Certificate of Achievement in Early Childhood Education Master Teacher

The Certificate of Achievement in Early Childhood Education Master Teacher prepares students for infant and toddler programs. child care, preschool education, special education, and before and after school programs. Students will complete lower-division courses in child growth and development, principles and practices in early childhood education, curriculum, observation, assessment, child/family/ community relationships, diversity, health and safety, adult supervision, and specialization coursework.

We anticipate that 40 students will choose this pathway and we will have 10 completers each year.  We believe we will capture additional students who don’t want to transfer and will choose to work towards this degree, rather than stopping at 12 Early Childhood Education units, which is the minimum unit requirement for Title 22 programs.  We believe that the students will find this coursework relevant to their work and that a significant number of students will use this coursework to continue on and earn their Associate in Science Degree in Early Childhood Education Master Teacher and/or the Early Childhood Education Associate Degree for Transfer.

With this certificate of achievement, students can transfer to EDvance and complete the remaining coursework in Spanish.  This is particularly meaningful for the general education coursework as it is less concrete curriculum related to their coursework.  This certificate of achievement is therefore a pathway for Spanish Speaking students to transfer and complete a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education.

Although the field of ECE does not pay incredibly high wages, the wages have increased substantially since COVID.  The YMCA, one of the largest employers in East Contra Costa County for Early Childhood Education has salaries between $74,280 to $80,612 (inclusive of retirement and health care benefits) for early childhood educators with an associate degree.With this offering attaining an associate degree in early childhood education is more accessible.

This certificate of achievement was envisioned by the YMCA and in consultation with EDvance where Spanish Speaking students can transfer and earn their Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education in Spanish.  In addition, this degree received full support from our advisory committee, which includes other employers in East Contra Costa County such as the Community Service Bureau for Head Start, Little Angels Preschool, and the County Office of Education.

For students who want to stay in the Early Childhood Education field from birth to five, this degree meets the needs of those students, to earn a certificate of achievement in early childhood education and be employable for both Title 5 and Title 22 early childhood education programs by providing the coursework necessary for students to earn the Associate Teacher Permit issued by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and have completed the early childhood education coursework required for the Master Teacher Permit issued by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

To earn the Certificate of Achievement in Early Childhood Education Master Teacher:

1.        Completion of the required 35 units of Early Childhood Education.

2.        Minimum overall grade point average of 2.0,

3.        Minimum grade of “C” (or “P”) for each course in the major

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Both Diablo Valley College (DVC) and Contra Costa College (CCC) have similar programs in ECE. We were told by DVC department chair, Juan Huerta Villicana that they had no issues with us offering this program. We reached out to CCC department chair Michell Naidoo but did not receive a response.