A teacher looking at a laptop while surrounded by a group of young students.

Bachelor of Science in
Early Childhood/Childhood Education

Teacher Certification

This degree is a New York State approved pathway leading to initial certification in Early Childhood (Birth– Grade 2) and Childhood education (Grades 1–6).

This program is approved for licensure or certification in New York State.
For more information on Professional Licensure Disclosure, please see the Undergraduate Bulletin.

Program of Study

programofstudy

By earning your BS in Early Childhood/Childhood Education at UAlbany you’ll gain the classroom-based knowledge and hands on experience you need for a successful career teaching young children or elementary students.

Your coursework will include topics for teaching, such as educational psychology, child development, early literacy instruction, STEM concepts, lesson planning, classroom management, as well as in-depth study of elementary subjects as part of the early childhood/childhood education concentration. You also gain innovative classroom experiences and graduate prepared to lead a class of young children.

Required Courses and Fieldwork

93 credits, including 30 credits in your chosen concentration and 18 credits of field experience and student teaching. 

 

Core Courses

45 credits in the following topic areas:

  • Foundations of Education
  • Teaching as a Profession
  • Educational Psychology, Development and Assessment
  • Special Education
  • Literacy
  • STEM Instruction
  • Social Studies
  • Instructional Methods and Curriculum Development

Concentration Courses

30 credits in elementary subjects, including a minimum of 15 credits at the upper division level:

  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • English Language Arts
  • Mathematics
  • Fine Arts
  • Arts and Sciences Electives

 

Fieldwork and Student Teaching

Our New York State approved program immerses you in classroom experiences, with 18 credits dedicated to field experiences and your student teaching placement in schools working with children from Birth through Grade 6.

Note: You must maintain a 2.85 GPA to remain in the major.

Field Experiences and Student Teaching

To fulfill the fieldwork requirements, you’ll spend two semesters in a range of school placements, with in-classroom time prior to your student teaching placement. Through these placements, you will experience a variety of communities—including in high-need schools—work with students across developmental levels and socioeconomic backgrounds, and engage with families and caregivers.

A faculty member with expertise in content and pedagogy will mentor you during these experiences to help ensure your time in your placements is productive and valuable.

field

Career Outcomes

With current teacher shortages creating a lot of opportunity in the field, earning your BS in Early Childhood/Childhood Education degree will set you up for a successful career in education. We will not only provide professional guidance and advice, we’ll also support you in finding a position after graduation.

If you wish to continue your studies at the graduate level, you'll find a wide range of carefully designed advanced degree programs at the UAlbany School of Education, including nationally ranked online programs, to help you earn your New York State Professional teaching certification and reach the next level in your professional pursuits. 

 

 

A teacher working with a young student in classroom.
career
Student Learning Objectives

Learning objectives that UAlbany students are expected to attain through their course of study within their academic program.

Bachelor of Science

Human Development

  • Graduates know the psychological, social and cultural facets of human development and learning across the lifespan. They understand the commonality as well as the diversity of patterns of human development.
  • Graduates critically assess social and cultural frameworks and the ways in which individuals, families and communities are situated within them.
  • Graduates recognize issues of equity and social justice as they impact human development.
  • Graduates think critically about developmental theories; research on issues of human development; recognize the characteristics of studies and publications that provide credible research findings; practice ethical behavior across academic, research and professional settings; apply theory to practice.


Standards

  • Graduates identify and understand the instructional implications of shifts in current standards.
  • Graduates apply the New York State Content Standards and National Content Specific Standards in their teaching (e.g. NCTM, NCSS, ILA classroom teacher standards, Next Generation Learning Standards).


Assessments

  • Graduates use assessments to identify, prevent and intervene when students experience difficulties to inform their instruction and decision making.
  • Graduates evaluate the affordances and constraints of a range of assessments (e.g. screening, formative, summative, informal, formal).
  • Graduates understand the importance of using various assessments to develop a comprehensive assessment plan/comprehensive portrait of learners and can convey this information to a range of stakeholders.


Materials, Resources, and Digital Technologies

  • Graduates know how to evaluate, select, and integrate relevant materials, resources, and digital technologies for classroom teaching and assessment that are inclusive of cultural and linguistic diversity.
  • Graduates know how to embed print and digital resources into authentic instruction that supports critical conversations, development and student inquiry.
  • Graduates foster learning environments where learners draw on multimodalities to create meaning, depending on purpose and audiences.


Engagement

  • Graduates know how to create collaborative learning communities with students.
  • Graduates know how to teach for engagement and meaning-making and provide opportunities for student directed learning.
  • Graduates provide opportunities for learners to experience learning practices as intentional, purposeful and authentic.
  • Graduates engage in professional learning communities (PLCs) with sensitivity to a range of perspectives.


Development of Literacies

  • Graduates understand the historical, theoretical and evidence-based foundations of literacy (across the lifespan) including (but not limited to) components of print concepts, decoding, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, viewing/representing and composition.
  • Graduates understand the reciprocal relationships among reading, writing, speaking and listening development.
  • Graduates use their knowledge of literacy development to identify a learner’s present level of performance.


Disciplinary Literacies/Knowledge Building

  • Graduates understand the historical, theoretical, and evidence-based foundations of literacy and the role of literacy in building disciplinary/conceptual knowledge across elementary school subjects (e.g., science, social studies, mathematics, ELA).
  • Graduates know how to support learners in accessing, developing, and communicating discipline specific/content area knowledge (or practices common across disciplines) including content knowledge, genre knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Graduates understand how to use literacy events to build conceptual knowledge over time with attention to material selection and assessment of knowledge and literacy development.


Responsive Teaching to Promote Strategic Learning

  • Graduates know how to plan a range of instructional approaches and practices to meet the needs of each learner (e.g. historical knowledge, vocabulary development, writing processes).
  • Graduates ensure students have equitable access to high quality, engaging and comprehensive instruction, curriculum and authentic learning.
  • Graduates know how to turn learners’ attention to using productive strategies.
  • Graduates know how to foster resilience and independence through engaging learners in meaningful practices.


Data Based Decision Making

  • Graduates collaborate with colleagues to analyze and collect data to construct/create a plan for classroom instruction.
  • Graduates assume that learning problems lie in instruction, rather than in the learner. Graduates then analyze teaching practices to identify areas of instructional improvement to respond to student needs.
  • Graduates critically consume and draw upon findings from published research studies to inform instructional planning and decision-making.


Learning as Sociocultural Practice

  • Graduates understand that learning practices occur across multiple contexts, not only schools, and for multiple purposes.
  • Graduates know how to build on students’ funds of knowledge (e.g. linguistic diversity; cultural, family and community resources) to inform instruction.


Critical Perspectives and Equity

  • Graduates know how to create teaching and learning contexts in which students value multiple perspectives in the service of equity and social justice.
  • Graduates know how to create contexts that promote civic engagement and inspire learners to take action in local and global communities.
  • Graduates create teaching and learning contexts in which students critically consume and produce media.
  • Graduates recognize and know the importance of intervening in educational inequities, including bias stemming from race, class, gender, language, ability and heterosexism.


Respectful Representation of Students, Families, Colleagues, and Communities

  • Graduates notice, name and build upon learner strengths and progress.
  • Graduates interact and engage with families and communities in ways that respect diverse life experiences.
  • Graduates foster respectful partnerships characterized by reciprocal relationships that support learners.
  • Graduates are self-reflexive about how their lived experiences and their identities shape their instructional practices and teaching philosophies.


Teaching All Learners

  • Graduates demonstrate knowledge of the causal factors and characteristics of the various disability categories defined under “child with disability” in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
  • Graduates demonstrate working knowledge of the various, legally required components of an Individualized Educational Plan.
  • Graduates demonstrate knowledge of (a) patterns of human development and milestones typically achieved at different ages, and (b) risk factors that may prohibit or impede typical development and contribute to a student developing a disability.
  • Graduates demonstrate ability to effectively collaborate with colleagues, follow instructions and use problem solving skills in order to be an effective member of the instructional team.
  • Graduates demonstrate ability to practice ethical and professional standards of conduct, including the requirements of confidentiality.
  • Graduates show knowledge of and competency with technology that can assist the teaching and learning of students with disabilities. 
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What Makes The University at Albany Great

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Living-Learning Communities

Live and take classes with other incoming freshmen who share your personal interests, passions or intended academic major.

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Study Abroad

Become a global citizen: international experience is crucial to success in business, education, research, and public policy.

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Undergraduate Research

Research, scholarship, and creative activities at the University at Albany is an option for all students, across all academic disciplines. You will be able to learn more about a specific academic field or career path all while building a long-lasting mentoring relationship with a faculty member or principal investigator.

Explore Minors

Build competency in a passion or strengthen your resume.

A minor consists of 18–24 graduation credits which must include a minimum of 9 graduation credits of advanced coursework at or above the 300 level. Most undergraduate degrees require completing a minor and it has to have a different title from your major.

Full List of Minors
  • Acting
  • Africana Studies
  • Anthropology
  • Art
  • Art History
  • Atmospheric Science
  • Bioethics
  • Biology
  • Broadcast Meteorology
  • Business
  • Chemistry
  • Chinese Studies
  • Cognitive Science
  • Communication (Fully Online Option)
  • Computer Science
  • Creative Writing
  • Criminal Justice Studies (Fully Online Option)
  • Cybersecurity (Fully Online Option)
  • Documentary Studies
  • East Asian Studies
  • Economics
  • Educational Studies
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Electronics
  • Film Studies
  • Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (Fully Online Option)
  • English
  • Forensic Science
  • French
  • Game Design and Development
  • Geographic Information Science
  • Geography
  • Globalization Studies
  • Hebrew
  • History (Fully Online Option)
  • Informatics (Fully Online Option)
  • Instrumental Performance
  • International Studies
  • Italian
  • Japanese Studies
  • Journalism (Fully Online Option)
  • Judaic Studies
  • Korean Studies
  • Latin American and Caribbean Studies
  • Law and Philosophy
  • Leadership
  • Legal Studies
  • LGBTQ Studies
  • Library and Information Science
  • Linguistics
  • Machine Learning
  • Mathematics
  • Medical Anthropology
  • Music
  • Musical Performance
  • Musical Theatre
  • Philosophy
  • Physics
  • Political Science
  • Portuguese
  • Pre-Education
  • Psychology (Fully Online Option)
  • Public Health
  • Public Policy
  • Religious Studies
  • Russian
  • Russian and Eastern European Studies
  • Social Welfare Studies
  • Sociology (Fully Online Option)
  • Spanish
  • Statistics
  • Sustainability
  • Theatre
  • Theatrical Design/Technology
  • Urban Studies and Planning
  • U.S. Latino Studies
  • Vocal Performance
  • Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies