Fostering Early Childhood Education Leaders Certificate
Develop a specialty in ECE with the Fostering Early Childhood Education Leaders Undergraduate Certificate at Berkshire. This 8-course online certificate gives you a quick and convenient way to continue building your knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as an opportunity to demonstrate and deeply reflect upon your teaching journey. This certificate places an emphasis on community involvement and leadership roles and responsibilities.
National Head Start Association logo
NU, in collaboration with the National Head Start Agency (NHSA), has created a pathway that integrates both the BA in ECE degree requirements with General Education (GE) requirements to provide a more efficient and engaging pathway to the degree. Each certificate is grouped around a theme: “Building Bridges,” “Advocate, Connect, Engage,” and “Moving Up.” Each theme focuses on specific content, coupled with appropriate GE courses to provide a more meaningful student experience.
Certificates consist of eight courses and can be completed in eight months. NHSA students that have been awarded the CDA Credential will be eligible for credit for the following courses: ECE 201, ECE 210, and HED 220 on the Building Bridges certificate. There may be other opportunities for Prior Learning Credit in the Moving Up Certificate.
National Head Start Agency (NHSA) students may ONLY participate in a Certificate Pathway to the BA ECE. The pathway consists of five certificates that couple ECE courses with appropriate GE courses. See the Certificate section of the catalog for more detailed information.
Note: NHSA students that have been awarded the CDA Credential will be eligible for credit for the following lower-division, preparation-for-the-major courses: ECE 201, ECE 210, and HED 220.
Course Name
ECE 445 Strategies: Guiding Behaviors
Prerequisite: ECE 330
Focus on observation, identification, description, and assessment of challenging behaviors. Designing and implementing effective teaching and learning strategies to successfully guide these behaviors within a social and cultural context.
PSYC 301 Child Development
Prerequisite: ENG 102
Familiarizes students with the foundational theories of human development, current research directions in developmental psychology, major developmental perspectives and research approaches in developmental psychology and issues surrounding diversity, emphasizing an ecosystemic model of thinking about and understanding children and their development. In addition to the previous topics, the following areas will be discussed: the history of childhood; developmental theories and appropriate practices in education; play as a medium for learning and development; and the field of discipline particularly as it relates to development, behaviors and considering temperament in children.
SOC 350 Cultural Diversity
Prerequisite: ENG 102
Examines race, gender, ethnicity and class in 20th century American society. Introduces students to methods for studying the changing nature of our society and explores ways in which our increasingly urbanized and technological culture affects all aspects of professional and unskilled work. May involve work in oral history.
ECE 443 Children with Special Needs
Prerequisite: ECE 330
Exploration of variations in child development and identification of specific disabilities in young children. Inclusive early childhood programs, specific strategies for adaptation and accommodation of the core curriculum to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of children who are at-risk or have special needs are examined
ECE 460 Program Administration
Focus on administration of early childhood programs. Emphasis on working with boards, staff, parents and volunteers. Highlights include hiring, assessing, and supervising staff and volunteers. Attention to designing staff and volunteer professional development programs.
ECE 461 Leadership and Supervision
Emphasis on theories, principles and practical methods of leadership and supervision applicable to early childhood settings. Demonstrations of instructional, operational and organizational leadership. Focus on components of human resources related to staff recruitment, development and evaluation.
ECE 466 Planning Physical Environments
Guidelines on planning, designing and organizing physical learning environments for young children. Understanding, comparing, integrating theoretical frameworks on indoor and outdoor environments.
ECE 450 Academic Seminar/Field Experience
Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of all core courses with an average grade of “C” (2.0) or better in the core.
Participation in a collaborative field/academic experience to reflect and actively practice material covered in core classes. Field experience must be in approved setting and arranged by student. Grading is S or U only.
Degree and Course Requirements
Program Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:
Identify essential concepts, inquiry tools, and structure of content areas and resources for early childhood education
Develop oral, written, and technological skills for communicating with families and very young children
Create environments that are healthy, respectful, supportive, and challenging for young children
Use systematic observations, documentation, and other assessment strategies – in partnership with families and professionals – to positively influence children’s development and learning
Implement a curriculum that promotes development and learning outcomes for diverse young children
Demonstrate ethical, legal, and professional standards in early childhood education
Create positive relationships and supportive interactions with young children
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