Certificate of Achievement: Early Childhood Curriculum

The Child Development, Early Childhood Curriculum pathway allows students to enter advanced courses specializing in early childhood curriculum development. The program creates a concentrated pathway for you to work toward higher education and career ladder goals specializing in advanced early childhood or transitional kindergarten curriculum. You will identify, develop, and evaluate curriculum plans that enhance brain growth and are inclusive, equitable, developmentally, and culturally appropriate for young children.

We anticipate 20 students earning the certificate annually. 

Upon completion of this program, students will be able to:

1. Create play-based curriculum that supports children’s cognitive, language, creative, physical and social/emotional development.

2. Design and implement curriculum based on observation and assessment to support play and learning using developmental, inclusive and anti-bias principles in collaboration with families to support all children.

3. Demonstrate the teacher's role in applying theory to practice including children’s home language, culture, brain development, diverse abilities and learning modalities reflecting anti-bias principles.

4. Define how artistic and aesthetic experiences contribute to a child’s overall development both typically and atypically

The Child Development, Early Childhood Curriculum Certificate of Achievement is a CTE program that prepares students to participate in courses that specialize in early childhood curriculum development. The program creates a pathway that prepares students for advanced roles in early childhood education and equips them to work toward roles in early childhood or transitional kindergarten curriculum. Students will complete 16-18 units, consisting of four required courses: Child Growth and Development, Early Childhood Principles and Practices, Introduction to Early Childhood Curriculum and Curriculum in Early Childhood Education, in addition to two advanced curriculum courses in either Art and Creativity, The Growing Brain I, The Growing Brain II, Integrating Science and Math in Early Childhood Education, Integrating Music, Movement and Language Arts, and Transitional Kindergarten. Students are prepared to create and implement developmentally appropriate, play-based curriculum that supports development across domains (cognitive, social/emotional, creative, language and physical). This program also satisfies professional development requirements for the Child Development Permit and aligns with the National Association for the Education of Young Children curriculum standards. 

The Certificate of Achievement: Early Childhood Curriculum is currently listed as a Skills Certificate. The Child Development Department is changing the program to update the current curriculum to a Certificate of Achievement. 

1. Los Angeles City College - Early Childhood Curriculum Certificate of Achievement

We project 60 students enrolled annually. 

This is a new program.