Early Childhood Education (A.A.)

Faculty

Faculty in the School of Education support Trinity’s early childhood education Associate of Arts program which is offered on Main Campus as well as at THEARC.

Overview

In conjunction with the School of Education, the School of Professional Studies offers an A.A. in Early Childhood Education.

This education degree prepares candidates to meet eligibility requirements as teaching assistants in early childhood education (ages 3-8) programs in the District of Columbia. Graduates of this program can, if they so choose, glide seamlessly into Trinity’s Bachelor of Arts in early childhood education degree program.

Trinity’s education programs are state approved and nationally recognized by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (N.A.E.Y.C.), by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (N.C.A.T.E.), and the Council for Professional Recognition as a Gold Standard. Course syllabi and classroom activities reflect the standards of the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (I.N.T.A.S.C.).

Program Requirements

Students in the A.A. in Early Childhood Education are required to take the A.A. core curriculum covering courses in the areas of writing, communication, numeracy, information literacy, arts & humanities, social sciences, scientific understanding, and ethics, followed by early childhood education degree major course requirements:

THEARC	MAIN CAMPUS
*Core Curriculum Requirements*
ENGL 106 Writing for Academic & Profess. Success	ENGL 107 College Composition
COM 101 Introduction to Comm. & Public Speaking	COM 225 Intercultural Communication
COM 224 Cross-Cultural Communication	COM 290 Public Speaking
MATH 111 Applied Mathematical Skills	MATH 109 Foundations of Mathematics
INT 117 Introduction to Information Literacy	INT 109 Information Literacy
HIS 134 American Civilization	HIS 130 Introduction to American Civilizations
PSYC 100 Fundamentals of Psychology	PSYC 101 Introductory Psychology
SOCY 101 Social Issues	SOCY 100 Introduction to Sociology
ENVS 102 Science of the Environment	BIOL 101 Introduction to Biology OR ENVS 101 Discovering Planet Earth
PHIL 252 Practical Ethics	PHIL 245 Ethics I
PHIL 101 Logic and Problem Solving	PHIL 103 Reasoning and Argumentation
*Co-Requisite Courses*
MATH 113 Mathematics for Early Childhood Educators	MATH 115 Mathematics for Educators
*Major Courses*
EDCC 219 Fundamentals of Education	EDCC 220 Foundations of Education
EDCC 204 Child, Family, Culture and Community	EDCC 205 Children, Families, Culture and the Community in Early Childhood
EDCC 206 Developing Learning Experiences in Early Childhood	EDCC 207 Development of Learning Experiences in Early Childhood Education
EDCC 210 Developing Oral Language and Literacy in Early Childhood	EDCC 211 Development of Early Childhood Oral Language and Literacy Skills
EDCC 212 Observing, Describing, and Measuring Growth in Early Childhood	EDCC 213 Observation, Description and Measurement of Growth in Early Childhood
EDCC 214 Theories in Human Development	EDCC 215 Human Growth & Devlopment
*Last Semester – Must Complete All Major Courses Before These*
EDTE 289 ECE Practicum & Seminar	EDTE 290 Practicum and Seminar in Early Childhood Learning
EDCC 291 Core Content for Teachers	EDCC 292 Early Childhood Education Capstone Seminar

(Courses designated “EDCC” are education core and common courses across various programs in the School of Education. Courses designated “EDTE” are largely specific to teacher education programs).

Students must meet these requirements as part of their program:

A minimum grade of “C” (2.0) or better in all EDCC and EDTE courses.
Overall GPA of at least 2.0.

The Associate’s of Arts in Early Childhood Education is designed to transfer seamlessly into a Bachelor’s of Arts in Early Childhood Education. In order to apply A.A. coursework credit towards the B.A., students must earn a “B” or better.

Field-Based Instruction

Teacher preparation at Trinity emphasizes field-based instruction that includes a series of mandated integrated field experiences and practicum experiences at different grade/age levels in a variety of school settings.

School districts, individual schools, and other service providers vary in their requirements for entering their site and observing students. Most schools and service providers require a Tuberculosis test (TB), fingerprinting, and a criminal background check prior to activities that bring the university candidate into working contact with clients/students.

Prior to observing or working with individuals or groups as required by courses (course assignments, field experience, practicum), a Trinity candidate must have communicated with the site, prior to their arrival, to ensure the candidate will have met any specific site prerequisites .

A sample course requiring field experience:

AA Main Campus

EDCC 220- Foundations of Education

Requires each candidate to meet at a predetermined early childhood center/school for classroom observations and a teacher interview. Students should plan to spend approximately 10 hours in the field.

Program Policies

Fingerprinting and Nationwide Criminal Background Check: School districts, individual schools, and other service providers vary in their requirements for entering their site and observing students. Most schools and service providers require a Tuberculosis test (TB), fingerprinting, and a criminal background check prior to activities that bring the university candidate into working contact with clients/students. Additionally, in order to be licensed, professionals in the field of teaching must undergo fingerprinting and a nationwide criminal background within a year of application for licensure.

Advanced Placement: Credits earned through Advanced Placement Examinations may fulfill core curriculum course requirements in cases where the student has earned a 4 or 5 on the examination and the credits have been reviewed by education faculty members.

CLEP Policy: Credits earned through C.L.E.P. Examinations may fulfill core curriculum course requirements in cases where the student has earned a score that confers credit following the guidelines of the A.C.E. and the credits have been reviewed by education faculty members.

Attendance Policy: In all 300- and 400-level EDCC/EDTE courses, two late arrivals or early departures of 20 minutes or more constitute a single class absence, and any student with class absences or the equivalent that total more than 2 weeks’ worth of class meetings automatically fail the course. Faculty teaching EDCC/EDTE courses at the 200-level may adopt this policy in their syllabi as well, and faculty teaching EDCC/EDTE courses at any level may adopt a stricter policy in their syllabi.

Grades in Education Courses: Undergraduate students are required to earn a minimum grade of “C” (2.0) or better in all EDCC and EDTE courses.

Pass/No Pass: EDCC and EDTE courses may not be taken Pass/No Pass.

Student Assessment: Assessments of student proficiencies required of students in the program are further described on the School of Education page concerning the Student Assessment System.

Study Abroad: Courses taken through a study abroad program approved by Trinity may count toward general core curriculum course requirements, pending review and approval by education faculty and the faculty of the appropriate academic program. In general, education courses taken abroad will not count toward the degree.

Experiential Credit Policy: Credits earned through experience may count toward core curriculum course requirements, pending review and approval by education faculty and the faculty of the appropriate academic program. In general, experiential credits may not substitute for education courses counted toward the degree.