The Department of Early Childhood provides a variety of undergraduate, graduate, initial licensure, and endorsement programs that serve children from age three through grade three. Housed within the Dwight Schar College of Education, which is accredited by the National Council of Teacher Education, the departments' programs are approved by the Ohio Department of Education and meet required NAEYC

and CEC/DEC standards.

•  The mission of the Early Childhood Department at Ashland University is to prepare Early Childhood and

    Early Childhood Intervention Specialist preservice and practicing teachers to positivey impact children,

    schools and society.  We support and implement the five principles of knowledge, collaboration,

    ethics, accent on the individual and reflections, which are advocated by the Dwight Schar College of

    Education.

•  Our goal is to develop early childhood educators who are able to effectively

    teach, serve, and act on behalf of the diverse needs, rights, and well-being

    of all young children. With more than 200 students in its program, the Department

    of Early Childhood is the largest undergraduate major on the Ashland campus.

    It provides initial programs for individuals desiring to major in either Early

    Childhood Education or Early Childhood Intervention Specialist. Early

    Childhood majors are prepared to work with children who have

    mild-to-moderate disabilities, while intervention specialists also learn

    how to meet the needs of those young children who have moderate-to-severe

    disabilities.

The Department of Early Childhood also houses a number of Early Childhood programs for post baccalaureate students who want to work with young children who are typically developing, have special needs, or both.

They include:

• Early Childhood Education license through the Bachelor's Plus program
• Early Childhood Intervention License
• Pre kindergarten Special Needs Endorsement

www.willhillenbrand.com/forteachers.html

See Ashland University students on Bender & Bender website.  Bender & Bender are Author's and Graphic Arts Illustrators for the children's book "Ribbit". They presented at the Schar Lecture Hall in the College of Education in the Fall of 2008.  http://www.benderimaging.com/au2.html