Master of Education in Early Childhood Education at Cleveland State University

Cleveland State University's Master of Education in Early Childhood Education specialization provides advanced study in early childhood education, a field that has an enormous impact on children, families and society. Students may complete a master's degree, or a teaching license in early childhood education (PK-3), or both. It includes University and field-based experiences that focus on the development and education of children from ages three to eight, including typically developing children and those with mild and moderate disabilities.

While primarily intended to meet the professional development needs of practicing early childhood educators, a qualified applicant who possesses a baccalaureate degree in another teaching field or related discipline may apply required coursework toward a resident educator license in early childhood. Eligibility for this license requires 1) additional coursework beyond that needed for the master's degree, 2) an electronic portfolio containing required artifacts, meeting specific criteria at checkpoints, and demonstrating proficiency in the college outcomes (http://www.csuohio.edu/cehs/students/taskstream/taskstream.html) and the standards of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (http://www.naeyc.org/ncate/standards), see below, and 3) successful completion of Pearson OAE exams.

Built around a common College Core, specialized course work in early childhood education is integrated with required offerings in educational research, social foundations, and human development as outlined below. Taken as a whole, the curriculum focuses on the development of teaching and learning practices associated with high-quality early childhood education for young children representing diverse cultures and abilities. These practices respect all children and provide them with equal opportunity to develop and learn emotionally, socially, physically, and intellectually.

Admission Requirements

• Application Form

• Application Fee
• Undergraduate Transcripts
• For all programs that do not lead to a teaching license through the Ohio Department of Education, candidates must have a score at the 50th percentile on the Miller Analogies Test or on the Verbal and Quantitative sections of Graduate Record Examination. However, a student applying for any program except Counseling is exempt from this requirement if:
   
  • The baccalaureate degree is less than six years old at the time of application AND the undergraduate cumulative grade-point average is at least 2.75; OR
  • The baccalaureate degree is more than six years old at the time of application AND the undergraduate cumulative grade-point average is at least 3.0; OR
  • The student has completed twelve or more semester credits of Cleveland State graduate course work (including EDB 601  or HPR 601 ) AND received a grade of B- or better in EDB 601  or HPR 601  with a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.0 and grades of B or better in the other courses.
• To be admitted to a teaching licensure program in the College of Education and Human Services as a graduate student, all candidates must satisfy the following requirements:
  • Test requirement.  Candidates must receive acceptable scores within the past six years on one of the following content knowledge tests, demonstrating performance in approximately the top 50% of the national distribution:
    • ACT: math 20, reading 20, English 20
    • SAT:  math 510, reading 500, writing 490
    • Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators (CASE):  math 150, reading 156, writing 162
    • GRE:  quantitative 152, verbal 151, writing 3.5
    • Miller Analogies Test: 50th percentile rank for total group
  • Undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better. 
    • Candidates admitted as a non-degree graduate student must earn a GPA of 3.0 or above after completing 12 graduate credit hours, including EDB 601, and satisfying all other licensure program admissions to be admitted into a licensure program.
  • Proficiency in math and English at the college level.
    • Grade of B- or better in a college level math and college level English class.   (Candidates for the Chinese language teaching licensure are required to satisfy the program's TOEFL admission requirements in lieu of this requirement.)
  • Background check. 
    • All prospective licensure candidates must pay for an initial BCI/FBI check at the time of their initial visit to the Education Student Services Center (except for MUST and international students, who are required to have a BCI/FBI check prior to starting their first field experience).  Throughout their licensure program, candidates are required to pay for and complete additional BCI/FBI fingerprinting checks to ensure that a valid report is always on file with the Office of Field Services as required for field placement. Prospective candidates with criminal records indicating convicted offenses considered by the Ohio Department of Education to be "absolute bars" to licensure will be denied acceptance to the college and any registration permissions for subsequent semesters will be revoked.  Prospective candidates with criminal records indicating convicted offenses eligible for rehabilitation will be referred to the Ohio Department of Education Office of Professional Conduct to determine whether they will be able to obtain a teaching license.
  • Post-baccalaureate and graduate candidates who complete all academic content courses prior to CSU professional course work (e.g. adolescent/young adult or middle grades licensure areas) must take and pass the relevant Ohio Assessments for Educators content knowledge assessment prior to admission.  Candidates who need to take content courses at Cleveland State are allowed to take content knowledge assessments prior to student teaching.

-International students are required to have met at least one of the following English language proficiency requirements:

• TOEFL iBT (Internet-Based): 78 (including at least 20 in reading, 21 in listening, 17 in writing, and 20 in speaking)
• TOEFL PBT (Paper-Based): 550
• IELTS: 6.0 and at least 5.0 in each section
• PTE (Pearson’s Test of English): 50
• iTEP: 5.0

Admission Deadlines

All applications must be submitted and complete on the following application deadline dates:

• Domestic Students
  • Rolling
• International Students
  • Fall Semester - July 21st
  • Spring Semester - December 10th
  • Summer Semester - April 14th

Career Outcomes

• This program prepares students to teach and work with young children in both public and private school settings and other childcare centers. 

• These are some of the local institutions hiring CSU grads: Orange Schools, The Goddard School, KinderCare, Stonebrook Montessori, Horizon Education Centers, YMCA, and Brightside Academy.