Early Childhood Education: Program Overview
What is the nature of children's development from birth through the early school years? How do young children make sense of the learning contexts they encounter at home and in early childhood settings such as day care, preschool, kindergarten and the early school grades? How do home, national, and community practices foster children's learning and success, and how do nations and cultures differ with respect to these practices? What happens when these processes do not work smoothly? What federal policies support early childhood education for low-income children? How do nations and cultures differ in their fostering of development in early childhood? This degree specialization is housed within the Educational Studies program, which fosters links among students and faculty in a number of specializations sharing a commitment to the integration of theory and research on teaching, learning, and educational access in P-12 settings.
Faculty and students in Early Childhood (EC) at the University of Michigan's School of Education are exploring questions like these in their efforts to improve the development and learning of young children, at home, at school, and in the community. Our work takes place in both school and community settings; and it is motivated by a range of theoretical, methodological, and practical perspectives. What binds it together is the commitment to understanding the dynamics of how families, cultures, and institutions can best foster early development.
Examples of current projects include:
- An analysis of pre-kindergarten standards in states: A national report card on compensatory early childhood programs in Head Start and Title 1
- The effects of professional development on children’s language, literacy, and mathematics achievement
- Analysis of parents’ interactions with their children during joint storybook reading in a range of ethnic and linguistic communities
- Examination of the role of parental values and perceptions regarding their child’s disability in their patterns of assistance during homework activities
- Evaluation of the influence of centralized policy decisions on early literacy instruction and children’s learning
The School of Education offers Early Childhood Education degrees at both the Master's and Doctoral levels.
Doctoral degree in Early Childhood Education
Students interested in Early Childhood specialization at the PhD level should apply to the Language, Literacy, and Culture doctoral specialization. The faculty in Early Childhood are all affiliates of LLC. General information about the Literacy, Language, and Culture degree programs can be found at the following web address: http://www.soe.umich.edu/literacy/index.html.
It is also worth noting that, as a unit within Michigan's Educational Studies Program, the Early Childhood Education PhD program is a national partner in the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of teaching.
Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education
The MA specialization in Early Childhood seeks to engage students in a focus on language and early literacy development that can be applied to a wide variety of early care and educational settings. The program is targeted to developmental, environmental and instructional factors that contribute to young children’s cognitive and social-emotional skills related to school readiness. This specialization may lead students in a number of career paths after the completion of the MA. One path might be the role of an administrator, or curriculum developer who is particularly fluent in early language and literacy theory and practice and its relation to school success. A second path might be related to advocacy, helping to make the case for the importance of the early years on later development. And a third might be policy, establishing and promoting policy research, that supports early learning and development. Students should note, however, that the program does not lead to the Michigan endorsement in early childhood (ZA) at the present time.
Core courses will familiarize students with language development, foundations of early literacy, cultural and linguistic diversity, curriculum and assessment, research and theory and contemporary policy issues across the age spans of 0-8, with a focus on the years from 0-5. Although most students in the MA program are full-time, the program is also open to full-time teachers who want to pursue the degree on a part-time basis.
What else would you like to learn about the Master's program?
I would like to see a list of faculty and their research interests.
What kind of work can I do in this program.
I would like to see a list of Master's degree course requirements.
I have questions about the Master's program which still need answering.
I would like to talk to an Master's student about the program.
