Mohave Community College
Baseline Education Program Review for 2011-2012
Department Mission: The mission of the Department of Education is to provide a
program for students which emphasizes:
Stimulating learning through reflection and experience
Valuing equality and diversity as an essential ingredient of a democratic society
Becoming inquirers and creative problem-solvers to serve their community and
profession
Maintaining oral and written communication and interpersonal skills
Integrating technology into the curricula
Working Cooperatively with Mohave County Childcare Providers
Working cooperatively with the Mohave County K-12 School Districts
Preparing students to earn an associate degree in education
Preparing students for transfer to four-year institutions
Department
Education Department
1
2
3
4
Early Childhood Education
including Child Development
5
6
Department Goals
Maintain positive relationships between Mohave
County’s K-12 schools and MCC’s Education Program.
Maintain articulation agreements for MCC’s education
courses with our transfer institutions: NAU, ASU, and
UA and participate in ASU’s Teaching Foundations
Project and other grant and programs sponsored by
outside agencies for the benefit of future educators.
Analyze curriculum and modify as needed to insure the
curriculum meets current standards.
Continue to offer courses and degrees which meet the
needs of MCC students.
Develop different methods of course delivery to
accommodate student needs.
Maintain positive relationships between Mohave
County Childcare Providers, First Things First, PCPP
and MCC’s Education Program.
Goal #1’s Objective:
The K-12 school personnel will provide feedback using The Education Department
Survey.
Indicate whether this goal is related to:
MCC’s Mission Statement – Ties directly to serving our constituents.
Department Mission –Impacts the curriculum for education courses.
Describe new resources needed for Goal #1, if any?
Postage, Letterhead, Envelopes, and Secretarial Assistance
Goal #2 ‘s Objective:
The education department chair will attend ATF Meetings, ASU Teaching Foundations
Project Meetings, and communicate as needed with transfer institution personnel.
Indicate whether this goal is related to:
MCC’s Mission Statement – Ties directly to serving our constituents and
empowering student to succeed.
Department Mission – Helps students prepare to transfer to universities.
Describe new resources needed for Goal #2 if any?
Travel Funds to ATF Meetings and other necessary meetings at the transfer institutions
Goal #3 Objective:
The Education Program Coordinator will review the education program and make
changes as needed to increase enrollment.
Indicate whether this goal is related to:
MCC’s Mission Statement – Ties directly to the use of innovative learning
methodologies and empowering students to succeed.
Department Mission – Ties to the first five statements in our mission statement
Goal #4 Objective:
The Education Program Coordinator will meet with academic chairs to propose how
many sections should be offered, times of courses, days of courses, and delivery
methods, plus look to the addition of associate degrees in middle and high school
teaching majors.
Indicate whether this goal is related to:
MCC’s Mission Statement – Tied directly to “empowering students to succeed.”
Department Mission – Helping students earn an associate degree and/ or
preparing students for transfer to four year institutions.
Describe new resources needed for Goal #4 if any?
None
Goal #5 Objective:
The Education Program Coordinator will meet with the Distance Education Academic
Chair to investigate the possibility of developing an online AA in Education with
emphasis in Early Childhood Education.
Indicate whether this goal is related to:
MCC’s Mission Statement - Ties directly to serving all constituencies. Sine
many of our students live in rural areas, and our ITV System doesn’t function
effectively, there is a need for online degrees.
Department Mission – Using technology into our programs to serve students.
Describe new resources needed for Goal #5, if any?
None
Goal #6 Objective:
The constituents will provide feedback using the Education Program Survey.
Indicate whether this goal is related to:
MCC’s Mission Statement – Helps the Education Programs serve their
constituents.
Department Mission – We will continue to work cooperatively with Mohave
Childcare Providers
Describe new resources needed for Goal #6, if any?
Secretarial assistance, postage, letterhead, and envelopes
Part II: Data
The only data supplied by MCC was the CCSSE Study 2011. With 4.00 being
the highest possible result, Bob Faubert stated in the CCSSE Study 2011,
“…we would like to see a mean of at least 3.00.” Although the education
program’s score fell above the mean, the education programs score of 3.02
shows there is room for improvement.
At my request, Tom Franklin, NAU –LHC Program Coordinator was very
willing to provide data (Appendix A) which shows a breakdown of MCC
students from all the Southern campuses who have earned a bachelor’s
degree in Education from NAU during the last five years. As can be seen in
the report, eighty MCC students on our three Southern campuses have
earned a BS in Elementary Education. Before transferring to NAU, eleven
MCC students earned AGEC without earning an associate’s degree.
Twenty-nine MCC students earned an associate degree with only four
majoring in elementary education and one in child development. The
majority, forty MCC students, transferred credits from MCC BUT did not
earn an AGEC or associate’s degree. I find it really odd that of the twentynine students transferring to NAU’s elementary education degree program,
only four listed elementary education as their associate degree major.
Data (Appendix B) supplied by Shelly Castaneda of MCC’s Institutional
Research Department, indicates a steady decline in the number of students
enrolling in MCC’s education classes.
Part III: SWOC Analysis
Strengths: The Mohave Community College Education program prepares
students in four different areas. First students who are uncertain about
whether to pursue a career in education have the opportunity to enroll in
Education 205, Introduction to Teaching. In this course, students gain
theoretical knowledge and participate in thirty hours of field experience in
the public schools, which assists them in making an educated decision
about teaching as a career.
Second, Mohave Community College’s Education Program is closely
aligned with Northern Arizona University’s Education Program on its
satellite Mohave Community College’s Southern campuses; therefore, our
students can transfer seamlessly to Northern Arizona University. All
education majors attending the Northern Arizona University must complete
Education 205 with a grade of B or higher.
Third, for students planning to transfer to other four-year universities,
Mohave Community College does provide an associate degree program.
Students completing their AJEC-A are able to seamlessly transfer to
Northern Arizona University, University of Arizona, and Arizona State
University. By completing at least the first two years of their coursework,
students can save a considerable amount of money, due to Mohave
Community College’s low tuition rates.
Fourth, Mohave Community College works collaboratively with several
Arizona universities in the 90-30 Programs.
Fifth, recently the education department began to offer the Child
Development Associate pathway designed to meet the needs of people
already working in the field of early childhood education including Head
Start assistants and other childcare providers. This pathway provides the
opportunity for students to meet the requirements for the national Child
Development Associate credential awarded by the Council for Early
Childhood Professional Recognition. Nine courses have been included in
this pathway which are transferable to our Associate of Arts Degree in
Education with Emphasis on Early Childhood Education.
Lastly, in our course offerings, the instructors are encouraged to avoid
focusing only on the transmission of knowledge and to utilize innovative
teaching methodologies to help insure student success. Recently, the
CELT Classroom is available for instructors to use all forms of technology
including Smart Boards which are in many public school classrooms in
Mohave County. The college also provides computer labs for student use,
and our education department is supported by a library staff, which does
their best to provide needed books, media, and computer and printer usage
for students. They also provide workshops for the education students on
how to do educational research.
Weaknesses:
One of the glaring inadequacies of the education department is the lack of
counseling and advising for any student considering a teaching career.
There is one education program coordinator for four campuses. With a
high turnover of advisors, there needs to be ongoing workshops for
advisors, so they know how to advise people seeking degrees in education.
Currently there is no way to track how many students graduate from MCC
with degrees in education or how many students transfer to university
education programs. NAU has provided the following statistics: eighty
students have graduated from NAU with teaching degrees in the past
years, yet every year, MCC has few graduates with associate degrees in
education. Our Education Program Coordinator has asked NAU personnel
to provide the number of MCC education transfer students in their
program. The information is located in the data section of this report.
Traditionally MCC has offered AA degrees for anyone seeking a degree in
early childhood education and elementary education; however, there are no
degrees for middle or high school teaching majors. Since 80% of MCC
students are relying on federal funding for school expenses, and it is
necessary for students to declare a major, there is currently no option for
any student wishing to major in middle or secondary school content areas.
MCC also has only had the option of earning an AA degree and not the
possibility of earning an AS degree.
MCC’s Education Program includes field experiences in two classes and is
in need of a Field Experience Facilitator if we are to offer more education
classes and use associate faculty. It is necessary for the field experiences
to be handled in a professional manner which includes travel to the K-12
classrooms to insure MCC students are completing the field experiences
and assignments.
MCC does not have a Career Placement Center to help students decide on
an appropriate career choices. We could have many students who don’t
know that a teaching career is a viable choice for them.
Opportunities:
The Educator Program Coordinator receives phone calls from interested
community members with bachelor degrees, asking if MCC offers teaching
certification. Currently we direct students to one of the universities. This
could be an underserved population.
The ASSCC currently has over 150 childcare providers who are ready to
register for Ed 195 classes, which are part of the ECE Pathway. These
students need to be encouraged to continue their education at MCC.
There is room for expansion in the area of education degree pathways,
such as for those students interested in teaching middle or high school
students.
The opportunity to offer child development classes concurrently with area
high schools is a possibility, since the child development classes are now
transferable to the universities.
Challenges:
We live in a county which has the least amount of college graduates which
makes it necessary to encourage a cultural shift. One in which a college
education is valued by the parents and their children.
Even with all of our recruitment efforts at the local high schools, few
students seek teaching as a major at MCC or so it seems from our
graduation rate. The Education Coordinator has held several meetings at
the high schools for students interested in becoming teachers. The
attendance was very low.
Another challenge is the low pay and lack of tenure for teachers in Arizona
which does not encourage people to become teachers in the our K-12
schools.
Currently, MCC does not have a positive community presence in the
educational arena with some constituents. The Education Program
Coordinator is constantly working to change potential student’s minds
about the MCC commitment to its education majors.
Currently the rosters from our education classes are not sent to the
National Student Clearinghouse to see if and where the students
transferred to upon graduating from MCC.
Part IV: Action Recommendation
The first program objective to be completed this year will be creating an
online AA Degree in Education with the emphasis on Early Childhood
Education. The Education Program Coordinator will work closely with the
Distance Education Academic Chair to investigate the possibility of
developing the degree. Perhaps an online degree will encourage more
students to enroll in MCC’s Education Program; since in the past three
years, we have lost many students to the Rio Salado online education
programs.
The second program objective will be to work with LHC Academic Chair to
create a viable advising program aimed at potential education majors and
current education students.
Appendix A: Information from Tom Franklin, NAU Program Coordinator
Peggy,
During the last five years, here is a breakdown of MCC students from all
campuses who have earned a bachelor’s degree in Education from NAU.
Fall, 2006 – 12
Spring 2007 – 10 graduates
Fall, 2007 - 10
Spring, 2008 – 2 graduates
Fall, 2008 – 8
graduates
Spring, 2009 – 7 graduates
Fall, 2009 – 6
Spring, 2010 – 20 graduates
Fall, 2010 – 2
Spring, 2011 – 1 graduate
Summer, 2009 – 2
Total of 80 students earned BS Elementary Education during last five
academic years all campuses
Of the 80:
11 students earned AGEC without earning an associate’s degree
29 students earned associate’s degrees
4 - elementary education
1 - child development
2 - general studies
1 - art
1 - liberal studies
1 - social/behavioral studies
19 students associate of arts
40 students transferred credits from Mohave CC but did not earn AGEC or
associate’s degree
Thomas Franklin
Program Coordinator
Northern Arizona University - Lake Havasu City
(928) 505-3362 voice
(928) 505-4634 fax
Appendix B: Shelly Castaneda’s Data
See attachment labeled Shelly MCC Education Course Enrollments