Biola’s School of Education Announces New Early Childhood Program
New program increases employment opportunities for current students and graduates.
Biola University has launched a new Early Childhood Program within Biola’s seventh school, School of Education. The new program will equip students to address early childhood education, a current issue in California and among the nation as a whole.
Glen Thomas, California secretary of education and Biola alum’s, recent visit to Biola timed well with his participation in a forum regarding early childhood education at the Milken Institute Global Conference.
“We have a lot to improve on in the K-12 system, but from an equity standpoint, really it’s about before age 5, before kindergarten. That gap is already so apparent when kids come to school, particularly in California with so many English learners, we can do a much better job,” said Thomas in the forum. “So while our emphasis in the past 25 years has been access (to early education), now it needs to turn to quality.”
Biola is at the forefront of this issue with the new Early Childhood Program, giving students hands-on experience in several local infant, toddler, and elementary educational settings during their fieldwork assignments. Thereby, increasing Biola University’s students and alumni being visibly present in the earliest aspects of community education in local schools, including infants, preschools, and after school programs.
The mission of the School of Education is to equip Christian teachers and administrators in public, private, mission and homeschools through biblically centered education, scholarship, and service. The primary objective of the new program is to prepare the candidate with the broadest range of employability by preparing students to work with infants, toddlers, elementary age children, and adolescents within the context of a biblically-based education, while also taking on the challenge of family life, poverty, urbanization and spirituality. The Early Childhood Assistant and Associate Teacher Permits considerably expand employment options for Liberal Studies majors, a critical factor in today’s job market.
The School of Education offers an Early Childhood focused area of study within the context of a Liberal Studies, Elementary Education major. Upon completion of the required Early Childhood coursework, candidates will then be eligible to apply for the California Child Development Assistant Permit and the Associate Teacher Permit with the option to add the School Age Emphasis Authorization to either permit.
When a student elects to take a focused area of study in Early Childhood, they will receive the Early Childhood Associate permit by the end of their sophomore or junior year which will enable them to be the “teacher of record” in an infant through preschool setting as well as in after-school programs, supervising aides and teachers with Assistant Permits.
The School of Education partners with local public and private schools to enable candidates to complete their fieldwork assignments and to advance their skills in working with young children.
The dean of education, June Hetzel, Virginia Johnson, liberal studies coordinator, and Lorena Vidaurre, early childhood specialist will jointly coordinate the program.
The Early Childhood coursework can be applied to the Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) or the Master of Arts in Education (M.A.Ed.), Personalized Programs, or taken only for Child Development certification purposes.
Read more about the new Early Childhood Program. Applications for the graduate programs are due July 1, 2009.
Written by Jenna Bartlo, Media Relations Coordinator. Jenna can be reached at (562) 777-4061 or through email at jenna.l.bartlo@biola.edu.