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Early Childcare Education and Programming

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This is an archived copy of the 2024-2025 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://catalog.iastate.edu.

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Curriculum in Early Childcare Education and Programming

The Early Childcare Education and Programming (ECP) curriculum is designed to prepare graduates to work in a variety of early care and education programs that serve families that are mobile. Families who are mobile include military families, immigrant families, families who must travel to make a living, homeless families, and families living in poverty. Some of the programs are childcare centers and homes, infant/toddler and preschool programs, Head Start programs, and before and after-school programs for children ages birth to eight. This degree does not lead to teacher licensure. Students interested in a license to teach in public schools can refer to the Early Childhood Education - Unified (ECE) program. The ECP curriculum is designed to provide content for the final two years of a student's program; the content is focused specifically on topics directly relevant to the major. This is an online program offered through a collaboration of universities called Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (or GPIDEA). The program within GPIDEA is known as Early Care and Education for a Mobile Society. For more information see https://www.gpidea.org/program/early-care-and-education-in-a-mobile-society

Students will complete a total of 120 credits for the major, 51 of which are specific to the ECP curriculum. These 51 credit hours are comprised of 12 core courses and 3 practica; the final practicum will be a 6-credit capstone experience. Students must complete 30 credits of college work, a lifespan development course, and have a 2.5 GPA to be admitted to ECP. If students prefer to be admitted to ISU before being admitted to the ECP major, they can enroll as Pre ECP (PECP) students until they are eligible for the ECP major. For more information about the program at Iowa State, see https://online.hs.iastate.edu/early-childcare-programming.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the ECEMS bachelor's degree program, students will be able to:

  • Use their understanding of young children's characteristics and needs, and of multiple interacting influences on children's development and learning, to create environments that are healthy, respectful, supportive, and challenging for each child.
  • Understand how successful early childhood education depends upon partnerships with children’s families and communities and value the importance and complex characteristics of children’s families and communities.
  • Use child observation, documentation, and other forms of assessment, in partnership with families and other professionals, to positively influence the development of every child.
  • Use their knowledge of academic disciplines to design, implement, and evaluate experiences that promote positive development and learning for every young child.
  • Identify and conduct themselves as a member of the early childhood profession, using ethical guidelines and other professional standards related to early childhood practice.
  • Demonstrate, through sequential practicum experiences and clinical practice, the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions necessary to promote the development and learning of young children across the entire developmental period of early childhood.