Early Childhood (MED)

The Masters of Education in Early Childhood is aimed at accomplishing the following goals:

  • Students completing the program will develop expertise in the domain areas related to Early Childhood.
  • Students completing the program will conduct, analyze, and apply scholarly results in their practice.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of language development, early literacy, second language acquisition, developmentally appropriate practices, the stages of literacy development and child development, early childhood programs and curriculum.
  • Students who complete the program will serve as early childhood specialist/advocates at their in their community.
  • Students completing this program will present professional conferences.
  • Students will develop a research agenda on a topic relevant to early childhood. This research may result in a manuscript submitted for publication.

Admission Requirements

To be admitted to the graduate program in early childhood, prospective candidates must first meet all requirements for graduate admission to UT Rio Grande Valley, as well as the other requirements listed below:

  1. Undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 in the last 60 semester credit hours. If applicant does not meet the minimum undergraduate GPA criterion, GRE general test with minimum scores of 150 Verbal, 141 Quantitative, and 4.0 Analytical are required for conditional admission
  2. Letter of intent
  3. Resume

Application for admission must be submitted prior to the published deadline. The application is available at www.utrgv.edu/gradapply.

Program Requirements

Required Courses (21 Credits)

ECED 6301Major Theories in Early Childhood Education

3

ECED 6302Developmentally Appropriate Practice, Planning, and Curriculum

3

ECED 6303Young Multilingual Learners

3

ECED 6304Dynamics of Play and Learning in Early Childhood

3

ECED 6305Early Care and Education of Infant & Toddlers

3

ECED 6306Literacy in Early Childhood Education

3

ECED 6307Internship I: Special Topics in Early Childhood

3

Professional Development: (6 Credits)

EDFR 6300/EDFR 6301Research Methods in Education

3

 

EDCI 6304Assessment of Learning

3

Or

EPSY 6350Introduction to Statistics

3

EDFR 6300: required

Choose one of the following options:

Other Early Childhood Professionals (9 Credits):
ECED 6308Children's Literature

3

ECED 6309Internship II: Ethics and Leadership in Early Childhood Education

3

EDCI 7334Curriculum Problems and Processes

3

Capstone Requirement

Midpoint Oral Assessment Exam

Written Comprehensive Exam

Classroom Teacher (9 Credits):
ECED 6308Children's Literature

3

ECED 6309Internship II: Ethics and Leadership in Early Childhood Education

3

ECED 6310Developmentally Appropriate Assessment

3

Capstone Requirement

Midpoint Oral Assessment Exam

Written Comprehensive Exam

Thesis/Research (9 Credits):
EDCI 6308Advanced Educational Research

3

ECED 7300Thesis I

3

ECED 7301Thesis II

3

Capstone Requirement

Successful completion and defense of thesis

Midpoint Oral Assessment Exam

Written Comprehensive Exam

Total Credit Hours: 36