North Seattle College’s Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) in Early Childhood Education (ECE) program is both an academic pathway and a strategic workforce development initiative designed to meet the needs of Washington State’s increasingly diverse early learning sector. The program prepares culturally responsive educators who can lead classrooms, support family engagement, and contribute to equitable early childhood systems. Graduates report expanded employment opportunities, increased readiness for leadership roles, and greater confidence in advocating for culturally responsive practice in their workplaces (Garrett, 2025). This aligns with national research indicating that degree attainment in early childhood education strengthens workforce capacity, enhances instructional quality, and contributes to greater compensation equity across the field (McLean et al., 2024).

Since 2020, the BAS ECE program has implemented a comprehensive pre- and post-assessment model to measure student growth in antibias competencies during the first year (North Seattle College, 2026). These assessments evaluate students' ability to build cross-cultural relationships, identify curriculum bias, support multilingual families, and navigate equity-related issues in early learning settings. Internal evaluation data from the North Seattle College (2026) ECE department’s anti-bias pre-post survey results show consistent gains across these domains, demonstrating the impact of the program’s curriculum, advising structures, and cohort-based learning model.

Yet quantitative data alone has never been the primary driver of program improvement. Instead, the BAS ECE program intentionally centers student voice as a transformative form of data. This approach draws on Safir and Dugan’s (2021) Street Data framework, which argues that improvement efforts must privilege qualitative, relational, and experiential insights—what they call “street data”—over aggregated metrics or standardized measures. Student stories, shared through listening sessions, cohort dialogues, advising conversations, and alumni reflections, guide program decision-making. These narratives have shaped programmatic decisions around cohort design, advising strategies, faculty hiring, and instructional practices. Improvement has not been driven by institutional priorities, but instead by the lived realities of students who are co-constructing the program itself.

This article outlines the promising practices that have contributed to these outcomes, specifically the cohort model, faculty representation, early advising, and cross-divisional academic partnerships. It also highlights the BAS program’s expanding role in regional workforce development and the cultivation of professional pathways for early childhood educators across Washington State.

Cohort Model Is Critical to Success

The BAS ECE program’s cohort model is foundational to its success. Cohorts create a relational ecosystem characterized by belonging, peer accountability, and shared cultural experience. Research demonstrates that cohort-based models enhance engagement, increase persistence, and support degree completion, particularly for adult and nontraditional learners (Hoffman et al., 2022). English and Spanish cohorts are offered at North Seattle College, including Spanish immersion cohorts that group students with shared linguistic or cultural identities. These cohorts affirm students’ assets, deepen culturally grounded learning, and enable rich cross-cultural dialogue.

The cohort structure also contributes to the program’s emphasis on community building and professional identity formation. Students support one another through academic challenges and workplace barriers, and many continue to collaborate professionally after graduation. These relational networks, cultivated intentionally through program design, become long-term supports that strengthen the regional early learning workforce.

Faculty representation is another central pillar of the BAS ECE program. Administrators and instructional leaders have prioritized hiring diverse faculty, many of whom share linguistic backgrounds, immigrant identities, or cultural experiences with students. This representation is crucial pedagogically, as research shows that faculty diversity significantly enhances academic outcomes, feelings of belonging, and persistence for students of color (Gershenson et al., 2022; Umbach, 2006). In the BAS ECE program, representative faculty foster culturally responsive learning environments and model leadership pathways for students who may be the first in their families or communities to pursue higher education.

Many faculty members are multilingual and can offer content, advising, and support in students’ preferred languages. This linguistic responsiveness is further supported by cross-divisional partnerships that allow general education courses, such as mathematics, writing, or humanities, to be offered in multiple languages. This practice has proven critical in supporting multilingual ECE professionals whose linguistic assets are essential for serving multilingual families and children (Austin et al., 2019).

The BAS ECE program embeds early-onset advising, connecting students with a program advisor during pre-admission. This early engagement builds trust, demystifies academic expectations, and ensures that students feel supported from the start. Advising relationships continue throughout the program, serving as touchpoints for academic, personal, and professional guidance. This model aligns with literature emphasizing relationship-centered advising as a key contributor to retention and success among adult and historically underserved learners (Safir & Dugan, 2021).

A distinguishing feature of North Seattle College’s BAS ECE program is its robust network of external partnerships. Collaborative relationships with entities such as the City of Seattle; Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families; Childcare Aware; American Financial Solutions; and Bainum Family Foundation support student recruitment, provide scholarships, and enhance access for linguistically marginalized communities. These partnerships strengthen the local early childhood workforce pipeline and ensure that the program remains responsive to community needs.

To align curriculum, practice, and equity goals, the program administers a pre‑ and post‑assessment survey to all first‑year BAS students. The instrument measures students’ self‑perceived efficacy in key anti‑bias competencies, including:

• learning from and with families,
• building cross‑cultural relationships,
• supporting multilingual learners and their families,
• identifying stereotypes in curricular materials, and
• detecting implicit and explicit bias in workplace settings.

The 2024 assessment cycle demonstrated statistically significant growth across all categories, with the largest increases in students’ confidence in identifying bias in instructional materials and in engaging with families whose cultural or linguistic backgrounds differed from their own (North Seattle College, 2026). Students also reported feeling more prepared to apply antibias frameworks in real-world learning environments, suggesting that classroom instruction and field-based learning experiences are tightly aligned with program outcomes.

The BAS program also intentionally incorporates student voice into programmatic decision-making. Listening sessions, cohort dialogues, alumni focus groups, and informal advising conversations have surfaced recurring challenges students experience in their workplaces and in broader systems, including racism and microaggressions, linguistic marginalization, financial instability, and imposter syndrome. These insights have informed revisions to advising structures, cohort design, curriculum development, and faculty hiring practices. Rather than implementing top-down reforms, faculty and administrators have consistently asked: What do our students say they need to thrive? This approach echoes Safir and Dugan’s (2021) emphasis on the principle “nothing for us, without us, by us,” positioning students as co-constructors rather than passive recipients of programming.

Lessons Learned

Several lessons have emerged from the program’s design, implementation, and continuous improvement process.

1. Centering equity yields measurable outcomes: Intentional design, from curriculum to faculty hiring, supports growth in students’ anti-bias competencies and sense of professional agency.
2. Cohort models and early advising create relational ecosystems: These structures foster belonging, increase persistence, and enhance academic success.
3. External collaborations expand access and sustain growth: Partnerships strengthen wraparound support and ensure that underserved populations are reached effectively.
4. Continuous evaluation supports accountability: Pre- and post-assessments, combined with qualitative feedback, drive ongoing refinement and improvement.

As the BAS ECE program continues to evolve, several priorities guide its next phase of development. Plans include expanding assessment tools to integrate richer qualitative measures, implementing longitudinal tracking of graduates, scaling the cohort model to additional campuses or pathways, and deepening partnerships with community organizations to provide enhanced wraparound services.

Alumni Survey Results and Professional Transformation

North Seattle College’s BAS ECE program demonstrates a measurable and substantive influence on graduates’ professional development. Survey responses from 27 recent alumni—representing nearly half of the approximately 60 graduates contacted—indicated notable increases in professional confidence, strengthened professional identity, and positive shifts in long‑term career trajectories (Garrett, 2025). These findings underscore the program’s capacity to support both immediate and sustained professional growth among emerging early childhood leaders.

Alumni consistently described heightened intentionality in their practice, enhanced reflective capacity, and increased pedagogical competence as direct outcomes of their coursework and participation in cohort‑based learning structures (Garrett, 2025). These reflections highlight the value of adult learning environments that emphasize guided reflection, strong theory‑to‑practice integration, and culturally responsive engagement—elements that collectively contribute to meaningful professional transformation within the early childhood education workforce.

One alumna shared, “I feel that my teaching is more intentional and guided by theory and understanding of child development,” illustrating how coursework grounded in developmental science and equity frameworks helped deepen her pedagogical reasoning. Another graduate wrote, “My teaching abilities have drastically improved. . . . I now understand how to observe, assess, and adapt for every child.” Statements like these underscore a documented shift from task-based teaching to reflective, analytical practice. This evolution aligns with established research showing that reflective practice enhances adult learners’ critical thinking, professional judgment, and application of theory in early learning contexts (Merriam & Bierema, 2014; U.S. Department of Education, 2020).

These data point to a central outcome of the BAS ECE program: Graduates leave with strengthened professional identities. Many enter the program seeking a credential; they leave as leaders capable of articulating pedagogical rationale, advocating equity, and supporting multilingual and multicultural learners. Such identity development is critical in the early childhood field, where educators often face undervaluation despite high levels of responsibility. The program’s emphasis on antibias education, culturally responsive pedagogy, and community-based learning appears to help graduates situate themselves firmly as professionals who influence not only classrooms but entire learning communities.

Beyond shifts in confidence and identity, alumni reported tangible career advancements, including promotions, expanded responsibilities, and new leadership opportunities (Garrett, 2025). One graduate stated, “I have had many job offers and messages for higher positions after graduating,” noting the increased visibility in the field that came with completing the program. Another shared, “I’m now the Center Director where I used to be a lead teacher,” exemplifying how the BAS degree can accelerate career mobility.

Several respondents described aspirations to pursue graduate education, supervisory roles, or mentorship opportunities. For example, one alum wrote, “I would like to coach and mentor other early childhood educators so they can bring the same quality to their classrooms.” This progression reflects the long-term influence of the BAS program, which aims not only to strengthen classroom practice but also to cultivate leadership capacity within Washington’s early learning workforce.

Alumni also expressed strong gratitude and continued connection to the BAS ECE community. Comments such as, “I am grateful to have participated . . . It changed the way I think about my role as a teacher” and “Congratulations on the program’s success and growth, it’s clear this work matters,” highlight graduates’ sense of belonging and pride in the program. These reflections suggest that students experienced not only academic growth but also community affirmation, which is particularly significant for adult learners, multilingual educators, and students of color who may not have always felt seen or supported in traditional educational settings.

Across each assessment cycle, results show measurable improvements in students’ confidence and abilities. In 2024, for example, students demonstrated significant gains in all categories, reflecting growing awareness of equity issues and increased readiness to implement antibias practices in the field (North Seattle College, 2026). These outcomes align with best practices in antibias and culturally responsive education, which emphasize critical self-reflection, understanding of systemic inequities, and a commitment to justice in early learning environments (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2020; Gay, 2018). Alumni feedback paints a holistic picture of professional evolution: Educators who entered seeking knowledge and credentials left with heightened confidence, more ambitious goals, leadership potential, and a renewed commitment to quality early learning (Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families, 2024).

Overall, alumni responses, internal assessment data, and postgraduation outcomes reflect the deep and lasting impact of North Seattle College’s BAS in ECE program. Graduates emerge as reflective practitioners, confident leaders, and equity-driven educators prepared to shape early learning environments across the region. Their testimonies affirm that the program not only enhances teaching practice but also transforms professional identity, expands career pathways, and strengthens Washington’s early learning workforce.

References

Austin, L. J., Edwards, B., Chávez, R., & Whitebook, M. (2019). Racial wage gaps in early education employment. Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. https://cscce.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/RacialWageGaps-Early-Education-Brief_4-15-2022.pdf

Derman‑Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2020). Anti‑bias education for young children and ourselves (2nd ed.). National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Garrett, A. (2025). Early childhood education Bachelor of Applied Science alumni survey [Unpublished survey]. North Seattle College.

Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice (3rd ed.). Teachers College Press.

Gershenson, S., Hart, C. M., Hyman, J., Lindsay, C., & Papageorge, N. W. (2022). The long-run impacts of same-race teachers. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14(4), 300-342.

Hoffman, N., Clarke, L., & Rhodes, C. (2022). Cohort learning and belonging among adult learners. Innovative Higher Education, 47(3), 245-260.

McLean, C., Austin, L. J. E., Powell, A., Jaggi, S., Kim, Y., Knight, J., Muñoz, S., & Schlieber, M. (2024). Early childhood workforce index 2024. Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California, Berkeley. https://cscce.berkeley.edu/workforce-index-2024/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2025/05/Early-Childhood-Workforce-Index-2024.pdf

Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2014). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. Jossey-Bass.

North Seattle College. (2026). Anti-bias education pre-post survey instrument [Unpublished survey]. Early Childhood Education Department.

Safir, S., & Dugan, J. (2021). Street data: A next-generation model for equity, pedagogy, and school transformation. Corwin.

Umbach, P. D. (2006). The contribution of faculty of color to undergraduate education. Research in Higher Education, 47(3), 317-345.

U.S. Department of Education. (2020). Adult learning theories and online education. Office of Educational Technology.

Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families. (2024). Washington’s statewide early learning needs assessment update report. https://www.dcyf.wa.gov/sites/default/files/reports/B-5-Needs-Assessment.pdf

Cedric B. Howard is Vice Chancellor, Student Enrollment and Effectiveness, at Seattle Colleges, and Ninderjit Gill is Faculty, Early Childhood Education, at North Seattle College in Seattle, Washington.

Opinions expressed in Learning Abstracts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the League for Innovation in the Community College.