Early Childhood Education (BS)

The Department of Child and Family Studies offers a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) major in Early Childhood Education (ECE) that is accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Early Childhood Higher Education Programs of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Students completing the major are eligible to receive the Utah Educator License in the Early Childhood Area to teach Kindergarten through 3rd Grade. Students preparing to teach in a K-3 classroom of a public or private school, in a Pre-K early education setting including child care centers, Head Start, or family and home-based child care, graduate with a major in Early Childhood Education.

• Program Prerequisite: Provisional admission to the ECE Program (see the admission requirements described under Child and Family Studies Admissions).
• Area of Specialization: Required. ECE majors meet all requirements for a specialization area in “Early Childhood Education Birth-5 Teaching” upon completing the program.
• Grade Requirements: Early Childhood Education majors must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher in all college/university work and at least a “B-” grade in each ECE major required course to continue in the program. If a grade in a major course does not meet the minimum requirement for graduation, the student may retake the course once. If the student retakes a course, the student will receive the grade earned in the second course attempt. In special circumstances, by the judgment of the department chair, the student may petition to the Early Childhood Education Program, as appropriate, to graduate with the lower grade. Early Childhood Education majors must also achieve at least a “C” grade in CHF 1500 SS/CC, MATH 2010, MATH 2015, and MATH 2020 QL.
• Credit Hour Requirements: A minimum of 120 credit hours is required for a bachelor’s degree; 75 of these are required within the major. 
• Program Code: 5002BS
• CIPC: 131210

Program Learning Outcomes

• 1. Child Development and Learning in Context 
  • 1a. Understanding of the developmental period of early childhood from birth through age 8 across developmental domains.
  • 1b. Understand each child as an individual with unique developmental variations.
  • 1c. understand that children learn and develop within relationships and within multiple contexts, including families, cultures, languages, communities, and society.
  • 1d. use this multidimensional knowledge to make evidence-based decisions about how to carry out their responsibilities
• 2. Family-Teacher Partnerships and Community Connections.
  • 2a. Know about, understand, and value the diversity of families.
  • 2b. Collaborate as partners with families in young children’s development and learning through respectful, reciprocal relationships and engagement.
  • 2c. Use community resources to support young children’s learning and development and to support families, and build partnerships between early learning settings, schools, and community organizations and agencies.
• 3. Child Observation, Documentation, and Assessment.
  • 3a. Understand that assessments (formal and informal, formative and summative) are conducted to make informed choices about instruction and for planning in early learning settings.
  • 3b. Know a wide range of types of assessments, their purposes, and their associated methods and tools.
  • 3c. Use screening and assessment tools in ways that are ethically grounded and developmentally, ability, culturally, and linguistically appropriate in order to document developmental progress and promote positive outcomes for each child. 3d: Build assessment partnerships with families and professional colleagues.
• 4. Developmentally, Culturally, and Linguistically Appropriate Teaching Practices
  • 4a. Understand and demonstrate positive, caring, supportive relationships and interactions as the foundation of early childhood educators’ work with young children.
  • 4b. Understand and use teaching skills that are responsive to the learning trajectories of young children and to the needs of each child, recognizing that differentiating instruction, incorporating play as a core teaching practice, and supporting the development of executive function skills are critical for young children.
  • 4c. Use a broad repertoire of developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically relevant, anti-bias, evidence-based teaching skills and strategies that reflect the principles of universal design for learning.
• 5. Knowledge, Application, and Integration of Academic Content in the Early Childhood Curriculum
  • 5a. Understand content knowledge- the central concepts, methods and tools of inquiry, and structure-and resources for the academic disciplines in an early childhood curriculum.
  • 5b. Understand pedagogical content knowledge-how young children learn in each discipline-and how to use the teacher knowledge and practices described in Standards 1 through 4 to support young children’s learning in each content area.
  • 5c. Modify teaching practices by applying, expanding, integrating, and updating their content knowledge in the disciplines, their knowledge of curriculum content resources, and their pedagogical content knowledge.
• 6. Professionalism as an Early Childhood Educator
  • 6a. Identify and involve themselves with the early childhood field and serve as informed advocates for young children, families, and the profession.
  • 6b. Know about and uphold ethical and other early childhood professional guidelines.
  • 6c. Use professional communication skills, including technology-mediated strategies, to effectively support young children’s learning and development and to work with families and colleagues.
  • 6d. Engage in continuous, collaborative learning to inform practice.
  • 6e. Develop and sustain the habit of reflective and intentional practice in their daily work with young children and as members of the early childhood profession.

Admission Requirements

Declare your program of study (see Program of Study (Major/Minor) Declaration). Early Childhood Education majors must meet the Early Childhood Education admission and licensure requirements (see the admission requirements under Child and Family Studies Admissions). The minimum GPA requirement is 2.75 or 3.0 in the last 30 credit hours (see Teacher Education Application).