This Associate in Applied Science-Transfer (AAS-T) is a dual purpose degree built upon the technical courses required for job preparation. It includes college-level general Education courses, enabling the student to transfer to a select number of baccalaureate institutions. Programs that offer this degree option will have articulated a transfer agreement with specific four-year institutions. Students completing the AAS-T Early Childhood Education and Diversity Studies degree will also earn an Early Childhood Education certificate and a separate certificate in Diversity Studies. The completion of the degree and certificate program prepares graduates to seek employment in child care centers, Head Start, family child care homes, cooperative and private preschools, children's homes, institutions and others programs serving children from birth through 8 years of age. This curriculum provides meaningful instruction for parents, foster parents, and persons working with young children as instructional aides or Paraeducators. Diversity Studies encompasses the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary for students to understand power relations; to function responsibly in a diverse, global society; and to gain a critical awareness of the social construction of race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation, disability, culture, religion and age in local, national and global contexts.