In this episode, we explore how California’s early childhood education system is coming together to strengthen and expand the early educator workforce. Leaders from community colleges, California State University programs, and early learning settings discuss collaborative efforts to create seamless transfer pathways, expand apprenticeship opportunities, build strategic partnerships, and develop innovative approaches to workforce development. Join us as we examine how these collaborations are helping prepare, support, and retain the next generation of early childhood educators across the state.
Episode 6.1: Grow Your Own
Hilary: [00:00:00] Everyone, and welcome to the SPARK EC Voices podcast, the place where knowledge meets action in early childhood education.
Lindsay: We're so glad you're here. This show is brought to you by the SPARK EC Hub, and that's the California State University system-wide partnership for advancing research and knowledge in early childhood education.
Hilary: Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Hilary. And I'm Lindsay. Today we're talking about a critical issue for our field, growing your own early educators. Grow your own, sometimes referred to as GYO, is a teacher recruitment and preparation strategy focused on developing and retaining teachers from the local community.
In California, this conversation is especially timely. With the expansion of universal pre-kindergarten, or [00:01:00] UPK, transitional kindergarten-
, Or TK, and the development of the new PK-3 early childhood education specialist credential, we're seeing a major shift in how we prepare and support our early educator workforce
Lindsay: And importantly, this work spans our mixed delivery system, including childcare centers, family childcare, state preschool, Head Start, and even public school classrooms such as TK through third grade
Hilary: Today, we'll explore how we build strong, connected pathways into the profession, starting in communities and moving through community colleges, CSU programs, our clinical experiences like a lab school, and other types of settings
Lindsay: Before we get started, we would like to introduce you to our guests.
First, we have Kathleen White, coordinator of the ECE Edu Regional Joint Venture, Bay Area Community College Consortium, and the BACCC. And Dr. Ona Fontanilla-Notham, who [00:02:00] is an associate professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills, an ECE pathway specialist. And then we have Brittany Randolph, program director of Fresno State Programs for Children
Hilary: Well, we're really excited to have all of you.
Before we get started, can you share a moment or a person that first inspired you to work in early childhood education? Kathleen, how about you start?
Kathleen: I can't think of one person, but, most certainly, , having my own children, uh, solidified this commitment to help, everyone's children.
And when I was very young, I think just those simple early jobs like,, working at youth programs, working after school, working at summer camp, and babysitting really, , created a, a love for working with younger people. So, just accumulation of life experiences
Hilary: How about Oona?
Oona: [00:03:00] You know, when I think about this question, especially in the context of Grow Your Own, I actually think about my experiences as a high school student.
So as a high school student, I actually had the opportunity to work with, , a first grade classroom. , And so kind of worked as a, teacher's assistant or TA. And working with the first graders, , and really making those connections taught me a lot about the importance of relationships, and that relationships are so key in the learning process, and, , really inspired my love for working with young people
Hilary: Mm-hmm How about you, Brittney?
Brittney: Oh, for me, , I think it goes back as far as, , my preschool years. Um, thinking of- ... , my first preschool teacher. I, I don't remember what she looks like, I just remember the greeting song that she used to sing. Um, and it was You're a Shining Star., And then it came back, like, [00:04:00] when I was in elementary school, me doing student assistant work up until,, me tutoring in junior high school.
And even though I thought I was gonna be doing something totally different because I was a business major, it was the child development classes that sparked that joy for me. And it just led me to know that this is where I'm supposed to be, even though I tried to not be in it.
Lindsay: That's like full circle. I love that.
Hilary: I, I know. I, think it's so interesting. We all kind of came to this at different points, , you know, from being a young child to, you know, in adulthood and in your own experiences. I know myself, I don't even remember having very many positive school experiences, so there was no way I was gonna be a teacher.
But- Yeah ... I don't know. I worked with young children during college, and I'm like, "Oh, this is it." So- ... how about you, Lindsay?
Lindsay: You know, it started for me when I was really, um, in my career already, and . i had worked in special education, [00:05:00] and I was working also in ESL bilingual, programming. And then I had a class, and it was a class of K2.
All of the children were bilingual bonuses, right? They all had, linguistic identities to share. And that moment I knew that I wanted to play with and learn with children for the rest of what I do. So-
Hilary: Mm-hmm ...
Lindsay: that's where it came from for me.
Hilary: And we're all still doing that.
Lindsay: To ground us, though, as we get into the podcast, how do each of you define grow your own in the context of California's PK-3 workforce from your lens?
And Kathleen, we'll start with you
Kathleen: Okay. I was a student that really liked school, and I liked being there. So I would like to say that I think when you're growing your own, you need to start with the youngest student possible. And classroom teachers have many opportunities to, , allow students to help each other, [00:06:00] to mentor each other, to pair up and tutor each other, to be reading buddies.
, And I think all those early experiences lead then to observation and internships in high school, work with, children and youth in high school. And helps to, , I guess, set the journey, um, early on. I really think Grow Your Own is something that can be fostered as early as possible. , It's an opportunity when we talk about our own, those are our own students that are just young, but they're eager, and they're, thinking about their careers very early.
So I think the more opportunities we really look at providing teaching as an option, to third graders, to fifth graders, to ninth graders, to eleventh graders, um, teaching is-- it's a viable option, it's a joyful option, and we should be practicing that early on, so that by the time they hit [00:07:00] college, they've had experiences that solidify their commitment, and they're able to maybe focus on, um, career, options and what ages of students they wanna work with and just be more intentional when they're a bit older.
So, that's my vision of GYO. It starts young, and it needs to be supported and nurtured along the whole pathway.
Lindsay: Thanks, Kathleen. When we're thinking about that equity piece for our workforce that's already in the field, how do you think that Grow Your Own can also tap into that piece to, to think about our current workforce
Kathleen: Well I think the current workforce, and I'm coming from the community college perspective, , the students that work in the field that also attend community college tend to be the ones that live in the community, grew up in the community, or at least have moved to that [00:08:00] local area, and so, um, represent the young children in their programs.
They are, the parents and, the workforce that looks like and acts like the children that they're serving. So, um, we take the workforce from, , many of our students become employed right away with young children., And I think that, , how we nurture them and how we continue their growth is part of Grow Your Own.
We know they're there, we know they're taking jobs, and about 85% of the early childhood workforce attended a community college. So we know we had an influence, but we have to nurture that continuous journey. 'Cause some, uh, times it's hard. It's hard to work, it's hard to go to school, and for many of our students, and the workforce, they're also parents, they're caregivers in their families, they're juggling a lot.
So it's that [00:09:00] continuous nurturing and continuous, , support that I think we have to think about.
Lindsay: Thanks for that lens, Kathleen. And Brittney, how about you? When you're thinking about Grow Your Own - in your context, what does that look like or, mean to you?
Brittney: For me, I think it's very unique to where we're located in the Central Valley as Fresno State being the only, uh, Cal State here.
It makes me think of my centers, all three of our sites being lab schools, our placements for the PK-3 credential students, and us using our master teachers to model what the ECE classroom looks like. And, the concept of growing your own, it's showing these teachers, these future teachers what play-based learning looks like, how to make something developmentally appropriate, and thinking of us making a difference in all of the districts that they may feed [00:10:00] into, all of the early education centers that they may feed into.
It's really building that teacher, to me. I think, , I think of it past the PK-3 credential students and the child development lab students that come here. We wanna train these teachers and equip them to make a difference, with the youngest learners out there by modeling what it should be done, proving that our youngest learners are capable of hard things.
So I think it's just, truly growing them Mm-hmm. So they can bloom and make a change in our community.
Lindsay: Mm-hmm. Oh, thanks, Brittany. And Ona, what's your perspective look like when you think about Grow Your Own from your context?
Oona: So when I think about Grow Your Own from my own context, um, I think about it in two ways.
I think about my own experiences, , and growth as an early childhood educator, and where I'm located and where I work. [00:11:00] So I work at, Cal State Dominguez Hills, and so I think about Growing Your Own as similar to Brittany as, growing from the greater Los Angeles area, right? And so who are the people that are interested in, um, supporting young children's development in the greater Los Angeles area?
How do we let them know about our program? How do we let them know about our, uh, the options that we have, um, so they feel like coming here and working on their degree is, , something that they can do? I also think about it from my own lens in that it took me a long time, actually, to finish my bachelor's degree.
It took me about 10 years of stopping and starting. And so understanding that that's many of our students, that they may be returning to school after, , a break, that they may have other responsibilities that they're sort of juggling, and how do we provide that kind of welcoming space for them to know, no matter what their previous experiences have been, um, what their [00:12:00] journey has looked like, that there's a place for them here, um, and that they can kind of carve out their own pathway in supporting, um, young children's growth and development.
Lindsay: We want teachers to bloom where they're planted and, provide that sun and the and the water and the space for them to grow. And,, I like that, and I think we'll hand it over to Hilary to dive into community colleges as entry points.
Hilary: All right, so, you know, I'm still trying to wrap my head around, you know, that number you mentioned earlier, Kathleen, about 85% of our workforce has taken at least a course or maybe started at a community college.
Some of the data I've seen has, mentioned that in our early childhood education student, data at the Cal State Universities, that it's around 70, 72% have actually started at the community college level. So we know, I mean, this is, like, a perfect example of why we have to be working [00:13:00] together, you know, to have this really seamless transition.
This is such a critical entry point into our field. Uh, so Kathleen, how do the community colleges support early educators along these different pathways and help them see what's possible in the field?
Kathleen: Well,, I wanna mention a few things. Um- One is that only about one in five community college students, actually apply to transfer.
So the vast majority, , engage in coursework to either obtain employment, , or stop for whatever reason. And they may return, but, um, it's like 20% of our total student population actually apply to transfer. And I think with the early childhood sector, it's important to look at that number and realize how many students, , begin and end at a community college in this sector.
[00:14:00] So that's, one thing to think about. We have incentives for earning a teaching credential. We have the new PK-3 credential. We have most certainly incentives in the workplace for students to earn a BA and/or a credential, , if they want to take specific jobs, and many of those jobs are in public school districts.
They're union represented. They tend to be-- uh, have higher salaries available. So students keep their eyes on the prize, but the majority do not transfer. And I think we need to look at growing our own in, several ways. One is incentivizing transfer and really looking at that, um, matriculation point how can we make this easier?
How can we encourage students that are not transfer bound or don't see that as their goal to really take that leap? So that's kind of on one end of the spectrum. Um, the other is with high school students. [00:15:00] About thirteen percent now of our high school students actually take college courses at community colleges, and that number is growing.
So one in eight high school students are what are called dual enrollment or concurrent enrollment students. And that's another opportunity to, , really show this pathway. Um, young people in high school, , very often find it, um, really attractive to work with, you know, their younger brothers and sisters at their summer camp to do summer school, um, classes, to work in preschools, to have jobs where they can really make a difference with younger, children and youth.
So with so many students now in dual enrollment, we can provide some of these opportunities that build on their high school experiences and provide college credit. And that's a way to really, um, I think, make the pathway more attractive. They're very interested in this. They're interested in getting [00:16:00] jobs.
They need summer jobs. Some of these things fit perfectly with, , both high school student goals and also with, adult student goals. So at the community college, we're like a very large net. If you can envision this large net with very young students and, you know, students of all ages, returning students, students that are learning English, they're English language learners, students that come as parents and they wanna go back to school, and they're committed now 'cause they have children to help schools.
Um, maybe they taught in their country. It's just this huge net, and we have to know what each student is bringing and try to tailor supports for them, , which includes looking at, um, developmental appropriate practice, looking at groups of kids in a different way, providing theory, and experience, [00:17:00] um, to all these, you know, fish in the net.
That's the challenge. But I think that's very much part of Grow Your Own, and it's very much part of our mission. And, Those are our own
Hilary: Yeah, no, I'm imagining now. I can totally visualize that, that- ... big net, and we wanna make sure that net doesn't have any tears or big holes, so that we're not losing any of those fish through that.
And, and when we move that net into the CSU, I'm still wrapping my head around that, like only one in five are actually successfully transferring. So do you have some suggestions, like how do we make sure there aren't holes or tears in this net? How do we help transition that net over to the CSUs to- Mm-hmm
to continue this pathway?
Kathleen: Some of the things that we did, I think, w- when I was, uh, department chair and faculty at City College of San Francisco that were effective is we had paid jobs for high school students during the summer that were paired with college courses. And so [00:18:00] those were very attractive, um, internships that were paired.
We're also-- We'll talk later in this podcast about apprenticeship, but I think that's another way that students can earn and learn, and an apprentice does not pay tuition. So, making both, uh, the community college experience as well as the four-year college experience affordable, um, and paired with a job is a, really effective strategy.
And then I think that, um, it's also who our teachers are. We need people at all, levels at all gestures to really represent, uh, the students in our programs, and it's through those authentic conversations and the role modeling that someone can say, "Hey, I did this, you can do it, too.
This was my journey. It sounds like your journey, and so I'm here to help you." And having authentic, teachers and staff and counselors along the way help to make this, um, a friendlier leap. The leap between high school and community college, [00:19:00] the leap between community college and CSU. It has to be filled with warm handshakes and people that are, , easy to talk to and believable.
We've been working a lot locally on mapping, and mapping's important because we do need to know where we're going and we need maps and we have to have the courses, , laid out and things change all the time, so you need a good map. But it's just as important to have, someone who answers an email, a phone, someone who has a smile, um, a warm person, someone's name that you can give.
"Hey, talk to so-and-so, they'll really help you." Um, it's that kind of informal support that really bridges these canyons. And they really are canyons between high school and community college, and between community college and a four-year. They're canyons and you need help getting across the canyon.
Hilary: Yeah.
Thank you.
Lindsay: Yeah, Kathleen, that was really insightful. And we do know from research, right? Sometimes the biggest hurdle , is the [00:20:00] canyon, is the like enrollment processes and paperwork. We know that. So thank you for calling that out too as, as needing that warm hug or warm handshake. And now, , as students move into the CSU programs and bachelor's pathways, , increasingly, PK-3 credential programs, which may or may not be part of a bachelor's program, how do you build on students' prior experiences as they come in from the workforce?
Una, in your child development program, potentially in the PK-3 credential program
Oona: So that's a really great question. , So we try to do that. We have an intentional focus, right? A lot of our students are transfer students, that, , Kathleen was just talking about. Um, and so , we intentionally do that in several ways, um, in my program. So I'm in the Child Development Department at Cal State Dominguez Hills.
, And we do that by making sure that our curriculum is aligned and relevant, um, with an eye on knowing that a lot of our students are transfer students. So the first way that [00:21:00] we do that is by really looking at our ADT, which is known as Associate's Degree for Transfer, and making sure that if students follow that path and come to our campus with their ADT, that if they come as a full-time student, they can actually do that and complete that two plus two.
So they do that t- that ADT in two years, and they can actually complete their bachelor's degree in two years if they come as a full-time student., And I have seen many students able to do that, right? That are committed, that say, I can be a full-time student." But that means all of their courses count, right?
All of their courses,, count for our requirements here at our campus, and we are constantly looking at our curriculum and making sure that it does in fact do that, , that it is up to date. We also do that by giving students options within their degree. We have a early learning and development concentration.
We have three options for students within our degree [00:22:00] program for students that are interested in early learning and in development, and that might look like a PK-3 credential, that might look like a preschool teacher, that might look like a child life specialist or something else, right? But just those that are interested in working with young children.
So, we have three concentrations within that, within our degree program, and the first we call our general concentration, and I really love the general concentration because it provides so much flexibility for students. So typically, you'll see a lot of times in an undergraduate degree program, you'll see, like, free electives.
But the issue with those is that those free electives come from a list, right? And students have to select those electives from that list. We've done something a little different with our general concentration in that students can pick whatever courses they want from that list. So a lot of times we'll see students add on a minor.
Let's say somebody that's interested in owning their own family childcare business, they might minor in business because that will give them that kind of [00:23:00] marketing expertise, right, and that financial expertise to be a successful,, small business owner or something else. Maybe they're interested in possibly counseling, so they can minor in psychology, um, or just the explore their interests, right?
Maybe they have an interest in a, another language. They can minor in Spanish, for example. I have a student that's doing that right now. So that's one of our options. Our other concentration is called the child development permit concentration, and in that concentration, students take the coursework and have the practicum experience, where at the end of their degree, they're eligible for a teacher-level, California Child Development Permit.
And they're guided by a faculty practicum supervisor if they want to apply for that through the California, , Commission on Teacher Credentialing. So that, right, when they graduate then, they already have that permit. They are job and career ready, kinda sets them up for success in that way, the last [00:24:00] option that they have is our PK-3 concentration.
And, um, what's really nice about that one, if students are really sure, they come to our campus and they say, "Hey, I want to work in a public school setting. I wanna be a credentialed teacher, but I wanna work with preschool through third-grade students," they can actually, as part of their undergraduate coursework, they complete one semester in our credential program.
They also complete a practicum course that's a minimum of 100 hours, and that actually allows them to bring in that equivalency if they choose to go to,, a PK-3 credential program that accepts that equivalency, right? 'Cause they're working with preschool students. And so that's really nice because if they do that at our campus, it actually reduce the credential program from three semesters to two.
So they can really do that if they follow that ADT in two years, they come full-time, do our program in two years, and they wanna do that PK-3 emphasis, they can actually complete the [00:25:00] credential in one year. So that's five years total. And so we're able to do all of these things because our child development department, really takes a proactive stance to curriculum development.
So rather than be reactive and say, "Oh no, this thing is coming. What do we do? How do we scramble? What do we substitute?" We kind of really pay attention to,, what do our students tell us? What do they need? What kind of courses and experiences do they need? What do our community college partners tell us in terms of what,, courses are students taking?
What are they interested in? What kind of experiences do they want? And then just shifts in the California early childhood landscape. So for example, the California Child Development Permit is changing, right? And so we've changed our coursework, and that's why we have that practicum course to be proactive so that students before that permit is even approved, it's in the process of being approved right now, they're already set up for success if that's what they want to do.
And so the last thing [00:26:00] that I would say that we're doing in terms of being proactive is, um, a project that I'm working on with, a couple other faculty members is looking at credit for prior learning. So that's another way that we're being proactive in terms of really looking at how can we honor and respect, um, the experiences, the knowledge that students are coming in with to make sure it counts
Lindsay: Y- you gave us such a clear picture, Ona, of like how do we listen to students and listen to employers and think about what works?
And, I love that you said we need to start by listening to what our students need and want, and then, , we have to invest in them. , Our students are needing accessible community-rooted experiences to be able to, again, bloom where they're planted. How programs are tapping into those assets. We went into it a little bit, How are we making sure that we really understand their assets?
If you had to think of one way, Ona, that you learn about your students and their [00:27:00] assets, what, what would that be?
Oona: So one way that I would do that is we have a really, really strong,, new student and transfer student orientation. So our department chair makes an emphasis to welcome all students, and it's not just her there.
You also meet an academic advisor, you meet other faculty members, and we talk to you a little bit about what it's like at our campus, welcome you into that space. The other way that I would do that, is what I shared earlier in that it took me quite a long time to finish my bachelor's degree.
I actually share that with students. Um, and I have noticed in sharing that with students, whether it is at a new student orientation or a transfer student orientation or the first week of classes, is there sort of like a breath comes out because it releases some of that pressure of, oh, well, you're standing here in front of me as my professor, and this is what your path looked like.
And [00:28:00] so just kind of, um, providing that validation and affirmation that whatever your pathway is, there are multiple choices. That is okay. It is your own, and know that you can find success in whatever path you take.
Lindsay: This has been such an insightful conversation about the many pathways that bring people into the early childhood education profession and the partnerships that help them move forward along those pathways.
Hilary: We've heard from how the community colleges, the CSU programs, early learning settings, they're all working together to create opportunities through transfer pathways, hopefully some apprenticeships, some partnerships, and other innovative approaches that strengthen California's early educator workforce.
Lindsay: Absolutely. As we've been, talking with our guests, it's become so clear there's simply too much wisdom and experience to fit into one single episode.
Hilary: So we have just decided we're gonna turn this conversation into a two-part series. In [00:29:00] part two, we'll continue our discussion. We'll explore the critical role of clinical practice, mentoring, coaching, and all the hands-on experiences that help future educators connect theory to practice.
That is such an important and critical piece.
Lindsay: Thanks for listening to part one of Growing Your Own Early Educators.
Hilary: We hope you'll come back for part two as we continue this important conversation about preparing and supporting California's early childhood workforce on CSU Spark EC Voices.
If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website and join the movement to transform early learning through collaboration and innovation. Because every great idea begins with a spark
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