Early Childhood Educator I Certificate of Proficiency

The Early Childhood Educator I Certificate of Proficiency at Weber State University offers specialized training for teaching assistants to sustain high-quality environments for young children birth- 8 years in public and private schools, child care, and community service programs such as public schools, Head Start, home visiting, or early intervention. This is an online asynchronous program with 60 hours of applied in-person field experience. This certificate is the first step in becoming a lead teacher, obtaining a Kindergarten-3rd grade educator license, and program leadership through an AAS or BS in Early Childhood or the BS in Early Childhood Education. 

• Program Prerequisite:  Before beginning this program, a student must see the department advisor (801-626-6411).
• Grade Requirements:  A grade of at least a “C” in CHF 1500 and 2400, and B- or better in ECED courses.
• Credit Hour Requirements: A total of 18 credit hours is required for completion of the certificate program.
• Program Code: 7066CP
• CIPC: 131501

Advisement

All advising for the Early Childhood Educator I Certificate of Proficiency will be conducted by the Department of Child and Family Studies Advisor (801-626-6411).

Admission Requirements

The program is open to all students and has no special admissions prerequisites or requirements.

Program Learning Outcomes

Successful candidates demonstrate the National Association for the Education of Young Children Early Childhood Education I competencies for the national professional standards.

• 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.