BA in Early Childhood Education (Bachelor’s Completion Program) with PK-3 Credential
34-36 units
Mission
The bachelor’s completion program in early childhood education equips future teachers by integrating coursework and field experiences with the application of a Christian worldview as it relates to life vocation. It promotes awareness of cultural diversity issues and covers multiple curricula, with an emphasis in specific subject areas aligned with Preschool Foundations and Common Core standards for subject matter while fostering a holistic understanding of knowledge.
Program Overview
The Liberal Studies/Undergraduate Education TK-8 program offers a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education aligned with California Common Core subject matter standards to prepare undergraduate students seeking careers as preschool to third-grade teachers with the breadth of content knowledge needed to teach in a PK-3 setting. This program offers opportunities to teach in a PK-3 self-contained classroom environment, and students complete clinical practice in preschool and early elementary school classrooms.
Students in this program prepare to work in schools as teachers, so they must know and demonstrate the content, pedagogical, and professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for helping all PK-3 students learn. Completion of the major meets the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) subject matter requirement for the PK-3 Early Childhood Education (ECE) Specialist Instruction Credential.
Azusa Pacific University’s PK-3 ECE Specialist Instruction Credential program is approved by the CTC and the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), and includes specific methods courses that are accompanied by practical classroom applications and field experiences in preschools and public school assignments.
Upon completion of the requirements listed below and all of the requirements detailed in the Steps to a Credential, the candidate will have earned a California PK-3 ECE Specialist Instruction Credential and a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education.
Career Opportunities
Though most early childhood education graduates enter teaching credential programs and find teaching positions in public and private schools locally, nationally, and abroad, demand exists in the business and communication fields as well because of the increasing need for college graduates with broad and diverse academic backgrounds. Potential teaching careers exist in preschool through third-grade classrooms.
Computer and Software Requirements
Each student must have a Mac or PC laptop or notebook running the latest operating system with a word processing program, working video camera and microphone, and a stable internet connection.
Requirements
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| PRCE 301 | Little Learners, Big Beginnings: Foundations of Early Learning, PK-3 | 3 |
| PRCE 302 | Brainwaves and Breakthroughs: Teaching Students with Exceptionalities, PK-3 | 3 |
| PRCE 303 | Seeds of Learning for Developmentally Appropriate Practice, PK-3 | 3 |
| PRCE 304 | Windows into Learning: Observing and Assessing Young Children, PK-3 | 3 |
| PRCE 410 | Counting, Comparing, Constructing: Math in Early Childhood, PK-3 | 3 |
| PRCE 420 | The Reading Rainbow: Exploring Early Literacy, PK-3 | 3 |
| PRCE 430 | A Tapestry of Learners: Culturally Responsive Instruction, PK-3 | 3 |
| PRCE 440 | Beyond the Classroom Walls: Partnering with Families and Communities, PK-3 | 3 |
| PRCE 451 | TPA and LPA Support Course, PK-3 | 2 |
| Select one of the following: | 8-10 | |
| Clinical Practice, PK-3 | ||
| Clinical Practice, PK-3 | ||
| Electives 1 | ||
| Human Growth and Development 2 | ||
| Educational Psychology | ||
| Advanced Child Development | ||
| Psychology of Child and Adolescent Development 2 | ||
| Psychology of Learning | ||
| Psychology of Exceptional Children | ||
| Stress and Coping | ||
| Family Systems Theory and Applications | ||
| Total Units | 34-36 | |
Candidates must also successfully complete the California Teaching Performance Assessment and Literacy Performance Assessment prior to completion of the program.
- 1
These are preferred electives for students who need additional units in order to graduate with their bachelor’s degree. These courses are not required in order to complete the major.
- 2
Meets the APU Core: Social Science general education requirement.