Early Childhood Education Learning Outcomes

Saint Xavier University is dedicated to providing top-quality education that is intentionally designed to develop your skills and expertise as you prepare for the next step in your education or career. The learning outcomes reflect the specific competencies that you will gain from our education programs, while the curriculum map portrays how these competencies will shape and prepare you for the real world.

Candidates prepared in early childhood degree programs are grounded in a child development knowledge base. They use their understanding of:

• Young children's characteristics and needs
• Multiple interacting influences on children's development and learning
• Creating environments that are healthy, respectful, supportive and challenging for each child
• Building family and community relationships

Candidates prepared in early childhood degree programs understand that successful early childhood education depends upon partnerships with children's families and communities. They understand and value the importance and complex characteristics of children's families and communities. They use this understanding to create respectful, reciprocal relationships that support and empower families to involve all families in their children's development, while learning, observing, documenting and assessing young children and families.

Candidates prepared in early childhood degree programs understand that child observation, documentation and other forms of assessment are central to the practice of all early childhood professionals. They:

• Understand the goals, benefits and uses of assessment.
• Use systematic observations, documentation and other effective assessment strategies
• Positively influence the development of every child, in partnership with families and other professionals
• Use developmentally effective approaches

Candidates prepared in early childhood degree programs understand that teaching and learning with young children is a complex enterprise, and its details vary depending on children's ages, characteristics and the settings within which teaching and learning occur. They:

• Understand and use positive relationships and supportive interactions as the foundation for their work with young children and families
• Know, understand and use a wide array of developmentally appropriate approaches, instructional strategies and tools to connect with children and families
• Positively influence each child's development and learning
• Use content knowledge to build meaningful curriculum

Candidates prepared in early childhood degree programs use their knowledge of academic disciplines to design, implement, and evaluate experiences that promote positive development and learning for each and every young child. Candidates understand the importance of developmental domains and academic (or content) disciplines in early childhood curriculum. They:

• Know the essential concepts, inquiry tools and structure of content areas, including academic subjectS, and can identify resources to deepen their understanding
• Use their own knowledge and other resources to design, implement and evaluate meaningful, challenging curriculum that promotes comprehensive developmental and learning outcomes for every young child
• Become a professional

Candidates prepared in early childhood degree programs identify and conduct themselves as members of the early childhood profession. They use ethical guidelines and other professional standards related to early childhood practice. They:

• Are continuous, collaborative learners who demonstrate knowledgeable, reflective and critical perspectives on their work, making informed decisions
• Integrate knowledge from a variety of sources
• Are informed advocates for sound educational practices and policies

Candidates have field experiences and clinical practice in at least two of the three early childhood age groups (birth to age three, three through five, five through eight years) and in the variety of settings that offer early education (early school grades, child care centers and homes, Head Start programs).