Certificate of Proficiency (COP)

Early Childhood Education (State Certificate)

About The Program

LCC ‘s State Early Childhood Education Certificate provides the coursework for students to achieve level 7 on the Career Lattice. This certificate is the third level in the statewide one-year certificate. Built with Common Courses and Common Core Competencies, this certificate will transfer in and transfer to other community colleges in a seamless manner. Employees achieving this certificate will assist their centers in the Early Achievers Rating system. Students entering the Early Childhood Education Program must show evidence of a current TB test and obtain a cleared Portable Background check through Washington State Dept of Early Learning MERIT System.

See: https://www.dcyf.wa.gov/services/early-learning-providers/background-checks

For a roadmap that identifies the preferred sequencing of courses and other specific recommendations from faculty, please see the corresponding program map(s):

Early Childhood Education - COP (State Certificate)

Program Requirements

ECED& 105	Intro to Early Childhood Educ	5
ECED& 107	Health, Safety, and Nutrition	5
ECED& 120	Practicum-Nurturing Relationships	2
ECED& 160	Curriculum	5
ECED& 180	Lang/Literacy Development	3
ECED& 190	Observation/Assessment	3
ECED& 170 OR EDUC& 130	Learning Environments OR Guiding Behavior	3
EDUC& 150	Child, Family, Community	3

Complete one of the following content areas:

EDUC& 130	Guiding Behavior (ECED Gen)	3
ECED& 132	Infants/Toddler Care (Inf/Tod Care)	3
EDUC& 136	School Age Care (School-Age Care)	3
ECED& 134	Family Child Care (Family Child Care)	3
ECED& 139	Administration of ECE (Admin)	3

General Education Requirements

ENGL& 101	English Composition I or higher	5
MATH& 107	College Level Math or higher	5
EDUC& 115	Child Development	5

Diversity and Distribution Lists are available in the Lower Columbia College Catalog located at lowercolumbia.edu/catalog.

Total credits required to earn this certificate: 47

Students completing this program should acquire the following skills and abilities:

Create and maintain a safe and healthy environment for young children.
Demonstrate an understanding of how children differ in their development and approaches to learning and use this knowledge to provide opportunities supporting physical, social, emotional, and cognitive growth.
Develop relationships with children enhancing children’s self-esteem, social-emotional development, and problem-solving skills.
Use individual and group guidance and problem solving techniques to support positive relationships with children assisting their development in self esteem, self control, and self motivation.
Gather empirical data employing a variety of observation and assessment tools, and analyze data with the purpose of developing age and developmentally appropriate curriculum.
Utilize age appropriate music, art, and craft activities and ideas to foster the development of creativity, motor skills, and interpersonal skills in children.
Create an anti-biased, culturally relevant environment modeling respect for the many facets that fall under the term “diversity”.
Demonstrate the ability to use theory, research, developmentally appropriate practice and a variety of instructional strategies when planning and implementing curriculum.
Utilize age appropriate math, science, computer, and literature activities and ideas to foster the development of language, communication, and basic numerical skills, creativity, and curiosity regarding math, science, and technology.
Develop personally and professionally, maintaining current knowledge in the field and participating in on-going professional development.

Revised October 2021 (Effective Fall 2021)

Notes:

This is a tentative schedule. Students may adjust the credit load according to their needs. The sequence should stay approximately as listed above even though there is some flexibility. Consult an advisor if you have any questions.