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Tradition and Change: The Voyage of Revising an Early Childhood Studies Preparation Program

How does a university teacher education program stay afloat in a continuous sea of change? The purpose of this paper is to exemplify a university early childhood studies program revision experience. It identifies internal motivational change forces, such as personnel and cultural change, and external forces, such as federal mandates, best practices, and socioeconomic needs. Diverse expertise, common vision, accommodating structures, and administrative leadership as supportive resources are examined. Decision-making and action-planning strategies to assist the change journey are explicated. Results from student surveys, early childhood faculty reaction, focus groups with early childhood field-based practitioners, and interviews with college administration provide validation data. The outcome, a Unified Early Childhood Program (UECP), is described, followed by future directions to monitor and promote best practices in early childhood professional preparation.