School of Teacher Education

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Non-Degree Planned Sixth-Year/Rank I: Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education

Program Ref #156

Program Description

This program is designed to prepare educators to work with children both with and without special needs, ages birth through kindergarten and their families. Program graduates are eligible to apply for certification in interdisciplinary early childhood education (IECE), birth to primary (B to P). This certification qualifies individuals to work with children from birth to entry into the primary program. This includes teaching children in kindergarten or other programs for five-year-olds if those programs are operated separately from the primary program. Graduates are prepared for positions in public schools, First Steps, Head Start programs, child care centers, and other public and private agencies serving young children and families.

Admission Requirements

In addition to meeting Graduate School and College of Education and Behavioral Sciences admissions requirements, applicants must complete the IECE application process through the School of Teacher Education. This application process includes documentation of early childhood related professional experiences and training, a professional written goals statement, and three letters of reference. Applicants must be officially admitted to the IECE program before beginning the program sequence. Students must also have had SPED 330 or SPED 516 or equivalent prior to entering the Rank I program or complete one of them as a program deficiency.

Program Requirements

The performance-based program of study requires 33 hours of course work and 240 clock hours of field experiences. Approximately one-half of the field experience hours are completed as a part of ongoing course work. The culminating experience of the program is a summer internship.

Prerequisites

• SPED 330 Introduction to Exceptional Education: Diversity in Learning
• SPED 516 The Exceptional Child: Perspectives and Issues

Professional education—21 hours

• CD 481G Speech & Language Development
• CD 486G Language Disorders
• IECE 521 Assessment in IECE
• IECE 522 Family-Centered Services
• IECE 524 Internship in IECE
• IECE 523 Planning Curriculum and Instruction in Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education
• SPED 523 Curriculum/Methods in Early Childhood Special Education

Content area courses—12 hours

• IECE 520 Organizing Programs for IECE
• FACS 577 Child Development Theory and Research
• SWRK 436G Services to Children
• PSY 645 Consultation in Educational & Mental Health Settings: Theory & Practice