Early Childhood Education (ECE) (Age 3 - Grade 4, multiple subjects)The PSU program in Early Childhood Education (ECE) prepares professionals to work directly with young children or to work in related roles and services. The courses provide training, experience, and ongoing professional development to support the diverse roles and responsibilities of the ECE educator. The program has been designed to reflect the knowledge base in both ECE and teacher education and is designed for those wishing to add the ECE endorsement to an elementary or K-12 teaching license and for those seeking the endorsement and a master's degree. PROGRAM OPTIONS Prerequisites:
Passing scores on: Highly recommended:
Program of Study
Appendix A: OAR (Oregon Administrative Rules) related to initial licensure in early childhood education, by Oregon Department of Education - Teacher Standard and Practice Commission: 584-017-0110 Early Childhood Authorization (Valid for Teaching from Age Three through Grade Four) The unit assures that candidates for the Early Childhood Authorization demonstrate knowledge, skills, and competencies in an early childhood setting. (1) Candidates document understanding and apply knowledge of developmental psychology and learning appropriate to students age three through grade four within the cultural and community contexts of the teacher education institution and cooperating school districts. (2) Candidates articulate and apply a philosophy of education which is appropriate to the students in early childhood education and which assures that students learn to think critically and integrate subject matter across disciplines. (3) Candidates document broad knowledge of the subject matter, curriculum, and methods needed to enable students to meet state and district standards by passing the Multiple Subjects Assessment for Teachers (MSAT). (4) Candidates will demonstrate knowledge and application of the following reading competencies: (a) Phonemic awareness (b) Phonics and decoding (c) Fluency (d) Vocabulary (e) Comprehension (f) Written expressions (g) Formal and informal assessment (h) Methods of teaching reading to English language learners (5) Candidates complete student teaching or internship with students age three through grade four. A practicum may substitute for student teaching if this is an additional authorization on an Initial or Continuing Teaching License. Stat. Auth.: ORS 342 584-017-0115 Knowledge, Skills and Abilities for Early Childhood Authorization (1) In addition to passing the required Commission-approved multiple subjects examination required for this authorization, candidates must complete the required practicum experience with students in one or more age groups or grades between age three and grade four. (2) Teachers who hold an Initial Teaching License with an elementary authorization may add the early childhood authorization level only upon enrollment in an early childhood authorization program approved by TSPC. [See, OAR 584-060-0051.] (3) In order to promote child development and learning, the candidate must: (a) Know and understand young children's characteristics and needs; (b) Know and understand the multiple influences on development and learning; and (c) Use developmental knowledge to create healthy, respectful, supportive and challenging learning environments. (4) In order to build family and community relationships, the candidate must: (a) Know about and understand family and community characteristics; (b) Support and empower families and communities through respectful, reciprocal relationships; and (c) Involve families and communities in their children's development and learning. (5) In order to document and assess the learning of young children, the candidate will: (a) Understand the goals, benefits and uses of assessment; (b) Know about and use observation, documentation, and other appropriate assessment tools and approaches to inform instruction; (c) Understand and practice appropriate assessment; (d) Develop partnerships with families and other professionals to assess children's strengths and needs; and (e) Understand and practice appropriate assessment for all children including culturally and linguistically diverse children as well as children with exceptionalities. (6) In order to demonstrate teaching and learning, the candidate will: (a) Connect with children and families to create positive learning environments; and (b) Use developmentally effective approaches: (A) Foster oral language and communication; (B) Draw from continuum of teaching strategies; (C) Make the most of the environment and routines; (D) Capitalize on incidental teaching; (E) Focus on children's characteristics, needs, and interests; (F) Link children's language and culture to the early childhood program; (G) Teach through social interactions; (H) Create support for play; (I) Address children's challenging behaviors; (J) Use integrative approaches to curriculum; and (c) Demonstrate an understanding of content knowledge in early education, the candidate will create a classroom environment that encompasses the following core content objectives: (A) In language and literacy, candidates will develop curriculum so that students will: (i) Explore their environments and develop the conceptual, experiential, and language foundations for learning to read and write; (ii) Develop their ability to converse at length and in depth on a topic in various settings (one-on-one with adults and peers, in small groups, etc.); (iii) Develop vocabulary that reflects their growing knowledge of the world around them; (iv) Use language, reading and writing to strengthen their own cultural identify as well as to participate in the shared identity of the school environment; (v) Associate reading and writing with pleasure and enjoyment as well as with skill development; (vi) Use a range of strategies to derive meaning from stories and texts; (vii) Use language, reading, and writing for various purposes; (viii) Use a variety of print and non-print resources; (ix) Develop basic concepts of print and understanding of sounds, letters, and letter sound relationships; and (B) In the Arts: music, creative movement, dance, drama, and art, candidates will develop curriculum so that students will: (i) Interact musically with others; (ii) Express and interpret understandings of their world through structured and informal musical play; (iii) Sing, play, and create music; (iv) Respond to expressive characteristics of music-rhythm, melody, form-through speaking, singing, moving, and playing simple instruments; (v) Use music to express emotions, conflicts, and needs; (vi) Move expressively to music of various tempos, meters, modes, genres, and cultures to express what they feel and hear; (vii) Understand and apply artistic media, techniques, and processes; (viii) Make connections between visual arts and other disciplines; and (C) In Mathematics, candidates will develop curriculum in alignment with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) curriculum student or K-12 grade, recognizing the quantitative dimensions of children's learning: (i) Mathematics as problem solving; (ii) Mathematics as communication; (iii) Mathematics as reasoning; (iv) Mathematical connections; (v) Estimation; (vi) Number sense and numeration; (vii) Concepts of whole number operations; (viii) Whole number computation; (ix) Geometry and spatial sense; (x) Measurement; (xi) Statistics and probability; (xii) Fractions and decimals; (xiii) Patterns and relationships; and (D) In physical activity and Physical Education, candidates will develop curriculum so that students will: (i) Have varied, repeated experiences with functional movement and manipulation; (ii) Demonstrate progress toward mature forms of selected physical skills; (iii) Try new movement activities and skills; (iv) Use feedback to improve performance; (v) Experience and express pleasure from participation in physical activity; (vi) Apply rules, procedures, and safe practices; (vii) Gain competence to provide increased enjoyment in movement; and (E) In Science, candidates will develop curriculum so that students will: (i) Explore materials, objects and events by acting upon them and noticing what happens; (ii) Make careful observations of objects, organisms, and events using all their senses; (iii) Describe, compare, sort, classify, and order in terms of observable characteristics; (iv) Use a variety of simple tools to extend their observations; (v) Engage in simple investigations including making predictions, gathering and interpreting data, recognizing simple patterns, and drawing conclusions; (vi) Record observations, explanations, and ideas through multiple forms of representation; (vii) Work collaboratively with others, share and discuss ideas, and listen to new perspectives; and (F) In Social Studies, candidates will develop curriculum so that students will: (i) Geography: (I) Make and use maps to locate themselves in space (II) Observe the physical characteristics of the places in which they live and identify landforms, bodies of water, climate, soils, natural vegetation and animal life of that place; and (ii) History: (I) Use the methods of the historian, identifying questions, locating and analyzing information, and reaching conclusions; (II) Record and discuss the changes that occur in their lives, recalling their immediate past; and (iii) Economics: (I) Develop awareness of the difference between wants and needs; (II) Develop interest in the economic system, understanding the contributions of those who produce goods and services; and (iii) Social relations/civics: (I) Become a participating member of the group, giving up some individuality for the greater good; (II) Recognizing similarities among people of many cultures; (III) Respecting others, including those who differ in gender, ethnicity, ability or ideas; (IV) Learn the principles of democracy, working cooperatively with others, sharing and voting as they solve problems; and (d) In order to build meaningful curriculum, the candidate will: (A) Know, understand, and use positive relationships and supportive interactions; (B) Know, understand, and use effective approaches, strategies, and tools for early education; (C) Know and understand the importance, central concepts, inquiry tools, curriculum integration, and structures of content areas or academic disciplines; and (D) Know and use differentiated instructional strategies to promote equitable learning opportunities and success for all students, regardless of native language, socioeconomic background, ethnicity, gender, disability or other individual characteristics. (7) In demonstrating professionalism, the candidate will: (a) Identify and involve oneself with the early childhood field; (b) Know about and uphold ethical standard and other professional guidelines (see National Association for the Education for Young Children (NAEYC) Code of Ethical Conduct); (c) Engage in continuous, collaborative learning to inform practice; (d) Integrate knowledgeable, reflective, and critical perspectives on early education; and (e) Engage in informed advocacy for children and the profession. (8) Valid for any teaching assignment, except specialization requiring endorsement under OAR 584-060-0071, at or below grade four in a school designated as a pre-primary school, primary school, or an elementary school. Stat. Auth.: ORS 342 Appendix B: OAR (Oregon Administrative Rules) related to initial licensure in early childhood education, by Oregon Department of Education - Teacher Standard and Practice Commission: 584-017-0180 Practica and Student Teaching The unit provides practica and student teaching in public and/or approved private school settings for purposes of instruction, assessment of competency, and integration of field work with academic study. (1) The unit sets criteria for admission and establishes performance standards for successful completion of practica. (2) The unit recommends for licensure those candidates who successfully complete program requirements and demonstrate professional competency. (3) Student teaching is at least 15 weeks in length. (a) At least nine weeks are full-time in schools, during which the student teacher assumes the full range of responsibilities of a classroom teacher for the purpose of developing and demonstrating the competencies required for initial licensure. (b) During the remaining six weeks, the six week requirement may be met either through full-time or the equivalent part-time experience. (c) The assignment of responsibilities may be incremental in keeping with the objectives of the experience. (4) The unit has policies on supervision of practicum students which state the responsibilities of institutional supervisors and practicum site supervisors or cooperating teachers and administrators, including the frequency of observations and conferences with the students. (5) The unit's supervisor(s) makes a minimum of six supportive/evaluative visits during the student teaching assignment. (6) At least twice during student teaching, the institution's supervisor(s) meets with the candidate and the school district supervisor(s) in joint conferences to discuss supervisors' evaluations and the student teacher's work samples. (7) The unit supervisor(s) and the cooperating teacher(s) jointly determine that the candidate has demonstrated in student teaching the skills and competencies specified for the authorization level. Stat. Auth.: ORS 342
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