Early Childhood Education MAT Accelerated Track

The Early Childhood Education, M.A.T., Accelerated Track program, leads to a master's degree and a Professional Educator License endorsed for self contained general education (Birth to Grade 2). Visit Licensure and Endorsements at NLU for more details.

The accelerated track is limited to experienced ECE teachers (minimum of 3 years of full-time teaching) who hold the Gateways to Opportunity ECE Credential Level 4. Candidates accepted into the accelerated track will continue teaching full-time as the teacher of record at their current place of employment. Students accepted into the accelerated track will complete the ECE M.A.T. program in one academic year. Because candidates accepted to the accelerated track are experienced classroom teachers, with facility with the content, they will take three courses per term and two courses in the summer.

For more information on state licensure and certification information please visit NLU’s Public Disclosures page.

Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs):

PLO 1. Candidates analyze young children’s characteristics and needs, multiple interacting influences on children’s development and learning, and be able to create environments that are healthy, respectful, supportive, and challenging for each child.

PLO 2. Candidates value the importance and complex characteristics of children’s families and communities; they are able to create respectful, reciprocal relationships that support and empower families, and to involve all families in their children’s development and learning.

PLO 3. Candidates justify goals and benefits of child assessment, are able to design systematic observations, documentation, and other effective assessment strategies in a responsible and ethical way, in partnership with families and other professionals, to positively influence each child’s development and learning.

PLO 4. Candidates use positive relationships as the foundation for their work with young children; candidates know, understand, and use a wide array of developmentally appropriate approaches, instructional strategies, tools, and technologies to positively influence each child’s development and learning.

PLO 5. Candidates have solid knowledge of academic disciplines, know the essential concepts, structure of content areas, and resources, and are able to apply this knowledge to design, implement, and evaluate experiences that promote positive and comprehensive learning outcomes for each child.

PLO 6. Candidates apply NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct and professional standards to their early childhood education practice; identify and conduct themselves as professionals who demonstrate knowledgeable, reflective and critical perspectives on their work, make informed decisions, and advocate for sound educational practices and policies.

PLO 7. Candidates demonstrate leadership skills in the early childhood field to think strategically, build consensus, create change, effectively collaborate with and mentor others; demonstrate a high level of oral, written and technological communication skills with specialization for specific professional roles. 

Program Details:

• Requires 35 SH for completion
• Requires practicum/ seminar
• Requires student teaching
• Requires a minimum score of 220 on the Early Childhood Content Area Test (206). Candidates must take the test by the end of the first term and pass the test by the end of the second term. The passing of the content test is not required for a degree completion but it's required for teaching license. 

Admission Requirements

In addition to the National College of Education Graduate Admission Requirements, applicants must:

• Hold a bachelor's degree
• Hold at least the Gateway for Opportunity ECE Credential Level 4
• Be current teachers with at least three years of full-time teaching experience at their current site (0-2nd grade school, religious school with ISBE approval or community-based early childhood and childcare programs), or have three years of full-time teaching experience at multiple schools (meeting the criteria above). Candidates whose experience is across multiple schools must provide documentation indicating the chief administrator held a PEL (general administrative or principal) and the majority of the teachers are required to hold a PEL for the grade levels and content for which they are employed to teach. Candidates will complete coursework while teaching full-time at their current site and continue to get paid.
• Candidates who work with children younger than three years would need to provide a proof that they will be able to work in a classroom in the same school setting with three-year olds or older children for 4-6 weeks to fulfill the edTPA requirement, a performance-based assessment required for licensure
• Must secure an onsite mentor who holds a PEL, an ECE Level 5 Credential and has 3 years of experience at the candidates' current teaching site. Mentors are required to meet with the candidates 10 times over the course of the one-year program.
• Sit for an admissions interview

Before being admitted to the Accelerated Early Childhood Program, candidates must complete ISBE Form 83-12 https://www.isbe.net/Documents/83-12-Verification-Cooperating-Teacher.pdf providing the site at which the student teaching experience will take place and the name of the teacher that will serve as the mentor. The site must comply with the regulations listed below and the mentor must meet ISBE's requirements. The licensure officer will verify the eligibility of the site and the mentor before the student is admitted to the program.

Early Childhood Student Teaching Site Requirements

Part 25.620 Educator Licensure Rules Requires:
The SEPLB recognizes and accepts student teaching only when it is earned during the candidate's final year of an educator preparation program and conducted in a public school, a nonpublic school recognized or seeking recognition pursuant to 23 Ill. Adm. Code 425 (Voluntary Registration and Recognition of Nonpublic Schools), a community-based early childhood education setting, or an out-of-state or international school.

Part 25.96 Educator Licensure Rules Requires:
Each candidate enrolled in an Illinois approved program shall complete field experiences, as defined in Section 25.610, in addition to one student teaching experience, as required under Section 25.620, that together include opportunities to work in at least two of the three early childhood age groupings of birth through age 3, age 3 through 5 years, and age 5 through 8 years. The student teaching experience may satisfy work in one of the three early childhood age groupings and at least one field experience must be completed in one of the two remaining areas.

Early Childhood Mentor Requirements

• The Cooperating Teacher is licensed and qualified to teach in the area, in ECE a Gateway Level 5 Credential is accepted.
• The Cooperating Teacher has three years of teaching experience
• The Cooperating Teacher has received a minimum of "Proficient" rating in his/her most recent performance evaluation.

 

Required Courses

Program Requirements - 35 SH

CIL 531	Cross Cultural Education	3
	or
ECE 510	Child, Family and Community	3
	and
ECE 503	Teaching and Learning in Early Childhood	3
ECE 504	Human Development: Infancy and Childhood	3
ECE 507	STEM in Early Childhood	3
ECE 522	Foundations of Emergent Literacy	3
ECE 523	Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Early Childhood Education	3
ECE 588	Early Childhood Residency Seminar	1 TO 11
RLP 537	Early Literacy Methods, PreK-3	3
SPE 500	Introduction to and Methods of Teaching Students with Disabilities	3

Note: ECE 588 must be taken for a total of 11 SH.