A Fulfilling Career as an Early Childhood Teacher

GSU Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education program readies students for the classroom by providing a significant amount of field experiences in school settings.  During your training, you will have the opportunity to encounter the types of situations and challenges you will face as a practicing teacher.  Our program is approved by the Illinois State Board of Education to prepare candidates for a professional educator license and early childhood special education approval.

Incoming professionals are given three options for completing the program that are based on their prior preparation and educational background.  Students that possess a Professional Educator License endorsement in Elementary ED. or Special Ed. and have supervised experience will not need to complete additional clinical hours in those areas. The program also provides a track for initial licensure for those candidates that do not currently hold a professional educator license. They will need to complete all of the programs requirements. 

The last option is for any students who have completed a significant amount of undergraduate work in early childhood education (or a closely-related field).  These students will be required to complete the core and professional courses. 

Once a student has nearly completed the program, they will be required to do a Culminating Experience (3).   This will be used to demonstrate the integration of everything that was learned in the form of a portfolio, a research study/project, thesis, internship or other experience.  The Culminating Experience must be approved and is supervised by a committee of three faculty members.  

Please check with the GSU website or the Graduate Early Childhood Education Student Handbook for all of the Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education degree details and requirements.   Any further questions, contact a department advisor.   

We encourage you to explore our many degree, certificate and individual course offerings listed on our website.  Each college has stellar programs and world-class professors; all of which are focused on delivering academic excellence in a small-class setting.  Learn more about the rich history, cultural amenities and beautiful campus that contributes to making us one of the top colleges in Illinois.