Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: A total of fifty-five Head Start employees are directly affiliated with the grant. Seven Head Start students have graduated since the start of this project. Several others are on track to graduate in the near future. Faculty members acquired evidence-based strategies for teaching/facilitating online courses. All Child Development and Family Living (CDFL) faculty have become certified online instructors at SFA. In particular, faculty have incorporated more interactive activities into the online courses as a result of ongoing training and experience. At this time all CDFL upper division courses to be completed by Head Start students have been formatted and approved to be given in an online (distance education) format, including HMS 400 and HMS 441. Overall, faculty have developed an increased understanding and awareness of the supports non-traditional students require to be academically successful. PRODUCTS: Twenty-six laptop computers were purchased through partner A (Angelina College) and thirty-three laptop computers from partner B (Tarrant County Community College District) Three faculty members attended a conference on Quality in Online Learning to strengthen their abilities to serve distant education students in 2009-2010, and one faculty member attended a conference addressing techniques in online teaching and learning in 2012. A full-time advisor was hired to serve and support the needs of those enrolled in the Head Start Online completer Program. Fifty-one students, total were enrolled in the Smarthinking online tutorial services. Over the duration of the grant seven customized tutorials at quarterly meetings were held at Tarrant County, with an average attendance of 8.3 students per meeting, and eight customized tutorials at quarterly meetings were held at Angelina College, with an average attendance of 24 students per meeting. The final quarterly meeting was held on SFA campus, with students from both Tarrant County and Angelina College in attendance. The customized tutorials at quarterly meetings covered the topics of writing effective papers, APA formatting, features of Smarthinking, and project introduction. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: As per project guidelines, brochures highlighting the opportunities for learning and career advancement offered through both Associate degree tracks at the partner community colleges were created and printed. The brochures also point toward the ease of transferability of credits from the partner community colleges to the CDFL degree program at SFA to complete the bachelor's degree. These brochures have been disseminated and strategically placed at various locations, and also have been disseminated electronically. Brochures were also distributed and discussed at the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children over the project. Other recent dissemination activities included presenting a poster at the annual conference of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, Edmonton, AB, Canada. The poster was entitled Virtual Reach: A Pilot Collaborative for Head Start Employees Seeking the Baccalaureate. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Tara Newman was the PD on this project from August 2009-August 2011. Dr. Newman managed all project day to day operations, provided quarterly trainings, oversaw project expenditures, project dissemination activities, and writing and managing initial project reports during this time period. Dr. Brandon Burr has been the PD on this project from August 2011 until the present date. Dr. Burr has managed all project day to day operations, provided quarterly trainings, oversaw project expenditures, project dissemination, and writing and managing final project reports. Dr. Lynda Martin worked as a Co-PD over the duration of the project. Dr. Martin acted as a consultant and advisor relating to grant reporting and grant operations. Dr. Martin was instrumental in helping the Head Start completer program grow, expand, and progress by gaining university support, and putting the pieces in place to expand the distance education aspect of the child development and family living degree. Graduate assistants Colleen Allen, Vickie Lemmon, Ashly Schmitt, Garrett King, and Annalee Powell worked with the project at various points over the life of the grant. Graduate student help was instrumental to carry out project duties. Graduate students assisted with many project duties including assisting with grant participant courses, reporting, preparing presentations/research papers, preparing trainings, organizing grant materials, and maintaining and updating project data. Susan Broussard and Julie Stadler worked on the grant as Head Start student advisors. Ms. Broussard worked as the advisor from 2009 until December, 2010. Ms. Stadler worked as the advisor from January, 2011 through the end of the grant period. Ms. Broussard and Ms. Stadler assisted Head Start students with enrollment, financial aid, and other administrative questions and issues. They also provided students with course sequence and degree plan information. Ms. Vicky Milstead served as a project partner with Angelina College. Ms. Milstead assisted with the set up of project quarterly meetings, dissemination efforts, and all project operations dealing with project participants at Angelina College. Ms. Pati Cates served as a project partner with Tarrant County College. Ms. Cates assisted with the set up of project quarterly meetings, dissemination efforts, and all project operations dealing with project participants at Tarrant County College. Dr. Marie Saracino, Ms. Phyllis Gilbert, and Ms. Kay McAninch worked as project collaborators. These individuals worked as grant consultants, and worked developing and teaching Head Start completer courses necessary to obtain the degree in a distance education format. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience of this project has been Head Start employees. Many Head Start employees are under federal mandate to receive a bachelor's degree in child development or a related field by the year 2013. Many have not obtained this degree. The intention of this project was to partner with two community colleges in Texas and recruit Head Start employee students to receive the associate degree, and transfer to SFA to receive the bachelor's degree. Academic support services for students (e.g., quarterly meetings, online tutoring, etc.) and professional development activities for faculty (e.g., online and distance education advancement training) were offered as part of this project in order to help students succeed. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The number of Head Start employees entering or on track to enter SFA's online child and family development program has increased over the life of the project. Fifty-five new students enrolled in SFA's program in the 2009-2010 school year. At the time of this report (Summer, 2012) seventy-three Head Start students are enrolled. Twenty of these students are participants with this grant. The project has also increased in the number of Head Start employees either entering or on track to enter SFA's online child and family development baccalaureate completer program. Thirty-five students are participating with the community college partner schools. A total of fifty-five Head Start employees are directly affiliated with the grant. At this time, several Head Start students have graduated with the bachelor's degree, with more projected to graduate within the next year. Overall Head Start student demographics and reports at the termination of the project are as follows: Twenty students are enrolled at the university during the Spring, 2012 school year. Two grant participant students graduated at the end of the Spring semester, 2012. In this group, all participants were female, with an average age of 40 years. Eight students were white, nine were Black or African American, and three were Hispanic. Two of these students were enrolled full time (as of Summer, 2012); the remaining eighteen were enrolled less than full time. The average GPA for these students, who are receiving the additional tutoring and mentoring through the grant was 2.74. The average GPA of students in the regular Child and Family Development program (not Head Start employees, not participating with the grant) was 2.67. Thus, on average, those involved in the project had a slightly higher GPA. The learning supports and services offered through the grant appear to have made an important contribution to enhance Head Start employee's ability to manage work, family, and school responsibilities and gain access to helpful resources which has helped boost confidence and academic success. Many of the project participants indicate that course information is directly applicable to their work environment, and many maintain a positive outlook for future academic and career success.
Publications
- Newman, T., & Burr, B. K. (In progress, to be submitted to the Texas Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, Fall, 2012). The Virtual Reach Project: A three-year evaluation of learning supports for Head Start Employees seeking the Baccalaureate.
- Newman, T., & Burr, B. K. (2011). Virtual Reach: A pilot collaborative for Head Start employees seeking the Baccalaureate. Electronic conference proceedings (abstract), North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. June, 2011.
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Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/10
Outputs
The number of Head Start employees entering or on track to enter SFA's online child and family development program has increased. Fifty-five new students enrolled in SFA's program in the 2009-2010 school year. Eighteen of those students were grant participants. Twenty-seven participants began coursework at one of the community college partner schools during that school year. The project has increased in the number of Head Start employees either entering or on track to enter SFA's online child and family development baccalaureate completer program. A total of forty-five Head Start employees are directly affiliated with the grant; many others have heard about the program through dissemination efforts on the part of program faculty and Head Start employees, as well. The grant encouraged four Head Start employees to return to SFA and complete the baccalaureate online. All four of these students graduated during the 2009-2010 school year. Faculty members acquired evidence-based strategies for teaching/facilitating online courses. In particular, faculty have incorporated more interactive activities into the online courses.In addition, faculty have developed an increased understanding of the supports non-traditional students require to be academically successful. PRODUCTS: Twenty laptop computers were purchased through partner A (Angelina College) and twenty-five laptop computers from partner B (Tarrant County Community College District) Three faculty members attended a conference on Quality in Online Learning to strengthen their abilities to serve distant education students. A full-time advisor was hired to serve exclusively those enrolled in the Head Start Online completer Program. Forty-five students were enrolled in the Smarthinking online tutorial services Forty-five Tarrant County students participated in 9 hours of customized tutorials at quarterly meetings (Writing Effective Papers, APA Formatting, and Introduction to the Project) Fifty-one Angelina College students participated in 6 hours of customized tutorials at quarterly meetings (Introduction to the Project and APA Format). OUTCOMES: Ten participants enrolled at the university during the 2009-2010 school year. In this group, all participants were female, with an average age of 37.6 years. Two students were white, five were black or African American, 1 was Hispanic, and one chose to not report her ethnicity. Four of these students enrolled full time; the remaining six were enrolled less than full time. The average GPA for these students, who are receiving the additional tutoring and mentoring through the grant, had an average of 2.85 GPA. This is slightly higher than the 2.77 of Head Start students enrolled in the program, but not associated with the grant. The average GPA of students in the regular Child and Family Development program (not Head Start employees) was 2.56. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: The initial interest meetings were held to garner interest and recruit potential members for the project. The first meeting was held at Tarrant County College on November 11, 2009 with 20 Head Start employees in attendance. The second occurred at Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas on December 12, 2009 with 45 Head Start employees in attendance. These meetings generated interest in the project and were used to recruit potential members for the project. Other dissemination activities included presenting a poster at the Texas Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX in March, 2010. The poster was entitled Virtual Reach: An Innovative Approach to Completing the Baccalaureate in Child and Family Studies for Head Start Employees. Two presentations were given in September of 2010 and November of 2010. The first paper was presented at the Texas Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Conference held in Austin, Texas. The paper was entitled Virtual Reach: Head Start Teachers Achieving the Bachelor's Degree. The second paper was presented at the National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The paper was entitled Virtual Reach: An Innovative Approach to Completing a Baccalaureate in Family Studies. FUTURE INITIATIVES: The customized tutorials at the quarterly meetings will continue throughout the remainder of the project. Because the partner schools were able to purchase the laptops at a rate significantly lower than anticipated, funds are expected to be adjusted so that more computers will be purchased, whereby additional Head Start employees will be able to participate in the grant.
Impacts
Ten Head Start employees were enrolled in the Head Start Online Completer Program prior to Fall 2009. Thirty-one began in fall 2009. Ten students receiving support through the grant were enrolled at SFA. An additional twenty-one students began in spring/summer 2010. Because some students began their work prior to the degree was moved online, four students were able to return and complete the degree online during the 2009-2010 school year. An objective of this project was to complete the development of the remaining four courses for online delivery for the Head Start Completer Program. Of those four courses all are offered either online (HMS 336 and ECH 331) or hybrid (HMS 400 and HMS 441), with alternative assignments for any on-campus class meetings. SFA requires courses to be approved for online delivery through the university. HMS 400 and HMS 441 are still in the process of being approved.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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