Early Childhood Education

Program Plan

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Program Overview

The Early Childhood Education Program prepares candidates for teaching in Pre-school to 3rd grade settings. There are two pathways to initial teacher certification in this program.

1. The Bachelor of Science degree is for undergraduate students who are seeking a bachelor’s degree along with a Louisiana teaching certificate.

2. The Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) degree is an option for those students who have already received a bachelor’s degree (or other advanced degree) and wish to pursue a teaching certification. These degree candidates receive a Master’s degree and a teaching certificate at the same time.

Program Details

The PK-3 program builds from the college’s framework and supports an outcome-based model of personnel preparation that is fully aligned with the expectations and standards for the preparation of early childhood educators as expressed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The core values of the PK-3 program are:

1. All children can learn but do learn in diverse ways.
2. Teachers support and collaborate with families of the infants, toddlers, and young children by working in respectful and ethical ways.
3. Effective learning activities for infants, toddlers, and young children are multi-disciplinary in nature and reflective of the cultural and community contexts in which the children live.
4. Assessment is an ongoing process whose primary purpose is to inform teaching.
5. Teachers balance their attention to the development of children’s knowledge, skills, and dispositions.
6. Teachers are reflective practitioners who consciously and continually refine their understanding and learn from their experiences.

Bachelor’s Degree Program

In the bachelor’s program, candidates are required to take 129 hours, including content courses in English, Math, Social Studies, Science, and the Arts as well as the focus on courses in Curriculum and Instruction in Early Childhood Education. The program represents a performance-based model of personnel preparation and is divided into four tiers, each defined primarily by the type of field experiences associated with the attendant coursework.

Tier I focuses on making a decision to enter the field of education. Tier II includes field experiences primarily focused on observation of practice and individual student learning. Tier III includes field experiences designed to teach small groups of students. In Tier IV, candidates complete the student teaching experience focused on whole class instruction.

The program of study includes all coursework necessary to attain an additional teaching certificate in special education – mild/moderate disabilities. Candidates who wish to exit the program with this additional certification must address additional candidate assessment requirements and complete a student teaching experience in an inclusive education setting. More information on this option is available in the Undergraduate Candidate Handbook.

Field Experience requirements

The early childhood education program represents a performance-based model of personnel preparation, which includes a number of field experiences associated with the attendant coursework. These experiences culminate in the clinical experience, which occurs during the last semester of the program. Information on the field experience requirements of each course may be found in each course's syllabus. For more information, please see the field experiences web page.

Candidate Assessment Information

The program in Early Childhood Education program includes both unit-wide assessments and unique assessments aligned with program standards and created specifically for the program .

The unit assessment system provides ongoing information related to how candidates are developing knowledge, skills, and dispositions related to the conceptual framework, and it provides a structure for the PK-3 program assessment system. The unit assessment system includes several portals, or gates: admission to the program, the completion of alI coursework prior to the clinical experience, and exit from the program.  Unit assessments take place at all portals. The Disposition review, a unit assessment, takes place at three portals but represents a developmental assessment of candidates across time and experiences in the program. The PK-3 program utilizes 7 assessments. Five are shared with the unit and two are unique to the program. The unique assessments are administered and scored at Portal III and Portal IV. Passing scores on these assessments are required for progression in the program.