FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – To help address the pressing need for more highly qualified early childhood educators, the School of Human Environmental Sciences in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas has created a new major beginning this fall, Birth through Kindergarten.

Students in this major will be prepared to work in settings serving young children, including public schools, early intervention programs, child care and education centers, and residential placement centers. Graduates will develop skills to teach infants, toddlers, preschoolers and kindergartners with and without disabilities.

Graduates will also become eligible to apply for Arkansas' new Integrated Birth through Kindergarten/Special Education teacher licensure to teach in birth through kindergarten/special education classrooms where licensure is required.

"We are so thrilled to offer this teaching license to our students," said Laura Herold, clinical assistant professor who teaches several core courses in the program. "Many faculty worked together to make this happen because we believe in the field of early childhood education. We have known for years that experiences in the early childhood years directly and powerfully affect a person's future well-being. This state teaching license recognizes that early childhood education is a science, and that working with young children requires a specific skill set and a lot of knowledge."

With this major, popular career options include infant, toddler, preschool or kindergarten teacher; early childhood special education teacher; and early childhood center director, among others. Some graduates may choose to continue their education to become a certified child life specialist or a certified family life educator. Others may go on to earn a master's degree in early childhood education.

"We are very proud that our new Birth through Kindergarten major was recently approved to offer state teaching licensure to our students seeking careers teaching kindergarten and pre-school," said Tim Killian, associate professor and assistant director of the School of Human Environmental Sciences. "This is the culmination of hard work over many years by both past and present faculty who have shown their dedication to students by opening this career pathway for them."

Students begin by taking courses covering fundamental topics such has infant, toddler and child development. Building on this foundation, they take courses merging classroom lecture and discussion with hands-on experiences in early childhood classrooms. This includes courses designed to provide students with skills to guide children's behavior as well as courses teaching students to develop and implement curriculum, document children's learning and use assessments to reveal children's growth and development.

These courses give students the opportunity to train in early childhood classrooms at the U of A's lab school, the Jean Tyson Child Development Study Center. The center is the only early childcare setting accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children in Northwest Arkansas, placing it among the top 10 percent of private-sector childcare facilities in the nation. More than 110 faculty, staff and students regularly use the center for instruction, training and research while teachers and staff provide high-quality care and education to more than 100 students, ages eight weeks to five years.

"The work that our students do to hone these skills sets them up to make a real difference in the lives of children," said Herold. "But it's even bigger than that — the work we are doing in the Birth through Kindergarten program is also an investment in young Arkansans that we hope will make a difference across the state."

Student learning is further enhanced by a number of special education, and curriculum and instruction courses preparing them to work with children with exceptionalities, such as Introduction to Children with Autism, and Applied Behavior Analysis and Classroom Management. Students are paired with mentor teachers in the community and placed in kindergarten and special education classrooms for field experiences where they put their skills into practice.

"The capstone field experiences change students," said Herold. "They graduate ready to lead a classroom and excited to join practitioners in their community. Faculty in human development and family sciences advise our own students, so it is always a joy to see where they end up, and hear their excitement to teach and make a difference for children in their community."

Additional experiences offered by the Birth through Kindergarten faculty include opportunities to join a study tour to Italy to learn more about the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education as well as opportunities to assist faculty members with research about children's learning and the positive impact classroom and community interventions can have on individuals and communities.  

The Birth through Kindergarten major and the School of Human Environmental Sciences are housed in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, but faculty work closely with the Office of Teacher Education in the College of Education and Health Professions alongside faculty in other teacher licensure programs across campus.

For more information, contact Herold at lkherold@uark.edu.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.