Educational Studies: ECE Unit Concentration

The ECE certificate serves as an Early Child Education unit completion pathway and represents a career ladder approach to a credential or permit or a stand-alone entity to document that a student has taken 16 units of Early Childhood Education coursework. Coursework is aligned with subject matter proficiency for the acquisition of knowledge and the development of skills for successful employment as a teacher's aide, after-school program assistant, tutoring or other paraprofessional level classroom career in ECE classrooms.

More specifically the certificate is designed to meet the needs of students following various pathways to classroom teaching or an education-related field:

• The paraprofessional or aspiring paraprofessional teacher aide seeking professional development course work, or to acquire and or fill in ECE units as a condition of employment.
• Homeschooling parents.
• The aspiring paraprofessional or currently employed paraprofessional teacher aide seeking a career ladder approach to a teaching credential and/or child development permit.
• The teacher aide paraprofessional who has decided against pursuing an AA and/or credential or permit but would like to acquire knowledge and skills relevant to serving as a teacher assistant or support staff in an ECE classroom or school or related environment.
• Teacher preparation for students on a transfer pathway for a BA and Credential who also desire certificate recognition with an ECE Unit Concentration.
• Credentialed teachers fulfilling TK requirements for ECE units.
• Students from partner colleges looking for online options to fulfill selected articulated ECE courses required for their programs.

In order to provide an additional pathway to an education-related career, Coastline’s Certificate programs in Educational Studies are specially designed to meet the needs of students interested in an education/ teaching-related career who prefer online classes and/or cannot always attend traditional face-to-face classes due to employment, marital status, family responsibilities, distance, and expenses incurred with traditional education schedules. All certificate classes are online.

Possible employment/ illustrative examples: early childhood education teacher assistant/aide; childcare worker; paraprofessional in early childhood settings with possible inclusion of special education pre-school settings; Montessori preschool aide; floater teacher’s aide, corporate teacher aide, e.g. Disney, child care center, early childhood nutrition aide, early head start teacher’s aide; infant aide; after school assistant, daycare, outdoor activities assistant (play area), 24 Hour Fitness, YMCA, JCC or similar childcare center; child advocate assistant, court system; recreation specialist, nanny; Lego theme park assistant; behavior specialist.

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Apply certificate courses towards entry into a teaching credential program and/or to fulfill requirements for a selected child development permit or an employment setting requiring ECE units.
2. Upon completion of 16 ECE units, the student will be able to document the acquisition of foundational knowledge and skills (as related to courses selected for the purpose of this certificate), relevant for employment as a teacher assistant or support staff in an early childhood education classroom or related environment.

Requirements

Review Graduation Requirements.