Fayetteville Technical Community College has been selected to participate in a project aimed at better preparing early childhood education professionals to meet the diverse needs of children in their communities.
The project, called Supporting Change and Reform in Preservice Teaching in North Carolina, or SCRIPT-NC, focuses on helping early childhood professionals with associate degrees to better meet the needs of all young children, including children with diverse cultures, languages, and abilities, and their families.
SCRIPT-NC is guided by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and supported by a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
Starting in the spring of 2021, a team from FTCC’s Early Childhood Education Department will work with the FPG Child Development Institute to enhance the department’s courses and to ensure those courses offer practical experiences, diversity and inclusion for all students. Instructor Karly Walker will lead FTCC’s team. SCRIPT-NC will also provide intensive professional development for their FTCC colleagues.
“We are overjoyed in being selected to participate in SCRIPT-NC,” said Dr. Rondell Bennett, chair of the Early Childhood Education Department at FTCC. “We have worked hard over the years to ensure that we provide quality course offerings for our education students. This opportunity will further enhance what we are already doing.”
By working with SCRIPT-NC, FTCC can ensure it is preparing its early childhood education students with the most current working knowledge in this area of child development, Bennett said.
FTCC is one of three community colleges in North Carolina that have been selected for participation in SCRIPT-NC. Selection was done on a competitive basis.
For additional information about SCRIPT-NC, please visit https://scriptnc.fpg.unc.edu/ or contact Chih-Ing Lim at chih-ing.lim@unc.edu.
