Department: Elementary and Early Childhood Education 

Students who select the Early Childhood Education, BSE, wish to be early childhood teachers and are pursuing a public school teaching license for grades PreK-2. Students are also required to select a second major outside of the Elementary and Early Childhood Education Department. A second major is a requirement of Bridgewater State University. Students who successfully complete their Early Childhood Education major and a second major are then eligible to apply for an Initial License with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for Early Childhood Education (Grades PreK-2).

Students must apply for admission and be accepted into Professional Education after completion of ECED 230 - The Basics of Early Childhood Education  and in order to enter Education Cluster I in their junior year. This requires a formal application to the College of Education and Health Sciences, a cumulative 2.8 GPA and successfully passing the Communication and Literacy Skills Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure^® (MTEL).

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires three Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure^® (MTEL) for Early Childhood licensure: Communication and Literacy Skills, Early Childhood and Foundations of Reading. All three of these exams must be passed in order to enter ECED 496 - Supervised Teaching in Public Schools: Inclusive Early Childhood , which is a full-time, semester-long student teaching experience in a local school under the joint supervision of a university supervisor and a supervising practitioner.

All undergraduate students seeking licensure must consult the Educator Preparation and Licensure Policies and Procedures  section of this catalog for information pertaining to admission to Professional Education and the state regulations for the Licensure of Educational Personnel and important institutional deadlines.

Students will complete a series of field experiences (prepractica) throughout their Foundation courses and Education Cluster courses. Students will be asked to authorize a Criminal Offender Record Inquiry (CORI) as a requirement for access to schools and agencies during their prepractica and practicum. Additional criminal background checks, including Statewide Applicant Fingerprint Identification Services (SAFIS), are required for field placement in schools and agencies according to Massachusetts laws and regulations. Students who are rejected for field placement by public school districts or other educational institutions due to CORI or SAFIS results or professional dispositional concerns may be unable to successfully complete the Early Childhood Education, BSE at BSU.

This program has been approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and includes licensure reciprocity with signatory states under the Interstate Certification Compact. 

Learning Outcomes: CAEP Standards, Massachusetts Professional Standards for Teachers, Massachusetts Subject Matter Knowledge Requirements and Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.