Running head: PROGRAM TRENDS IN ECE
Program Trends in Early Childhood Education
Rick Fillman
Institutional Research Analyst
Planning and Research Office
September 2012
PROGRAM TRENDS IN ECE Introduction
In preparation for writing their Program Plan, Early Childhood Education
(ECE) faculty were looking to validate certain observations. The faculty have
observed that:
1) the ECE program has shifted from Watsonville to the Aptos Campus.
2) education levels among students in the core foundation course,
Childhood Growth and Development (ECE-31 and ECE-131) have been
increasing.
3) the age of students in these two courses are decreasing.
It is further observed that the profile of students at the Aptos campus differs
significantly from that at the Watsonville Center, and thus any trends should
be examined separately for each location. This report will investigate the
extent to which enrollment data support these assumptions.
Has the program shifted from Watsonville to Aptos?
Twelve years of ECE enrollments were separated into two groups:
enrollments in sections offered in Watsonville and enrollments in sections
offered at the Aptos main campus1. The two charts shown below are drawn
from this data. The first chart illustrates how overall program enrollments
have declined, from a peak in 2007-08.
3,000
ECE Enrollments by location
2,500
2,000
1,500
Watsonville
1,000
Aptos/other
500
0
1
A few enrollments at community locations or at Scotts Valley were included in the Aptos/other grouping. PROGRAM TRENDS IN ECE The second chart represents the same data, but with a focus on the
percentage of enrollments at the Watsonville Center as compared with
Aptos/other. This percentage has been fairly constant, hovering around
30% over the last five years. Prior to that, in 2005-06 and in 2006-07,
something like 35% of ECE sections had been offered in Watsonville – the
same years as had the largest number of ECE section enrollments.
Percent of ECE Enrollments in Watsonville
100%
80%
21% 26% 24% 23% 27%
34% 36% 29% 32% 31% 32% 29%
60%
40%
20%
Watsonville
Aptos/other
0%
During the years of program growth, from 2004-05 through 2006-07,
proportionately more enrollments occurred in Watsonville, increasing from
about 23% of ECE enrollments (in 2003-04) to 36% of ECE enrollments (in
2006-07). Then, as enrollments were reduced starting in 2007-08, the
balance shifted back, reducing the proportion of enrollments in Watsonville.
However, as overall ECE enrollment has dropped back to levels seen twelve
years ago (in 2000-01), the Watsonville proportion today (at 29% of
enrollments) is greater than it was at that time (21% of enrollments).
Has the education level of students in ECE 31/131 increased?
To evaluate education level of students in these two courses, it is possible to
leverage the assessments performed at the beginning of each semester by
the ECE faculty themselves. It is the custom in the ECE program at Cabrillo
to utilize assessments and then encourage higher performing students to
take the course at the ECE-31 level (a transfer level course) and the
remaining students are recommended to take it at the ECE-131 level (a
PROGRAM TRENDS IN ECE degree-applicable but not transferable course). The final decision is made by
the individual student.
From the pool of students enrolled in either course, the percentage who are
found in ECE-31 as opposed to ECE-131 can serve as a proxy for the
educational level of the incoming students. The next charts show the
balance of ECE-131 (at the bottom of the bar, in darker shade) as compared
with ECE-31 (at the top, in lighter shade), shown over twelve years.
Aptos ECE students
100%
80%
60%
ECE31
40%
ECE131
20%
2011‐12
2010‐11
2009‐10
2008‐09
2007‐08
2006‐07
2005‐06
2004‐05
2003‐04
2002‐03
2001‐02
2000‐01
0%
Watsonville ECE students
100%
80%
60%
ECE31
40%
ECE131
20%
2011‐12
2010‐11
2009‐10
2008‐09
2007‐08
2006‐07
2005‐06
2004‐05
2003‐04
2002‐03
2001‐02
2000‐01
0%
PROGRAM TRENDS IN ECE The balance is markedly different between Aptos and Watsonville locations.
Overall, there is a gradual increase over time in the number of ECE-31
(higher performing) students which can be observed at both locations. In
recent years, however, this trend is particularly obvious for students in
sections located in Watsonville, where the balance of higher performing
students went from approximately 15% of ECE-31 enrollments to about 50%
over the most recent five years.
Are ECE students getting younger?
Birthdates of students are used to calculate students’ age at the time of their
enrollment. The enrollment records were split, as before, according to the
section location. The chart that follows illustrates the average age of ECE131 and ECE-31 students at each location over time.
40
Ages of ECE 131/31 Students
35
30
25
20
15
Aptos/other
10
Watsonville
5
0
The chart shows that the age of students (at time of enrollment) is generally
higher in Watsonville sections than in Aptos. Considered over time, there is
a gradual decline in the ages of students who are taking these courses at
both locations. However, this trend more pronounced among those enrolled
in Watsonville sections, where the average age of students enrolled in ECE31/131 has declined from around 36 years-old to around 30 years-old over
twelve years.
PROGRAM TRENDS IN ECE Appendix
The following data were used for the charts in this report.
ECE enrollments (duplicated)
Aptos /other Wa ts onvi l l e
2000‐01
2001‐02
2002‐03
2003‐04
2004‐05
2005‐06
2006‐07
2007‐08
2008‐09
2009‐10
2010‐11
2011‐12
1578
1814
1854
2015
1946
1815
1763
1725
1667
1535
1450
1454
419
642
578
586
723
953
991
706
771
690
697
588
Aptos ECE 131/31 Students
ECE131
ECE31
2000‐01
24
175
2001‐02
30
180
2002‐03
40
273
2003‐04
85
255
2004‐05
25
228
2005‐06
15
255
2006‐07
22
229
2007‐08
18
253
2008‐09
10
266
2009‐10
13
235
2010‐11
12
194
2011‐12
4
250
PROGRAM TRENDS IN ECE Watsonville ECE 131/31 Students
ECE131
ECE31
2000‐01
63
2
2001‐02
71
4
2002‐03
90
4
2003‐04
83
5
2004‐05
72
19
2005‐06
112
21
2006‐07
118
15
2007‐08
137
15
2008‐09
116
19
2009‐10
83
27
2010‐11
67
43
2011‐12
64
56
Age of ECE 131/31 students
Aptos /other Wa ts onvi l l e
2000‐01
2001‐02
2002‐03
2003‐04
2004‐05
2005‐06
2006‐07
2007‐08
2008‐09
2009‐10
2010‐11
2011‐12
26.7
25.7
25.7
25.1
25.5
25.3
25.7
25.6
24.9
24.4
23.9
24.1
36.2
33.1
33.8
37
32.1
32.4
32.3
33.1
34.7
29.5
28.9
30.6