching Academy”), which offers high school courses aligned and sequenced with the teacher education program at AACC. High school juniors and seniors are encouraged to participate in formal learning that introduces them to teaching and leads them into courses for students majoring in education at AACC or elsewhere. AACC’s commitment to the Teaching Academy includes a teacher career day program and an early childhood development career day; admissions information for high school students; workshops for teachers; the Partners in Education Program, an intervention strategy for 1st-year teachers; and support through the tech prep office. CCTI funds provide personnel support including employment of a retired part-time resource teacher to work with high school classroom teachers for 20 hours per week. High school counseling services provide students with information about the teaching profession. Historically, the Education Department at AACC has offered an associate of arts in teaching (AAT) degree and an associate of applied sciences



(AAS) degree, and the emphasis of the college has been on early childhood education. AACC’s teacher preparation programs are consistent with standards for early childhood professional preparation and are aligned with the National Association for the Education of Young Children standards, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education standards, and the AAT model for the state of Maryland. AACC’s early childhood education program is designed to meet standards by integrating knowledge, skills, and practices and by demonstrating professional practices and standards related to working with children. In addition to an associate’s degree, the program offers students the opportunity to complete the training necessary to meet the state’s requirements for a 90-clock-hour certificate that qualifies them for employment in a childcare center. Students must maintain an average grade of B or better in three child development classes and have excellent attendance records. Students who complete credentials in early childhood education complete either an internship or a work experience in a childcare center; paraprofessionals meet the outcome standards legislated in No Child Left Behind and Maryland state-established criteria. A newly-formed initiative of AACC that is central to this career pathway program is the Teacher Education and Child Care (TEACH) Institute. Patterned after AACC’s Hospitality, Culinary Arts, and Tourism Institute, the TEACH Institute uses a multifaceted approach to address the region’s teacher shortage by bringing together credit and noncredit programs and services into a “one-stop shop” format. Degree and letter-of-recognition programs awarded via TEACH include the AAT degree in elementary education, the AAS degree in early childhood development, and the early childhood development letter of recognition. For high school students, the TEACH Institute is linked to the Academy of Teaching Professions that is offered at the high school–level to provide comprehensive curricula offering credit and noncredit courses. AACC leaders who were interviewed recognize that heretofore the region has lacked a “logical flow to the education curriculum from high school to AACC to the university.” They desired to create curriculum that shows “kids a pathway with [entering points], ending points, [and] exiting points” that reward students with college credits during high school. AACC has developed a pathway from the AAT or AA degrees to baccalaureate and graduate degrees in education. AACC leaders show a particularly high level of commitment to creating a 100% transferable teacher education AAT or AA degree that transfers to “every college of education in every public and private college and university in the state.” Activities



associated with this goal include briefing University Consortium members on the CCTI initiative, establishing articulated program pathways, identifying and participating in joint outreach and marketing activities that promote education careers, and exploring the development of joint promotional print materials with University Consortium members. To reduce the need for remediation, students who have indicated an interest in teaching or who have enrolled in the Teaching Academy are briefed on the benefits of participating in the College’s Accuplacer pretesting program. Students encouraged to enroll in the Teaching Academy are those who are “academically solid in core course work”; however, the college reaches out to those who may not be top students. For these students, AACC officials recognize the need to remediate “academic deficiencies and find ways to beef up students’ high school academic work.” Students receive test results, and high school guidance counselors work with the students to schedule requisite coursework to ensure postsecondary preparation. Student persistence at the secondary level and subsequently at AACC is addressed through enhancements to academic and career-related counseling and other student support services. A college advisement and recruitment coordinator and part-time AACPS resource teacher meet with students currently enrolled as education majors at AACC to develop plans for ensuring their success. The work of these AACC and AACPS professionals includes advising students on relevant support services, career counseling, and academic program planning as well as monitoring students’ progress. Outcomes reported by this community college-led partnership to the CCTI research team show an increase in the number of participating high schools from 4 to 8 between the fall of 2004 and the fall of 2005 (Kempner, 2006). With the growth in the number of participating schools, AACC also saw an impressive 47% increase in new student enrollment at the 11th- and 12th-grade levels. Looking at retention of student cohorts from grade 11 to grade 12 within the high schools, the partnership retained 38% of the CCTI participants. A similar proportion of participating high school students (39%) subsequently matriculated at AACC. For the subset of students matriculating at AACC who took the Accuplacer college placement exam, a decline in remediation was evident in mathematics, reading, and writing from 100% of those entering AACC in the fall of 2004 to 75% of those entering AACC in the fall of 2005. Consistent with the overall aims of the CCTI project, the provision of dual enrollment opportunities was one of AACC’s goals. But this goal has not been realized because of, in part, an historic commitment to awarding tech prep articulated credit only after



students enroll at AACC. Funding was also identified as contributing to difficulties with dual enrollment in that students taking dual credits at the college level resulted in the loss of revenue at the secondary level. Other outcomes including certificate and degree completion, matriculation at the university, and job placement were not measurable because the students had not progressed through the teacher pipeline program to reach these milestones. The LCCC Partnership

In the late 1990s, the Ohio Department of Education and Ohio Board of Regents began collaborating to create opportunities for secondary schools, joint vocational schools, and community and technical colleges to enhance the state’s capacity to prepare new teachers. Stepping up to the state’s call, LCCC was one of the first community colleges in Ohio to submit a proposal to enhance its teacher education curriculum. The CCTI partnership flowed from this earlier commitment to prepare teachers for the northern region of the state. LCCC’s Vice President for Instruction identified eight initiatives emphasizing teacher education, including the Teacher Education Exploration (TEE) program, a best practices project with the Northwest Ohio Council on Higher Education, an early college high school, a tech prep education pathway, and an AAT degree. These various programs target the teacher shortage, drawing together resources from the Ohio Board of Regents, the Ohio Department of Education, the Northeast Ohio Consortium for Higher Education, the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In fact, LCCC and the Lorain County Joint Vocational School collaborated for more than a decade on workforce development issues, creating a foundation for the CCTI teacher education pathway that begins in the 12th grade and extends to the bachelor’s level. In addition, 2,000 adults enrolled in LCCC’s University Partnership program, which brings eight universities to the LCCC campus to offer more than 30 bachelor’s and master’s degrees including early childhood education, middle childhood education, early education intervention, curriculum and instruction, educational administration, sports education, school counseling, and educational technology. Laying the groundwork for the present CCT initiative, the Ohio Department of Education moved from its traditional teacher certification program to a system of licensure in 1998, a change that resulted in each 4-year university offering educational curricula based on the National



Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education competencies. An application to the state allowed LCCC to pursue three new teacher education pathways, substantially expanding its teacher education curriculum. One pathway leads to an associate of arts (AA) degree in early childhood education that is differentiated from the existing AAS degree in early childhood. A second pathway is for various other AA or associate of science (AS) teacher education programs that transfer to several regional 4-year universities. The third pathway culminates in a new paraprofessional licensure that is offered in addition to existing programs for early childhood and secondary education programs that offer transfer options with universities. Also beginning in 1998, LCCC moved from a quarter to a semester system, facilitating the development of curriculum that transfers preservice course work to the university level and offers employed teachers opportunities to participate in inservice training. In the same year, the college revised its course offerings to align them with new licensure standards set by the state. Elements of the LCCC programs were modified to better articulate with partner 4-year schools and accommodate changes to certification and licensure. Germane to both LCCC and the 4-year colleges were standards established by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium as well as by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. Additional standards were set by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. Alignment efforts involve coordinating high school course work that matches the new state of Ohio Academic Standards with those of LCCC. These initiatives also support the college’s involvement in the Early College program of the Knowledge Works Foundation. Closely associated with the teacher preparation curriculum, the LCCC University Partnership Center allows students to earn bachelor’s or graduate degrees that are aligned with the LCCC teacher education programs. LCCC’s Teacher Education Resource Center offers media, materials, and audio-visual equipment that are accessible to faculty and staff participating in the CCTI. Degree programs associated with the University Partnership Center use various articulation formats such as 3 + 1 (3 years at the community college and 1 year at the university) or 2.5 + 1.5 (2.5 years at the community college and 1.5 years at the university), allowing students to take most of their course work on the LCCC campus where they pay reduced community-college tuition. Students are able to obtain a bachelor’s degree in teaching from Ashland University, a bachelor’s degree in secondary mathematics education from the University of Akron, and a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Bowling Green State University. Downloaded from http://crw.sagepub.com at SAINT CLOUD STATE UNIV on July 28, 2009


The TEE program represents the centerpiece of the CCTI and is a primary focus of the region’s workforce development initiative. The mission of the TEE program is to encourage high school seniors to enter the teaching profession by giving support and training necessary for their success as students and teachers. TEE has the following goals: (a) to ensure college readiness and exposure to college, (b) to provide education related to teaching and learning, (c) to provide internship experience under the guidance of an experienced teacher, and (d) to promote a positive attitude toward teaching. Students can apply to the TEE program if they meet attendance and academic requirements, including enrollment in the college prep curriculum, passing all proficiency tests, passing all required courses for on-time graduation, and having a minimum 2.5 grade point average. Attendance requirements specify that students can miss no more than 10 days in the three semesters spanning the 10th grade and the first semester of the 11th grade. Students need to obtain two teacher or counselor recommendations if they do not meet the attendance or grade point average requirements. Finally, students are responsible for their own transportation to LCCC and internship sites. To support the partnership, the Lorain County Joint Vocational School transports the TEE program students to its feeder high schools where the TEE program is taught. Thus, TEE students participate in the program within their own high schools rather than attending the Lorain County Joint Vocational School. By enrolling in TEE, students receive three high school credits for classroom work and participate in an internship in a K-8 classroom. The field experiences occur 4 days per week at a designated school within their district, including internships in K-3, middle school, and K-12 special education classrooms. Students have one additional placement of limited duration in their choice of a high school, a subject specific area, or other educational setting. Opportunities for youth club participation and speaking engagements are available, and students enhance their computer literacy skills by participating in the online component of TEE, which attempts to create an online learning community by supplementing classroom instruction with e-mail, a Web page cyber café, Web blogs, and a course management system. Finally, students complete a professional portfolio to facilitate their admittance to college. Upon high school graduation and matriculation at LCCC, TEE students who maintain a B average in the program earn three college semester hours toward their teaching degree through an articulation agreement. To facilitate their decisions about college, students visit area colleges, attend seminars, and hear a variety of speakers from the field of education. Downloaded from http://crw.sagepub.com at SAINT CLOUD STATE UNIV on July 28, 2009


Four secondary teachers staff the TEE program through faculty appointments at the Lorain County Joint Vocational School and at least one teacher provides on-campus student support at LCCC 5 days per week. In addition to these personnel, LCCC employs one full-time advisor to work with CCTI students as they transition to the associate’s degree program. LCCC provides classrooms and computer facilities for TEE students and teachers to meet in person 1 day a week. The meetings bring students together to encourage and facilitate a small learning community experience. Classroom instruction is supplemented with distance learning that allows students and teachers to communicate and provides students the opportunity to submit assignments and receive feedback, grades, and instructions. The Lorain County Joint Vocational School, the University Partnership, LCCC’s Learning Resource Center, and Ashland University’s Education Media Lab lend support and services to TEE, encouraging the use of technology in the classroom. Based on data collected by the partnership and reported to the CCTI leadership team, enrollment increased by 5% from 122 to 129 students between the fall of 2004 and the fall of 2005 (Kempner, 2006), and gradeto-grade retention by high school student cohorts was 90% over the same time period. The rate of student matriculation from high school to LCCC was a more modest 32%. For the subset of students matriculating at LCCC who took the Compass college placement exam in the fall of 2005, 70% placed into remedial math but far fewer took remedial reading (10%) or writing (17%). This exceeded the remediation rates of students matriculating in the previous year, but this may represent a change in the partnership’s remedial test-taking policy rather than an actual program outcome. Students participating in the teacher preparation program typically receive 6 college credits that are deferred until they attend LCCC, although some students receive more, ranging from 7 to more than 16 credits. The number of students receiving college credits increased slightly from the fall of 2004 to the fall of 2005, from 52 to 56 students. Similar to other sites, it was not possible to measure outcomes pertaining to persistence, credentials, or transition to the university or employment because students had not yet reached these milestones in the teacher pipeline program. The Maricopa Community Colleges CCTI Partnership

The focus of the CCTI project of the Maricopa Community College District (MCCD) is the development of a coherent, articulated sequence of teacher education career pathway courses (Bragg & Barnett, 2006). The project uses the Education Professions program of the Arizona Department Downloaded from http://crw.sagepub.com at SAINT CLOUD STATE UNIV on July 28, 2009


of Education’s Career and Technical Education Division along with the AA in Elementary Education (AAEE) degree program as the springboard for addressing its goals. The MCCD has 10 colleges, 2 skill centers, 15 large educational centers, and more than 200 teaching sites. Specifically addressing teacher education, the National Center for Teacher Education was created in 2001 and is housed in the MCCD office. This center provides leadership on the local, state, and national levels for the recruitment, preparation, and retention of PreK-12 teachers. It also provides leadership for the development of teacher education programs at the 10 independent Maricopa campuses, which actively articulate with several feeder high schools as well as with 3 branch campuses of Arizona State University. Three Maricopa colleges–Estrella Mountain Community College, South Mountain Community College, and Phoenix College–participate in the CCTI project by identifying a cohort of high school students. The emphasis of each community college partner is to demonstrate commitment to teacher preparation through relationships with partner high schools and express a willingness to carry out planned activities associated with CCTI. Priority was given to high schools that have established initiatives in teacher education. Most of these schools have implemented articulated programs, dual-credit courses, academic advisement, and student mentoring. Also, following the lead of several teachers who researched high school curricula related to teacher preparation, Arizona adopted the South Carolina–based Teacher Cadet model. This curriculum prepares high school graduates to become certified as classroom paraprofessionals, and it aligns with the colleges’ introductory courses in education. Estrella Mountain Community College (EMCC) partners with several high schools in the Peoria Unified School District to offer a number of teacher education programs that transfer to a 4-year university, including the AAEE that was implemented for the first time in the fall of 2003. This degree plan is covered by a statewide articulation agreement ensuring that all credits transfer to any college of education in the state, with students entering at the junior level. Another program is the Associate Transfer Partnership degree in elementary education, which offers two pathways. One transfers to Arizona State University–West Campus and the other transfers to the Arizona State University–Main Campus. A third option is the AA degree with special requirements for students pursuing a degree in elementary education, secondary education, or special education that transfers to any Arizona university. EMCC graduates are also eligible for a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education, and an AAS degree that transfers to a



bachelor’s in applied science degree for students who seek to enter teaching as instructional aids or paraprofessionals. EMCC’s Inspire.Teach program is a 2 + 2 + 2 curriculum with the first “2” representing the last 2 years of high school, the middle “2” representing 2 years at EMCC, and the last “2” representing the final 2 years at Arizona State University–West campus. Inspire.Teach encourages underrepresented groups to explore teaching careers, thereby increasing the diversity of teaching professionals within Arizona’s workforce. Teacher education programs at Phoenix College (PC) prepare students who want to pursue a 4-year degree in education, in elementary education (K-8), early childhood education (PreK-3), special education (K-12), and secondary education (7-12). Students enroll in general studies and lower division education requirements and transfer to various universities. The statewide AAEE degree is offered at PC, and all credits associated with this degree transfer to any of Arizona’s public universities. The Urban Teacher Corps is a teacher-development program housed at PC, which supports and encourages urban classified school district employees to matriculate at any of the 10 Maricopa Community Colleges, transfer to Arizona State University, obtain Arizona teacher certification, and return to their school districts as teachers. The PC Future Teachers Club provides support for future elementary and secondary educators through service learning projects with local schools, informational meetings with university advisors, mentoring relationships with PC faculty, and contact with educational leaders in the community. PC is also engaged in a partnership with the Teacher Prep Charter High School. South Mountain Community College (SMCC) offers the Dynamic Learning Teacher Education Program in partnership with the College of Education at Arizona State University. This cohort model involves a structured two-step bachelor’s degree program for small numbers of future teachers. Students complete the 2-year Dynamic Learning program at SMCC and then transfer to the Initial Teacher Certification Program at Arizona State University. Many courses are offered at SMCC and its other locations, including courses directed at upgrading the skills of practicing teachers or fulfilling degree and certificate requirements. SMCC’s Achieving a College Education program is its secondary partner. Maricopa’s CCTI partnership developed the statewide Arizona P-12 Teacher Education Career Model. In developing this model, the National Center for Teacher Education worked with Arizona’s community college districts to identify courses within the statewide AAEE program that are



appropriate for dual enrollment, also referred to as dual credit. The goal was to find AAEE courses that articulate through community college dual-enrollment agreements with secondary and postsecondary entities on a county-by-county basis. AAEE is articulated for transfer with the bachelor of arts programs in elementary education offered at all of Arizona’s public universities. Many of Arizona’s private universities also enter into AAEE articulation agreements. The National Center for Teacher Education plans to integrate an Associate Transfer Partnership degree specifically for secondary teacher education students participating in the Maricopa district into the Arizona P-12 Teacher Education Career Model. The Associate Transfer Partnership degree is an articulated academic program of study that supports students in securing secondary, special education, or other specialized teaching credentials. The model offers benchmarks for mandatory assessments, advising, and preparation to assure student success and persistence, and it offers professional development opportunities for secondary and postsecondary faculty members, academic advisors, and administrators. The faculty receives training on the Eportfolio system, with secondary and postsecondary students using TaskStream to create the portfolios and faculty members using the portfolio templates to assess the students’ portfolios online. The Eportfolio is also used to create and share standards-based lessons and units that include assessment rubrics to help students move through the teacher education program. The Web Folio Builder allows students to create, organize, and share electronic portfolios and demonstrate standards compliance. The MCCD CCTI has implications for state policy on teacher education and meeting the requirements of No Child Left Behind. In addition to the development of the AAEE degree, the National Center for Teacher Education provides leadership for planning for the education and certification of classroom paraprofessionals. The MCCD has worked with the state of Arizona to select two tests to certify paraprofessionals—ParaPro and WorkKeys—and the MCCD staff is involved in research to inform policy, particularly to cross-walk various sets of standards, curricula, and assessments. Local data provided on student enrollment and matriculation were difficult to attribute to this specific CCTI project because of the extent to which this partnership built on existing teacher education initiatives. Even so, the number of high school partnerships with MCCD remained constant, with the exception of adding the Achieving a College Education program in the fall of 2005. Nonetheless, high school student enrollment nearly doubled from the fall of 2004 to the fall of 2005, increasing from Downloaded from http://crw.sagepub.com at SAINT CLOUD STATE UNIV on July 28, 2009


122 to 244 (Kempner, 2006). Data reported by MCCD on the retention of high school student cohorts from the fall of 2004 to the fall of 2005 show that 97.5% of CCTI students progressed from grade to grade at the high school level. This is an impressive statistic but its accuracy is called into question by the fact that the number of students reported as matriculating at the postsecondary level was higher than the number of students reported as participating at the high school level during the previous spring. Only a small subset of students were reported as taking either the Accuplacer or Asset college placement exams, with very few required to take remedial course work in writing. Data were not provided on dual credit enrollment for students in the MCCD partnership, and results were also not available on certificate and degree completion, matriculation to 4-year colleges, and job placement because students had not yet reached these milestones.

Cross-Case Conclusions and Implications The three partnerships displayed considerable similarities in the implementation of their teacher education career pathway programs, beginning with their decisions to create multiple degree options. Building on and expanding existing elementary education and early childhood education programs, all three CCTI partnerships were also working toward or already implementing teacher preparation programs in secondary mathematics, science, or special education to address teacher shortages. Also in all three cases, the development of degree programs in high-need areas was supported by the state, with the three partnerships demonstrating leadership within their states by creating models that other community colleges could follow, providing technical assistance to other community colleges, and advocating for new AAT program development. All the partnership sites demonstrated a high level of understanding of state- and national-level standards governing teacher preparation, and they built programs that met these requirements while articulating with university teacher education programs, often using their own university centers to facilitate the creation of new degree programs. The implementation strategies used by the three partnerships varied, though all three attempted to create a distinctive model that fit the local region’s needs. AACC in Maryland linked the high-school level Teaching Academy to its TEACH Institute to create a one-stop approach, providing the opportunity for youths matriculating from high school as well as for adults to participate in the college’s teacher preparation programs. At



LCCC, the TEE program provides a highly identifiable organizational structure for students enrolled in the secondary teacher preparation program at the Lorain County Joint Vocational School to connect with the teacher education program at LCCC. The MCCD used its National Center for Teacher Education to facilitate teacher education program development in three of its campuses, with each campus displaying its own unique curricular approach. Common across all MCCD campuses was articulation with colleges of education in public universities, particularly the campuses of Arizona State University. Program- and student-level outcomes collected by the partnership sites were mixed, although it is noteworthy that the programs had been operating for only 2 to 3 years. Undoubtedly the time required to build a teacher pipeline program beginning at the high school level, extending to the community college, and culminating with a baccalaureate degree (or higher) is extensive. Retention within the high school varied substantially among the partnerships, possibly because of the degree to which the curriculum provides students with flexibility to move in and out of the program as well as the extent to which it emphasizes that secondary students make informed choices about a teaching career versus committing to participate fully in the program. In two sites, almost 40% of students matriculated from high school to the community college partnership teacher education program, and an unknown percentage of the remaining students undoubtedly matriculated to teacher education programs at other colleges. Data collected by two partnerships suggest that the majority of students who participate in teacher education career pathway programs require some remediation when they enter college, usually remedial mathematics, although this finding is not dramatically different from figures reported in national studies of students who matriculate at community colleges (Adelman, 2006; Jenkins & Boswell, 2002). Again, noting the relatively early stage of program implementation, as these CCTI programs mature it is important to monitor student outcomes such as remedial course taking, persistence to degree, matriculation to baccalaureate programs, and placement and retention in employment as K-12 teachers. Confirming the challenges to career pathway program implementation, Hughes and Karp (2006) pointed to difficulties that high schools and community colleges experience as they attempt to align systems and blur the boundaries between the secondary and postsecondary curricula. Among their concerns are challenges associated with creating dual-credit opportunities and ensuring adequate academic preparation to avoid remediation, two concerns evidenced in this multicase research. Transfer of Downloaded from http://crw.sagepub.com at SAINT CLOUD STATE UNIV on July 28, 2009


credits from 2- to 4-year colleges was another concern mentioned by Hughes and Karp; whereas the three partnerships appear to be developing viable transfer opportunities, too little time has passed to determine the extent to which student cohorts matriculate at the university level. Following students through this important milestone and ultimately into the teaching workforce is important to establishing the credibility of the career pathway programs. Finally, the review by Hughes and Karp revealed concerns about the adequacy of data on program and student outcomes. These same concerns were evidenced by leaders of these three teacher education partnerships. Despite concerted efforts to collect data on the local level, the leaders recognized the importance of collecting data to inform implementation and to assess the impact that these programs have on students as they matriculate through the system and enter careers. Ultimately, the effectiveness of the teacher education career pathway programs should be determined not only by how many graduates enter the teaching profession but also by how many sustain their commitment to teaching for the long term.

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