Early Childhood Education

As a student in the early childhood education major, you'll learn to work with children and families in the classroom and in the field. You will be trained to assess a child's needs, design lesson plans and tutor for success to create the best learning environments for children. Your work will prepare you to respond to the growing demand for early childhood programs with professionally trained directors and staff who nurture children and ready them for school success.

Program Requirements Department of Child and Family Studies Child and Family Studies Scholarships Minnesota Transfer Pathway

Program Highlights

• An undergraduate major in Early Childhood Education leads to a Minnesota Teaching Licensure for birth through third-grade classrooms.
• Students have life changing community experiences through collaboration and partnership programs that take them inside a variety of early childhood learning programs.
• Student teaching opportunities in Aldine, Texas and abroad expand students' multicultural experiences.
• Our students develop leadership skills through student membership in the Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC), joining the Future Educators Club, and volunteering at St. Cloud State's Lindgren Early Learning Center. 
• The College of Education and Learning Design with its rich history of preparing teachers and educators, enjoys a well-established reputation locally, statewide, and nationally.
• Select courses are available online.
• This discipline is also available as a minor to complement other majors. 

Program Distinctions

• Teaching licensure programs approved by Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB).
• Membership in Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP)
• St. Cloud State's College of Education and Learning Design hosts Future Educators and Day of an Educator programs
• Over 90% of our Early Childhood Education graduates are employed throughout the state and Central U.S. within one year of graduation 
• Lindgren Early Learning Center nationally accredited through AEYC 
• Induction support for teacher candidates through the first three years of their first teaching position

University Facts & Stats

• Over 90% of Early Childhood Education graduates employed within one year of graduation
• 1,421 student field-experience placements in the College of Education and Learning Design
• Multiple Education Abroad programs offered

• Average class size: 23 students

• Among Forbes' "America's Top Colleges" 

Connect With Us

College of Education and Learning Design College of Education and Learning Design College of Education and Learning Design