Early Childhood Educator Lends Input on Classroom Resource

Pennsylvania College of Technology faculty member Nancy A. Grausam was a co-presenter during a Feb. 4 webinar for postsecondary early childhood education faculty.

Grausam, assistant professor of education and early childhood education, was among four faculty members from colleges across the United States who shared their views on a pilot program developed by CONNECT: The Center to Mobilize Early Childhood Knowledge at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In Spring 2010, Penn College was among several colleges and universities selected to field-test Web-based lessons created by CONNECT on the inclusion of children with disabilities in early education programs. Grausam's Young Children With Special Needs course tested a module titled "Embedded Interventions."

During the webinar, which was cosponsored by CONNECT and the National Association for the Education of Young Children and facilitated by Alison Lutton, senior director of higher education accreditation and program support at NAEYC, Grausam discussed her experience using the CONNECT module in her Spring 2010 class.

Because of students' feedback on the first module, Penn College was selected to field-test a second CONNECT module on Family-Professional Partnerships in Spring 2011, and Grausam was asked to author a web log on her class's use of the web-based lessons.

In addition, NAEYC and CONNECT invited Grausam to become part of a work group that will outline how early childhood education associate-degree programs can use the CONNECT modules in alignment with NAEYC accreditation standards. Penn College is one of only 97 institutions in the United States to have earned NAEYC accreditation for its early childhood education associate-degree program.

Grausam has taught full time at Penn College since 1993. She holds a master's degree from Rutgers University and a bachelor's degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

She is serving a three-year term on the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools' Commission on Elementary Schools. At Penn College, she served on the Middle States Outcomes Assessment Committee, was a member of the executive steering committee for accreditation of the college's Children's Learning Center by MACS, and is one of three faculty members serving on the Middle States Self-Study Steering Committee as the college prepares for review of its accreditation with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in the 2011-12 academic year.

To learn more about the early childhood education major and other academic programs offered by the School of Integrated Studies at Penn College, call 570-327-4521 or visit online .

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