Eastern Michigan University
M.A. in Early Childhood Education in the
Department of Teacher Education
Rejoinder to First Critique: Additional material has been added to what was originally submitted.
1. Mission Statement for Early Childhood Education
The Early Childhood Education (M.A.) program addresses the extensive knowledge of how to develop and implement age appropriate, culturally appropriate, and individually appropriate curriculum and teaching practices from birth through age eight.
ECE Conceptual Framework
The Master’s in Early Childhood Education (ECE) offers special preparation for working with young children ages birth through eight years of age. The degree is designed for those who hold teacher certification and have begun or are seeking careers as classroom teachers from preschool through third grade, child care program directors, or other positions related to the care and education of children ages birth through third grade. Michigan is one of five states without Early Childhood Education certification; the endorsement is added on to an elementary K-5 certificate. It is an appropriate degree for those who hold, as well as those who are seeking, an Early Childhood endorsement.
The format of the degree, with Foundation Courses, Concentration courses and Electives, is consistent with the other M.A. programs in the department. The elective courses are selected to complement the Foundation and Concentration area courses. Students can strengthen their understanding of curriculum content, such as science, reading, math, special education, or technology.
A recently revised and approved ECE master’s program (winter semester 2002) adds depth and breadth, and is believed to be more current and forward-looking than the past master’s program. The program contains 20 ECE credits instead of 16. (These credits fulfill the credit requirements for the State of Michigan ECE endorsement.) Two new courses, CURR/ECE 613 Curriculum Frameworks in Early Childhood and CURR/ECE 615 Social Relationships and Competence in Early Childhood Settings were developed for this revised program.
Each student’s program is worked out in consultation with an advisor, according to the needs, goals, and background of the individual student. A minimum of 30 graduate credits is required. The actual number of credits may be more than 30, depending on the student’s background and professional goals. The program includes 6 hours of Foundation Courses, 14 hours of ECE Concentration Courses, 6 hours of Restricted Electives focusing on the young child, and 4 credits of other electives.
Students enroll in the Advanced Level Program to acquire a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and/or pursue an Endorsement in Early Childhood Education. The Master’s Degree program is designed so that students who are also pursuing the Early Childhood Education Endorsement complete 20 credits of graduate course work which focus specifically on young children birth through age eight. The objectives of the courses meet the criteria established by the State of Michigan and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Each student must successfully complete courses which address the areas of child development and learning, curriculum development and implementation, family and community relationships, assessment and evaluation, professionalism and program leadership. Student outcomes and specific class activities and assignments are incorporated into the classes to ensure that each student meets the objectives. While the majority of the students enroll with the goal of acquiring a Master’s Degree, some students complete Endorsement requirements only.
All students who enter the program must hold valid Michigan Elementary Certification. Therefore, students enter the program with prior course work in human development and learning, social foundations, including family and community relationships, and practicum experiences. The graduate level program which leads to the Early Childhood Education Endorsement builds on those prior learnings. In addition, adhering to the philosophy that one constructs knowledge over time, some of the content is integrated into more than one course, affording the opportunity to revisit important concepts and build upon his/her learning. All courses in the Early Childhood Education sequence include at least one assignment which is field based, some examples are: observing in a child care program; conducting one-on-one assessment of a young child; doing an action research project in the classroom. In addition, any candidate seeking the Early Childhood Education Endorsement must present documented, verifiable evidence that they had 100 hours of recent, successful experience with children under the age of five in a licensed and NAEYC accredited child care program.
Eastern Michigan University’s advanced professional programs are organized around the theme: Inquiry, Advocacy, and Leadership in Education for a Diverse and Democratic Society. Specifically, the early childhood education (M.A.) program addresses the extended knowledge of, understanding of, and reflection on the following NCATE Standards adopted from the National Association for the Education of Young Children:
The dominant theories of human and socio-cultural development and learning in children from birth through age eight,
Including children with special developmental and learning needs in programs for children ages 0-8.
Understanding the child in the family and cultural context.
Theories and content of curriculum and instruction for children from birth through age eight, including alternative models and methodologies.
Development and implementation of age appropriate and individually appropriate curriculum and expectations for children from birth through age eight.
The role of research in determining current trends and issues in the field.
Alternative perspectives regarding central issues in the field of early childhood education.
Age appropriate assessment and performance based assessment in the early years.
Development and use of a variety of procedures for assessment of child development and learning, child care and early education environments, and early childhood curricula; and understanding of types, purpose and appropriateness of various assessment procedures
Dynamics, roles and relationships within families and communities, with sensitivity to differences in family structures and social and cultural backgrounds.
Professionalism in teaching, leadership, and advocacy and ethics.
2. Program Outcomes Including candidate knowledge and skills:
Early childhood education is a recognized profession with a body of core knowledge to be mastered and applied by its practitioners.
Content Knowledge – Student Outcomes:
Students will demonstrate a knowledge-base of theories of human and socio-cultural development and learning through the life span.
Students will demonstrate research information on social, emotional, cognitive, language, aesthetic, motor, and perceptual development in children from birth through age 8, including children with special needs.
Pedagogical Content Knowledge – Student Outcomes:
Students will demonstrate appropriate information about early childhood curriculum and instruction and alternative teaching models and methodologies.
Students will demonstrate that they can critically examine alternative perspectives regarding central issues in the field.
Students will demonstrate that they can critically evaluate programs for children from diverse cultural and language backgrounds, as well as children of different age and developmental levels.
Professional Dispositions:
Students will demonstrate patterns of behaviors that are considered to be related to effective teaching; those intentional behaviors, such as reflection, curiosity, creativity, affability, and responsiveness.
Students will demonstrate dispositions for learning and improving early childhood education practices related to teaching strategies, curriculum, and instructional processes.
Professional, Pedagogical Knowledge and Skills:
Students will demonstrate a variety of appropriate teaching practices with children and families of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
Students will demonstrate a repertoire of best assessment practices with children of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
Common Principles in Early Childhood Education
In addition to the above NAEYC standards our faculty hold in common the following deeply held beliefs and principles:
Developmentally appropriate practice means planning for and adapting our teaching to the "typical" child of the age we teach, as well as to the actual child we are teaching, taking into account the child's context, or family, culture, etc.
The process of and engagement with activities and experiences is more important than the resulting product.
Children need many concrete objects to manipulate over time before abstractions like letters, words, numerals, and numbers make sense to them. A child who counts on her fingers is using them as manipulatives!
Children are motoric beings - they are meant to move about most of the time.
Children need to be given many choices every day. Choices allow them to feel in control and help them learn to take responsibility. They also reduce behavior problems.
Children must practice problem solving and decision making themselves, rather than having adults always solve problems and make decisions for them.
Children can and should learn internal self-control, rather than always being externally controlled by adults.
Children think differently than adults. When they have "wrong" answers, those answers are "right" to them.
Curriculum should be based upon children's interests and prior knowledge. Our term for that is "emergent curriculum".
The early childhood years are birth through age eight. The Michigan Association of School Boards is now using the term "birth-12" rather than "K-12", implying the importance of the five years before a child enters school.
3. Assessment System
Students completing the M.A. in ECE are required to complete a professional portfolio which is presented during their capstone experience the seminar in ECE, CURR/ECE 693. This portfolio is an ongoing collection of their graduate work. They are introduced to the guidelines for their professional portfolio during their initial advising session upon admission to the M.A. program. Guideline sheets of what should be collected throughout their studies are presented at that time so students will begin documenting their growth as a result of their graduate studies. Students are to show, through actual documentation, the growth they have undergone as a professional. Some examples include research papers they have written on topics relevant to their teaching situation, documentation of teaching strategies they have implemented in their classrooms as a result of their graduate course work, and action research projects they have carried out using their student population. Other documentation includes a professional reading log, evidence of professional development opportunities in which they have participated, service to the profession or their community in which they have engaged, and evidence of instructional effectiveness.
The portfolio is to include evidence of course work taken and samples of work completed for each course that supports their growth as a professional in the field. Reflection on their personal philosophy and changes in their knowledge base is a critical component of the portfolio. Students are also required to write future professional goals and how they will achieve those goals. This portfolio is completed in the CURR/ECE 693 Seminar in ECE course and submitted to the professor for evaluation. A detailed evaluation is provided for each student.
4. Planned Improvements
Our program area is in the process of developing a survey for all of our graduates to complete within one year of graduating. This survey will allow us to stay in touch with recent graduates and track their success after graduation from our program.
In addition, rubrics continue to be developed for all assignments. Our recent revisions of the M.A. program incorporated many improvements which had been under consideration for a number of years. Our program is current with practices in the field in the terminology used and in the content of courses. We have continued to make use of the world wide web for communicating with students on relevant changes to the program and important information for them to know.
Currently the Michigan Department of Education Guidelines for the Early Childhood Endorsement stipulate that the applicant must hold K-5 certification and must have had one of their two required student teaching placements in a program serving children under the age of five. If Master’s level students enter the program with an Early Childhood Endorsement, there is no required additional field experience. However, if students enter without the endorsement, they are required to complete at least 100 hours of documented experience.
It is the student’s responsibility to locate a site at a preschool program and/or child care facility. The field experience must be in a regular program licensed by the State of Michigan; an NAEYC accredited center is preferred.
The student is to actively participate in all of the regular program activities, including planning large and small group activities, working with individual or small groups of children, and leading large group activities. The student is also to keep an ongoing log of the experiences with children. The log must contain (l) a record of the days and times of participation, (2) a listing and description of the activities in which the student participates, (3) at least two written plans for activities which were carried out, accompanied by self-evaluation.
It is expected that the student will exhibit appropriate professionalism during the time at the site. Only completed logs which include the signatures of the center personnel will be accepted. In addition, a substantial paper is expected that includes personal reflections on the field experience and a self evaluation of the overall experience.
Because of the size of our program, with currently over 300 graduate students actively enrolled in the system, it is not possible for faculty to personally supervise field placements for all students at the graduate level. It is important to remember though, that all but a handful of our students (those who are foreign nationals and plan on returning to their home country) hold Michigan K-5 teacher certification. Also, a large number of our graduate students earned the Early Childhood Endorsement at the undergraduate level, so have already had a supervised field experience in a preschool setting. We do assist students with securing a placement and carefully monitor documentation of their activities. They are required to keep a log during their field placement and submit the log along with a paper upon completion of their minimum of their 50 hour placement. The log is to include: a record of the days and times of participation, a listing and brief description of the activities in which the student participated, at least two written plans for activities, and a self evaluation, which were carried out in the classroom, and personal reflections on the field experience.
Field Experiences
In the Master’s Program in Early Childhood at EMU field experiences are tightly connected to course work and are assessed through written assignments. They are designed to give students opportunities to apply recently acquired knowledge to the real world of children, families, and early childhood classrooms and programs. In the following three required courses, students must complete work in the field.
CURR/ECE 602: Preschool Education (Implementing Appropriate Early Childhood Programs)
Students are required to complete an extensive observation in an NAEYC accredited preschool program. There are specific program components each student must observe and describe. Critical reflection of the program using the NAEYC accreditation criteria is to be included.
CURR/ECE 610: Teacher-Parent Partnerships in Early Education (Family, School, and Community Partnerships in Early Childhood Education)
In this course, students focus on involving all families in the education of their children, while enhancing students' cultural competence through a number of different assignments. They may choose from two options, either interview parents, or attend and critique two parent meetings. The interview assignment requires that students interview two parents, including one who is different from themselves. They write up the interview and reflect on their reactions to the parents' views and their own success as interviewers. The second option requires that students attend two parent meetings in a school or program other than their own. In writing they evaluate the meeting according to several dimensions developed in class.
CURR/ECE 641: Developmental Assessment of the Young Child: Theory and Practice
Students spend at least five hours in the field in settings of their choice doing two assignments. The first is to implement a student-made assessment with a child or children between three and eight years of age who is culturally different from themselves. The second is to complete an observation report assignment using a variety of techniques to document children's development and learning.
6. How the Program Incorporates Diversity
Diversity is addressed in many ways in the Early Childhood Master’s Program at Eastern Michigan University. It is a strong theme in many of our courses and a major component of three courses, a Social Foundations requirement and two required Early Childhood courses.
Early childhood students are required to take one of two Social Foundations courses: SOFD 550, Philosophy, Ethics, and Teaching or SOFD 580, Sociology of Education. SOFD 550 Philosophy, Ethics, and Teaching focuses on awareness of the ethical dimensions of teaching. As part of this course, students identify and evaluate different conceptions of justice, truth, rights, and caring that inform public discourse on educational issues. They investigate the full significance of diversity in a democratic society and how that bears on instruction, school leadership and governance. They also apply disciplinary knowledge from philosophy of education and ethics of schooling in diverse cultural contexts.
SOFD 580 Sociology of Education introduces various sociological perspectives to analyze the relation of schooling to the social construction of race, class, gender, and sexuality in a socially stratified society. Special attention is placed on teachers’ responsibilities and skills as classroom practitioners, child advocates and community leaders in a culturally diverse democratic society.
The first of the two early childhood courses that focus on diversity is CURR/ECE 610, Family, School, and Community Partnerships. This course focuses teachers’ abilities to involve all families in the education of their children. One of the goals of the course is to increase the cultural competence of students by increasing their knowledge of other cultures, as well as by challenging them to confront their own identity and recognize their biases about families different from their own. Students investigate families from different cultures including Arab-American, Asian American, African American, Native American, Hispanic, Gay and Lesbian families, as well as families of divorce, homeless families, and families with children with special needs. Later in the course, as methods of involving parents are studied, students evaluate each method from the perspectives of these diverse families.
The second required course that strongly addresses diversity is CURR/ECE 641, Assessment of Young Children. In this course, students are required to adapt the teacher-made test that they developed and implemented in partial fulfillment of course requirements. The adaptations that they make must accommodate an aspect of diversity (e.g., grade level, diverse abilities, learning styles, poverty, limited English skills, race/culture, etc.). The purpose of this aspect of the assignment is to have students capitalize on children’s strengths to remediate weaknesses or challenges. This section of their assignment is organized in the following way. First students identify an aspect of diversity and describe its effect on children’s learning with citations from the relevant literature. Next they write a teacher-made test, making adaptations if necessary based on the child’s individual characteristics. After they assess a child with their teacher-made test, they identify strengths and areas of difficulty based on data gathered from test administration and informal observations during test administration. Finally students identify specific strategies that will accommodate the child’s weaknesses—using the child’s strengths to build on weaknesses and challenges.
Students must select either CURR/ECE 601 or EDPS/ECE 617 both of which address vulnerable children in crisis and in poverty. CURR/ECE 601 focuses on providing teachers with the resources and knowledge they will need to assist children facing crisis situations in their every day lives. EDPS/ECE 617 focuses on cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity emphasizing on special needs children. A strong critique of deficit constructs under-girds the entire course which has a public policy and advocacy focus. One of these two classes is required, but many students choose to take the other course as well in their Early Childhood concentration area.
CURR/ECE 602 Implementing Appropriate Early Childhood Programs has as one of its required assignments, the completing of a teaching plan which accommodates for diverse learning styles. Students are to indicate how they have adapted the learning environment to meet the needs of children culturally, physically, mentally, ethnically, and linguistically.
How Program Deviates from Standards
At Eastern Michigan University, all students must hold elementary teacher certification prior to being admitted to the M.A. program in Early Childhood Education (ECE). Michigan is one of only five states that does not have certification in Early Childhood Education. The state awards endorsements in over 75 subject areas. Teachers receive elementary certification (Kindergarten-fifth grade in all subjects). The state requires students to take a major and a minor or three minors to along with the elementary certification requirements. Subject matter majors and minors allow the student to teach up through 8th grade. Students who successfully complete the ECE minor at the undergraduate level demonstrate they have extensive knowledge about and additional experience working with children from birth through age eight. These students earn the ECE endorsement which is added on to their elementary certification. Since students are certified Kindergarten through 5th grade, they have completed course work and field experiences that cover one-half of the traditional ECE years.
The Master’s degree in ECE is one of five graduate programs in the Department of Teacher Education. There are three foundation courses all students in the department are required to take. Those classes are EDPS/ECE 600 Human Development, EDPS/ECE 677 Research Techniques or EDPS/ECE 687 Qualitative Research, and SOFD 550 Philosophy of Education or SOFD 580 Sociology of Education. We neglected to include the course outlines for those courses. They are included in the rejoinder and the courses are now included in the matrix.
Where Program is located in College
The M.A. program in ECE is one of six Master’s degrees available in the Department of Teacher Education. Teacher Education is one of four departments in the College of Education which is one of five Colleges in the University. The College of Education at EMU is listed as being the largest producer of school personnel in the nation. (AACTE, 2002).
There are seven full-time faculty in the ECE program area. All but one hold the terminal degree in the field. The Department of Teacher Education has six required credits that all students earning a M.A. degree in the department must take. They are: EDPS/ECE 600 Human Growth and Development, either EDPS/ECE 677 Research Techniques or EDPS/ECE 687 Qualitative/Interpretive Research, and either SOFD 550 Philosophy, Ethics, & Teaching or SOFD 580 Sociology of Education. Remaining courses focus on the characteristics and education of young children (20 hours) and electives (6 hours).
All courses in the Department of Teacher Education use a prefix that delineates their origin. ECE has not had its own prefix at the graduate level. One has been approved, and is in the process of being implemented. That is why some of the course outlines have the new ECE prefix listed, and some do not as of yet. It will officially be used by the university starting summer term 2003 which begins in June. Currently, graduate courses in the Early Childhood Master's program have either the CURR (Curriculum) or EDPS (Educational Psychology) prefix. Most of our catalog copy does not reflect the change to an ECE prefix because the change has not yet been implemented. Course will be listed with the ECE prefix in the upcoming 2003-2005 Catalog. We regret any confusion caused by the use of multiple prefixes, but are pleased that Early Childhood courses will soon be easily identifiable through a unique designation. As of now, graduate courses students in the ECE M.A. program would take would have either the ECE (Curriculum) or EDPS (Educational Psychology) prefix. Our program revisions for our revised M.A. in ECE program were recently approved by the Provost so we submitted our old course numbers and titles since the catalog copy does not reflect the changes approved by the university.
List of Faculty in the Early Childhood Program Area
| Martha Baiyee | Assistant Professor – Tenure Track | CURR/ECE 641, CURR/ECE 602 |
| Betty Barber | Associate Professor – Tenured | CURR/ECE 601, EDPS/ECE 617 |
| Margo Dichtelmiller | Assistant Professor – Tenure Track | CURR/ECE 602, CURR/ECE 610, CURR/ECE 613 |
| Sue Grossman | Associate Professor – Tenured | CURR/ECE 615, CURR/ECE 618 |
| Karen Paciorek | Professor – Tenured | CURR/ECE 600, CURR/ECE 602, CURR/ECE 613, CURR/ECE 693 |
| Valerie Polakow | Professor – Tenured | EDPS/ECE 611, EDPS/ECE 617, EDPS/ECE 687, CURR/ECE 693 |
| Judy Williston | Professor – Tenured | CURR/ECE 603, CURR/ECE 604, CURR/ECE 693 |
Number of Graduates from the Program over the past Three Years
120 M.A. in ECE students. Approx. 40 students per year. We offer 3 sections of the CURR/ECE 693 Seminar in ECE course each year and cap enrollment at 15 students.
Criteria Used at admission to Post-baccalaureate Program
A candidate for admission to the graduate program must meet all of the following criteria for successful admission to the M.A. program in ECE. Have Elementary K-5 Teacher Certification, a minimum of a 2.5 GPA at the undergraduate level, two letters of recommendation, a written candidate statement of purpose, take the Graduate Record Exam, and faculty review of graduate application.
Response to other comments
Syllabi for EDPS/ECE 600 Human Development, EDPS/ECE 677 Research Techniques, EDPS/ECE 687 Qualitative Research, SOFD 550 Philosophy, Ethics, & Teaching, and SOFD 580 Sociology of Education are now included.
Our college, the largest producer of school personal in the nation, has historically offered two credit classes for our graduate students. Our student population is comprised of full-time working teachers who are taking graduate classes in the evenings or during the day in the summer. They often drive a long distance to come to campus and like to take two graduate classes back to back. Our graduate courses provide substantial in–depth coverage of all critical content. Our students take 10 courses specifically dealing with the needs and characteristics of young children for their M.A. in ECE.
J. Williston ECE
KM Paciorek ECE
Graduate Program Coordinator Revised: 3/04/03