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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; It may have looked like any of many articulation agreement signing ceremonies, with two presidents putting pen to paper in front of faculty, staff and media. But Wilkes University School of Education Dean Rhonda Rabbitt saw it as anything but routine.</p><p>&#8220;This is monumental,&#8221; Rabbitt enthused after initially admitting &#8220;let me be authentically honest I am not comfortable standing here.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Here&#8221; was in front of the presidents of Wilkes University and Lackawanna College at Wilkes&#8217; Weckesser Hall, and the &#8220;monumental&#8221; part, Rabbitt said, was the notion that this agreement doesn&#8217;t just help the two schools and the students who can now spend two years at each school in earning a bachelor&#8217;s degree. It can change the lives of young children for decades.</p><p>Officially, the agreement allows students to earn an associate degree in early education at Lackawanna, then transfer to Wilkes as a junior in the bachelor&#8217;s degree in elementary and early childhood education program.</p><p>Rabbitt said that means more people can earn a four-year degree at a lower cost, helping those most in need.</p><p>Wilkes Senior Vice President Ann Skleder noted the requirements to get a four-star rating as an early education center in Pennsylvania will include bachelor&#8217;s degrees for all teachers by 2028. &#8220;We are in no way there,&#8221; she said, but the agreement shows &#8220;Lackawanna College and Wilkes University have committed to be part of the solution.&#8221;</p><p>A bachelor&#8217;s degree matters to both the teacher and the children they work with, so &#8220;the pathway must be seamless and it must be accessible,&#8221; Skleder added.</p><p>Wilkes President Patrick Leahy joked after realizing that he was the third person from Wilkes speaking and that President Mark Volk would be the only one from Lackawanna College. &#8220;It hardly seems fair,&#8221; he quipped, before noting he was a vice president at the University of Scranton when Volk held the same title at Lackawanna. The idea of collaboration came up even then, Leahy said.</p><p>&#8220;I hope this formal collaboration is the first of many,&#8221; said Leahy.</p><p>Volk noted his college gets 80 percent of its students from the greater Scranton area, and that in the Scranton School District, 82 percent of the students are below the poverty level. &#8220;So when we can create pathways to move them from our campus to here, it is such a win for all of us.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wilkes University President Patrick Leahy and Lackawanna College President Mark Volk sign an articulation agreement Wednesday allowing students to earn an associate degree in early childhood education from Lackawanna and transfer as a third-year student into Wilkes&#8217; bachelor in elementary and early childhood education program. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_20190327_142522.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wilkes University President Patrick Leahy and Lackawanna College President Mark Volk sign an articulation agreement Wednesday allowing students to earn an associate degree in early childhood education from Lackawanna and transfer as a third-year student into Wilkes&#8217; bachelor in elementary and early childhood education program. </caption0><photoCredit0>Mark Guydish | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes, Lackawanna College sign ‘monumental’ agreement on early education