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New Mexico State University

Department of Curriculum & Instruction

Master of Arts with Specialization
in Early Childhood Education


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Non-Licensure Program - there are additional requirements for Licensure. See the Graduate Handbook (pdf 92KB) for details.
Course descriptions are available in the Graduate Catalog.

Program Requirements:
  • Admission to the Graduate School. All courses are part of a Graduate Program within the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Students must be fully admitted to the Graduate School before taking any Graduate courses in this program.
  • Enrollment and acceptance into the Curriculum and Instruction Master of Arts Program.
Minimum Number of Credits 33
* These courses also count toward licensure in the State of New Mexico

Prerequisites
(Evidence of these courses/experiences must be provided to the ECED advisor before graduate ECED courses can be taken):
  ECED 360 Introduction to Early Childhood Education 3
  ECED 257, 258 or 259 1

Course Requirements:
A. Curriculum and Instruction Core (15 credit hours) 15
  EDUC 513 Research in Curriculum and Instruction 3
  EDUC 515 Multicultural Education 3
  EDUC 535 Foundations of Curriculum
or EDUC 538 Curriculum Development Processes 		3
  EDUC 539 Evaluating of Instructional Strategies
or EDUC 505 Classroom Management 		3
  EDUC 568 Educational Applications of Computers 3
B. Early Childhood Graduate Courses (12 credit hours) 12
* ECED 479 Curriculum in Early Childhood Education 3
    ECED 510 Issues in Early Childhood Education 3
* ECED 515 Working with Families of Young Children 3
* ECED 550 Early Childhood Special Education 3
  ECED 550 cross listed with SPED 550
C. Early Childhood Education Elective (9 credit hours)
Nine hours of electives in focus area, approved by ECED advisor.		 9
 
NOTE: Many specialized courses are not offered every semester. Please check your advisor to plan accordingly. See also the Early Childhood Education website.

Note: On Master of Arts in Curriculum & Instruction with Areas of Specialization:
The program described above leads to a Master of Arts Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an area of specialization in one of the following areas: Early Childhood Education, Reading, Bilingual Education, Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages, and Learning Technologies. Students completing the program will NOT be licensed to teach in the State of New Mexico, nor will completion of these degree programs automatically result in a teaching field endorsement. Endorsement is granted by the State of New Mexico, and requires a minimum of twenty-four credit hours. Most of the masters programs include twelve or more credit hours which would lead to an endorsement; check with the program advisor in each area of specialization for further information about endorsement.

See the requirements for Licensure in the Graduate Handbook (pdf 92KB).