College of Education
Northern Illinois University
Graham Hall
DeKalb, IL 60115
Phone: (815) 753-1948
Fax: (815) 753-2100
cedu@niu.edu
 Maylan Dunn-Kenney |
 Moses Mutuku |
In recent years, Illinois has suffered a shortage of qualified early childhood schoolteachers—a fact felt most acutely in urban and rural settings. College of Education professors Maylan Dunn-Kenney and Moses Mutuku aim to change that.
Through their ongoing work with the Rockford Early Childhood Education Certification (EC2) Partnership Project, the pair is making a concerted effort to fill the void with individuals from all walks of life. Recently, Dunn-Kenney, along with fellow co-investigator Moses Mutuku, were awarded an extension on an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) grant to implement the project they proposed last year. The grant will allow the partnership to train a cohort of 30 teachers—some certified in other areas or involved in early childhood education outside of schools—to work in Rockford area schools at the conclusion of their programs. Although participants are required to purchase their own textbooks, tuition is completely free of charge.
“A number of classrooms need teachers,” Dunn-Kenney explained, “and a novel plan was needed to encourage good teachers to get state certification.” To that end, she and Nina Dorsch, both faculty members in the Department of Teaching & Learning, crafted the EC2 partnership. The project is a two-year program designed to prepare any individual with a bachelor’s degree and an interest in early childhood education for Type 04 certification.
The cohort has been making admirable progress with little attrition, but the two educational professionals currently spearheading the initiative, see EC2 as a temporary solution.
“The primary goal is to alleviate the teacher shortage,” said Mutuku. “If the needs of the schools are met [after this program], then the grant will be discontinued. Local schools will show if there continues to be a need or not.”
But if scarcity of competent teachers does persist and funding is granted once again, EC2 organizers have their program down to a science. Adviser Leslie Hecht expedites advising services for students, while Project Director Jane Erikson interfaces with them directly on issues from getting textbooks to finding jobs.
“Jane is wonderful,” Dunn-Kenney enthused. “She’s a great source of the kind of on-site support few students outside of the program have access to.”
Erikson’s hands-on involvement is a valuable factor in retaining students in the midst of busy lives filled with family obligations and work demands. The cohort began in August 2007 and will be eligible for certification in August 2009. Although the program is rigorous, everyone involved recognizes the critical gap these students will fill someday. Both Dunn-Kenney and Mutuku are confident that these proficient, well-rounded learners will raise the level of early childhood education in northern Illinois and serve as a model for what can be achieved in other areas suffering from a similar lack of quality educators.
“Our students are already enjoying a higher profile in the community,” Dunn-Kenney noted. “They’re engaged in professional activities in different elementary schools and child care facilities. These encounters help to round out their educational experience and give them a view of the whole field.”
For more information about the Rockford Early Childhood Education Certification (EC2) Partnership Project, please visit the EC2 web site.