Content Knowledge for Teacher Candidates
(Initial and Continuing Preparation of Teachers)

PROGRAM FOLIO: UNDERGRADUATE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

NCATE PROGRAM REVIEW

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION – INITIAL

Fall, 2000

The Early Childhood Teacher Education Program at the B.A. level Gallaudet University is designed for the deaf or hard-of-hearing individual who is preparing to teach young children, birth through eight years of age. Candidates complete this program with the intent of receiving certification in Early Childhood Education from the District of Columbia Public Schools and the states which have signed a reciprocity agreement with the District. Faculty from the undergraduate (Early childhood, Elementary, and Secondary), graduate (Family-Centered Early Education, Elementary, Multiple Disabilities), and school based programs (Child Development Center, Kendall Preschool, and Kendall Primary) serve on the Undergraduate Early Childhood Education Task Force for the purpose of program development and review.

The Early Childhood Teacher Education Program is housed within the School of Education and Human Services at Gallaudet University, in the Department of Education. Electives for this Program can be taken from offerings in the Departments of Physical Education, Theatre Arts, and Family and Consumer Studies. The Program is one of three options (early childhood, elementary, and secondary) for a B.A. in regular education. Candidates in this program, all of whom are deaf or hard-of-hearing, typically continue on for a graduate degree in Deaf Education, often, at Gallaudet, in Family-Centered Early Education.

The knowledge base for the Early Childhood Education Program consists of three key components: a) the various disciplines (via General Studies courses); b) child development (via General, Pre-professional and Professional Studies courses); and

c) developmentally and culturally appropriate practice in early childhood education (via Pre-Professional and Professional Studies courses).

The philosophy of the Program is based on a set of core beliefs developed by the Early Childhood Education Task Force. These core beliefs are:

1. Learning begins at birth, is life-long, and is supported by inquiry at all ages;
2. Learning takes place in both social and cultural contexts;
3. Learning is best achieved in safe, caring, and collaborative environments that attend to the cognitive, affective, and moral development of children;
4. Teaching is rooted in observing, understanding, and learning from and with children, their families and communities;
5. Schooling must emphasize active, meaningful learning experiences integrated across traditional subject matter divisions;
6. All learners are entitled to teachers who hold and support high expectations;
7. Learning to teach requires many opportunities to integrate theory with practice through a variety of clinical experiences.

The goals of the Program are to graduate teacher candidates who have:

1. a clear understanding of the importance of and a deep commitment to high quality education for all young children;
2. a strong background in child development as well as an understanding of cultural and individual variations in children and families; (
3. an understanding of the critical role of language in learning;
4. the ability to develop and use developmentally and culturally appropriate curriculum and pedagogy;
5. a commitment to work in partnership with families, colleagues, and communities to maximize children’s education;
6. the ability to apply a variety of teaching strategies to fit multiple situations, and to reflect on the value of these strategies;
7. the desire to be a leader in early childhood education.

The Conceptual Framework for the Unit relates in several ways to the Early Childhood Program. First, the program is aimed at preparing early childhood educators who first and foremost attend carefully to the children with whom they work. The program emphasizes learning from and with young children through careful and systematic observation and interaction so as to note the uniqueness of each child, along with the developmental and cultural characteristics of the child. The ability to learn from children depends on two other characteristics: a strong knowledge base and a propensity for reflection. All of our professional courses integrate knowledge base/theoretical learnings with assignments which ask the candidates to test out and construct their understandings through reflective interactions with children, families, and educational settings.

Secondly, our program prepares candidates to be leaders and advocates in the field of early childhood education in general, and deaf education in particular. This leadership in the field rests upon the personal characteristics we seek in admitting candidates into the program, and nurture throughout the program. These characteristics include a passion for teaching and learning, an ethical commitment to doing what’s best for young children, a tolerance for the complexity and ambiguity of teaching, and the integrity to continue to strive to reach the goals they’ve set for themselves and their students. The goal of leadership for the candidates of Gallaudet’s Early Childhood Teacher Education Program is particularly noteworthy given several historical factors including: a) the history within deaf education of excluding deaf individuals from the teaching of young children; b) an emphasis in the education of deaf individuals on deficits and remediation; c) an emphasis on skill-oriented education; d) the rapid increase in the identification of young children as deaf (increasingly at birth). Students prepared in Gallaudet’s Early Childhood Program, with its emphasis on culturally and developmentally appropriate education, will fill a growing need for early childhood educators of young children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.

Advocacy, leadership, and activism are coupled with the goal of collaboration with all of the many adults who impact young children including families, communities, and all education personnel who can support a high quality education for children. Each of the courses in the program emphasize partnership with these significant adults. This emphasis is particularly important for future deaf educators who will be teaching children many of whom will have hearing parents and be unfamiliar with the culture of Deaf communities. Early childhood educators in deaf education must be prepared to act as a bridge between the different worlds of the children they teach.

The course of study for the Early Childhood Teacher Education Program consists of three components: General Studies, Foundational Courses, Professional/Pedagogical Courses, and Clinical Experiences (including field experiences, practicum, and student teaching).

All students who wish to major in education must apply for admission to teacher education. Applicants should be able to meet the following criteria:

1. At least sophomore standing.
2. Submission of a minimum of three recommendations by current and
former professors.
3. A 2.75 or higher cumulative grade point average.
4. An interview with the Undergraduate Teacher Education Admissions
Committee.

In General Studies, majors in Early Childhood Education are required to complete 12 credit hours in English, 8 hours in a Foreign Language, 3 hours in a Communication Processes courses, 3 hours in a Quantitative Reasoning course, 2 hours of Physical Education, 6 hours in a course selected from several which relate to Heritage and Self-Awareness, 9 hours of Historical and Social Analysis, 9 hours of Humanities, 8 hours of Scientific Inquiry, chosen from several options, and 6 hours of courses related to Diversity.

In Foundations courses (Pre-Professional), candidates complete required courses in Introduction to Education, Educational Psychology, Child Development, Child Psychology, Early Childhood Curricular Foundations, Early Childhood Environments, and a course in college-level Mathematics.

Candidates complete required Pedagogical courses (Professional courses) in Emergent Literacy, Home-School-Community Partnerships, Children’s Literature, Methods of Elementary Reading, Methods of Elementary Mathematics, Integrated Methods: Preprimary, Integrated Methods: Primary, and Introduction to Exceptional Children.

Candidates also complete three electives, one from each of three areas: 1) methods of teaching physical education, (2) methods of teaching arts; and (3) child growth and development.

Required major and related courses:
Preprofessional Component: 12 hours
EDU 250 Introduction to Education (3)
EDU 330 Early Childhood Environments (3)
PSY 311 Development I: Child Psychology (3)
EDF 323 Educational Psychology (3)

Professional Component: 39 hours
EDU 420 Curricular Foundations of Early Childhood Education (3)
EDU 421 Emergent Literacy (3)

EDU 424 Integrated Methods: Preprimary (3)
EDU 426 Integrated Methods: Primary (3)

EDU 431 Methods of Teaching Elementary Reading (3)

EDU 436 Methods of Teaching Elementary Mathematics (3)
EDU 428 Student Teaching in Early Childhood Education (6)
EDU 470 Introduction to Education of the Exceptional Child (3)
EDU 493 Student Aiding Experience and Seminar (3)
EDU 494 Senior Seminar: Student Teaching (3)

EDU 609 Home-School-Community Partnership (3)
EDU 610 Children’s Literature (3)

Elective/Related courses (9 hours)
Choose one 3 hour course from each of the following areas:

FCS 320 Caring for Young Children (3)

FCS 330 Child, Family, and Community (3)

FCS 325 Food Activities for Children (3)

FCS 361 Creative Activities for Children (3)

THE 470 Creative Movement and Drama: Preschool to Kindergarten (3)

THE 472 Educational Drama (3)

PED 417 Methods of Adaptive PE (3)

PED 386 Physical Education in the Elementary School (3)

For Clinical Experiences, candidates initially complete five separate field experience of 20 to 40 clock hours each that are a component of five of their foundation and pedagogical courses. All but one of these field experiences will be at the preprimary (birth through age 5) level, and will be in classrooms with deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students on campus. The nature of these initial field experiences will vary from observation, to interaction with individual children, to small group and whole group instruction, and interactions with family and community organizations. These early field experiences are intended to make university coursework meaningful and relevant through theory-to-practice analysis and debriefing during class time. Candidates also carry out two Practicum (Student Aiding) experiences in which they work for six mornings or three full days each in two different placements, one at the preprimary, the other at the primary level. Candidates are observed by a faculty supervisor once a week during the Aiding experience, who then meets with the candidate to discuss the experience. Supervising teachers at the site also provide written evaluation of the candidate. Finally, candidates complete a 10-week full-time Student Teaching in a public or private elementary classroom with hearing students, accompanied by an interpreter. During student teaching students discuss their professional development with university supervisors (bi-weekly), as well as with supervising teachers, both of whom also provide written evaluation.

Partnerships with schools which support the Early Childhood Teacher Education Program include collaborative with the following:

• Sidwell Friends Lower School:

• Student Aiding and Student Teaching Placements
• Sidwell teachers have taught pedagogical courses
• Collaborative work in grant-writing to support the hiring of a Gallaudet Early Childhood graduate to teach at Sidwell with a full-time interpreter

• Research with Sidwell teachers and staff on the impact of deaf teachers and student teachers on young children’s understanding of deaf culture and sign language

• Kendall Preschool of Clerc Center and Gallaudet Child Development Center:

• Field experience, Student Aiding, and Student Teaching Placements
• On-site teaching of Methods and Environments courses
• Kendall Preschool Director teaching and co-teaching courses
• Staff, faculty, and administrator are members of Program Task Force
• Dept. of Ed Faculty involvement in Standards and Benchmarks Steering Committee of Clerc Center and Advisory Board for Child Development Center

In addition, partnerships have been formed with at least two other schools for the purpose of placement of intern teachers on a regular basis: St. Mary of the Mills School (Laurel, MD), and Greenwood Nursery School. In return for these placement opportunities, faculty from the university conduct workshops or courses for teachers at the school sites.

Since the last accreditation visit the following changes have occurred in the program:

1. Gallaudet’s Early Childhood Teacher Education Program, formerly designed to prepare candidates to work with children birth through age 5, now prepares candidates to work with children birth through age eight;
2. Field experiences have been added to five of the pedagogical/professional education courses as follows:

EDU 330 ECE Environments 40 hours

EDU 410 Home-School-Community Partnerships 20 hours

EDU 411 Emerging Literacy 30 hours

EDU 424 Integrated Methods:Preprimary 30 hours

EDU 426 Integrated Methods: Primary 30 hours

TOTAL 150 hours

All of these experiences, with the exception of those attached to the Primary Integrated Methods courses, are at the preprimary (birth through age five) level. Student teaching, then, is typically at the Primary (ages sixthrough eight) level.

3. Electives have been reduced from 18 SH (6 courses) to 9 SH (3 courses), and the

options for these electives have been focused into three areas: methods for teaching physical education, methods for teaching arts, and child growth and development;

4. Five new courses have been added:

• EDU 330 Early Childhood Environments (3)
• EDU 609 Home, School, Community Partnerships (3)
• EDU 424 Integrated Methods Early Childhood Education: Preprimary (3)
• EDU 426 Integrated Methods for Early Childhood Education: Primary (3)

e) Two courses from the Elementary Education Program have been added:

• EDU 431 Methods of Teaching Elementary Reading (3)
• EDU 436 Methods of Teaching Elementary Mathematics (3)

f) Two courses have been revised:

• EDU 420 Curricular Foundations of Early Childhood Education (3)

• EDU 411 Emerging Literacy (3) (formerly Methods of Early Childhood Reading)

g) Four courses have been dropped:

• EDU 336 Instructional Development (3)
• EDU 423 Language Arts in Early Childhood Education (3)
• EDU 425 Math, Science and Social Studies in Early Childhood Education (3)
• EDU 427 Special Areas in Early Childhood Education (3)

h) One additional general studies course has been added:

MAT 101 Introductory Mathematical Applications (3)

Program effectiveness is determined through several means: (1) each course is evaluated at the end of each semester by students using a standard course-evaluation form, and the results of the evaluation are used not only to evaluate the faculty member in peer evaluation, but also for the purposes of revising courses for future offerings of that course; (2) peer evaluation of faculty, in which faculty provide feedback to each other about pedagogy in the university classroom; (3) feedback from Task Force members about their observations and experiences with candidates during field experiences; (4) annual surveys of graduates of the program, with the data being used to gauge the effectiveness of the program components.

The Program correlates with INTASC Standards in the following ways:

1. Subject Matter Understanding: Through the General Studies requirements and the courses in pedagogy, candidates have a firm grounding in the various subjects of early childhood education and the tools of inquiry that go with them. In the General Studies area, courses in the Humanities, Science, Mathematics, Social Sciences, English, and Literature all combine to give the candidate needed background.
2. Understanding How Children Learn: Through the required courses in Child Development, Child Psychology, and an elective in Child Growth and Development, candidates learn about developmental milestones and their implications for the classroom. In the required courses, Educational Psychology and Early Childhood Environments, candidates master the pedagogy involved in early childhood teaching, aside from the particulars of the various subject matters of the curriculum.
3. Adaptation to Diversity: Through the above-mentioned courses in Development, and in the course, in Educational Psychology, candidates learn about the variety of learning approaches taken by diverse students. The required course on Home-School-Community Partnerships further addresses the diversity of learners based in their socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds, cultures, and contexts. In addition, candidates are required to take the course Introduction to Exceptional Children, which prepares them for adapting instruction to one particular aspect of diversity—exceptionality. Finally, all of the professional courses in the Early Childhood Program are based in a commitment to developing educational experiences that are developmentally and culturally appropriate for the child.
4. Variety of Instructional Strategies: Courses in Curricular Foundations of Early Childhood Education, and the five methods courses all provide a working knowledge of ways to encourage inquiry and critical thinking in young children through a variety of different environmental and pedagogical strategies.
5. Encouraging Positive Social Interaction: Ideas related to motivation and self-concept are the subject of study in the Educational Psychology course. The Early Childhood Environments course focuses particularly on creating classroom environments that support individual and group responsibility and caring. During the various practicum experiences, and especially in Student Teaching, candidates have many opportunities to create positive learning environments and learn from their experiences through feedback from the Cooperating Teacher and the University Supervisor.
6. Use of Media for Active Inquiry: In the Early Childhood Environments course candidates learn to assess the value and role of media and technology in a high quality learning environment for young children. In Curricular Foundations of Early Childhood Education, Emerging Literacy, and Home-School-Community Partnerships courses candidates learn strategies for using media as a tool to enhance and support the literacy development of their students, as well as their own professional development.
7. Planning for Instruction: Through experiences in the required Curriculum course, as well as in several of the methods courses, candidates plan a variety of lesson plans, projects, and thematic units which are grounded in their knowledge of children, cultures and subject matters. In addition, candidates make use of community resources, together with subject matters, when they plan and conduct environments and instruction in Student Teaching.
8. Assessment Strategies: Since high quality assessment is an integral part of instruction, candidates learn about both simultaneously in the required Curriculum course, as well as in several of the methods courses. There they plan a variety of lesson plans, projects, and thematic units which include systematic and authentic means for assessing the growth and development of children. In addition, candidates will gain an in-depth understanding of assessment strategies for young children through Child Study during several of their methods courses, as well as during Student Teaching.
9. Reflective Practitioner: Candidates are required to maintain a daily reflective journal during both their Student Aiding and Student Teaching experiences. These journal entries stress reflection on the decision making and philosophical commitments underlying these decisions. Students also engage in reflective practice through their work on a Portfolio, which is begun early in the program, continues throughout, and culminates in Student Teaching.
10. Relationships with Others: The Program is based on a core belief that collaborative work with the other adults involved with young children is critical for good early childhood education. Candidates are expected to create and maintain relationships with other candidates for cooperative work in the university classroom and, where appropriate, during the clinical experiences. This expectation is supported through the cohort nature of the program, in which students repeatedly take classes with the same group of students. The Home-School-Community Partnerships course supports collaborative/partnership relations with colleagues, families and community members by providing strategies and models for such relationships. Each of the other early childhood professional courses similarly emphasize collaborative work with colleagues and families.

a) Gallaudet’s Undergraduate Teacher Education Programs offer a B.A. in education to deaf college students. Therefore, interpreters are used for all students who need them during the senior-year clinical experiences (Student Aiding and Student Teaching). Guidelines and suggestions are given to all cooperating schools for responding to the special communication needs of the student teachers. Emphasis is placed on the fact that while interpreters are conveying messages for all involved, the student teacher is fully responsible for classroom activities, student behavior, and teaching tasks.

Because we believe that a opportunities to construct meaning regarding knowledge bases and theories throughout the program are vital to continued professional growth, students also interact with children, families, communities, and educators as part of course requirements throughout their professional courses (primarily during their sophomore and junior years). These early clinical experiences are more likely to be in environments in which students can have direct access to children, families, and teachers; that is, in environments in which the children, families, or teachers are themselves deaf.

b) The Early Childhood Teacher Education Program is a specialization within our Undergraduate Teacher Education Program. The Undergraduate Teacher Education Program is served by five full-time tenured or tenure track faculty members, and several part-time school-based instructors, serving the needs of approximately fifty to seventy-five students in the undergraduate program. Ten more faculty are full-time members of the Department of Education, but work primarily with graduate students. Three of these additional faculty members have backgrounds in early childhood education and work with both undergraduate and graduate students in this area.

c) Of the 39 semester hours of Professional Education coursework (12 courses), eight courses were developed and tailored for the Early Childhood Education specialization (Curricular Foundations, Emergent Literacy, Integrated Methods: Preprimary, Integrated Methods: Primary, Student Aiding, Student Teaching, Senior Seminar for Student Teaching, and Home-School-Community Partnership). Four other required courses (Methods of Teaching Reading: Elementary, Methods of Teaching Mathematics: Elementary, Children’s Literature, and Introduction to Exceptional Children). These courses are included in the Early Childhood specialization so as to provide a strong background knowledge base in critical curricular areas: literacy, mathematics, and adaptive/differentiated teaching.

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