A new undergraduate major at the UI prepares students for careers working with children from birth through age 8. The B. S. degree in early childhood development and education, offered jointly by the School of Family and Consumer Sciences and College of Education, leads to a new Idaho teaching credential, the Idaho Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Special Education Blended Certificate.

Previously, no single UI major equipped aspiring teachers and care providers to work with young children who were developing typically as well as those who were not, and no state teaching certificate vouched for their competence.

“People who work with young children need to be able to recognize and respond to all children and their individual needs and be able to work with their families,” said Janice Fletcher, UI professor of child development and family relations.

“Birth to age 8 is a special and critical time in child development and we need people who understand that.”

Already, more than 20 UI students have enrolled in the new major.

Shylo Crow, a UI senior whose goal is to open preschools for children with special and regular needs, has been pursuing a major in child development and family relations and another in special education to prepare for her career. In child development alone, for example, “You learn when they’re supposed to walk, but you don’t learn what to do when they’re struggling with their math,” she said. The new, combined major “has exactly what I’ve been wanting.”

Katrina Dasenbrock, a certified special education teacher for grades K-12, runs Moscow’s Turning Point preschool for children ages 2 to 6 and an after-school program for older children. When she got her degree in special ed, “They never really trained me on how children develop typically,” she said. “That was something I had to search out on my own.” She calls the blending of the two programs, “a wonderful step.”

Photo on right: Pre-school educator Katrian Dasenbrock is one of many who have expressed an interest in a new Idaho teaching credential, the Idaho Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Special Education Blended Certificate.

“What we do for kids in their early development lasts a lifetime,” said Mary Jones, manager of the Idaho Infant Toddler Program in the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. “If the child care provider is meeting their needs in a responsive way, and laying the foundation for early reading and literacy, we’re all going to benefit.”

Program graduates could become teachers in grades K-3, child care providers, Head Start teachers, and child development specialists, among others. Jones hopes the new program will ease the shortage of early childhood special educators. “Every time we announce [a vacancy], we feel lucky if we have one or two qualified people on our hiring register,” said Jones.

The new degree program supports a 2001 National Research Council recommendation that every child in early childhood education and care be assigned a teacher with a bachelor’s degree and specialized education related to early childhood.

Students in the new major will learn to help parents assess their children’s development and to work in partnership with parents to learn strategies for meeting children’s developmental needs. The curriculum covers child development and learning, curriculum development and implementation, assessment and evaluation of young children, and appropriate application of instructional technologies.

A $627,000 grant from the J. A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation will support more than 200 scholarships for students pursuing the degree during the next seven years.