Master of Education in Early Childhood Education Online
Gain valuable skills and expertise to work with young children.
Program Overview
Discover what Worcester State's online master's in early childhood education offers you
The Master of Education in Early Childhood Education online program from Worcester State is designed to provide the skills for teaching young children during this formative part of their lives. Upon completion of the program, you will be able to create a positive social context for learning and employ effective strategies to meet the needs of diverse learners.
Prepare to be taught by experienced faculty practitioners who will ensure you understand both theory and practical applications in the classroom. You will also create a portfolio of work to demonstrate your proficiencies.
This affordable online early childhood education degree is designed for working professionals, with 100% online coursework and pay-by-the-course tuition. While this education program does not lead to initial licensure, with an initial license in Massachusetts, you may use this degree to self-petition for professional licensure in Massachusetts. Neither a teaching degree nor teaching experience is required if you are not planning to petition for licensure. Students entering this program, however, should have some work experience in formal or informal learning environments.
Worcester State University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
In this M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education online program you will learn how to:
- Design, implement and evaluate curriculum and instruction and assessment that promote children's development and learning
- Identify, apply, and critique developmentally appropriate technology and interactive media that promote learning and development for individual children
- Establish a positive social context for learning, provide appropriate behavioral supports; and employ effective instructional strategies, to meet the needs of diverse learners
- Articulate how children and families differ in their perspectives and approaches to learning and create effective means of partnering with families
- Engage in reflective practice and continually evaluate and improve how their actions affect children, parents, and other professionals in the learning community; and apply reflective practice to the role of practitioner-researcher in action research
- Design, implement and evaluate curriculum and instruction and assessment that promote children's development and learning
- Identify, apply, and critique developmentally appropriate technology and interactive media that promote learning and development for individual children
- Establish a positive social context for learning, provide appropriate behavioral supports; and employ effective instructional strategies, to meet the needs of diverse learners
- Articulate how children and families differ in their perspectives and approaches to learning and create effective means of partnering with families
- Engage in reflective practice and continually evaluate and improve how their actions affect children, parents, and other professionals in the learning community; and apply reflective practice to the role of practitioner-researcher in action research
Early childhood education career outcomes:
- Early Childhood Program Specialist
- Teacher in a private preschool or childcare center
- Leadership role in a public agency, such as Head Start
- Leadership role in a private preschool or child care center
- Early Childhood Program Specialist
- Teacher in a private preschool or childcare center
- Leadership role in a public agency, such as Head Start
- Leadership role in a private preschool or child care center
Online M.Ed. degrees also available:
Worcester State University offers a variety of quality education degree programs online. Explore all our online education programs.
Tuition
Pay for your early childhood education master’s degree by the course
Worcester State tuition is extremely affordable. Plus, you can pay by the course—making it easy to budget. Worcester State is committed to offering a high-quality education that is accessible to students at all levels of financial need.
Program | Per Credit Hour | Per Program |
---|---|---|
M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education | $409 | $13,906 |
Additional Fees
Application: $50
*Tuition and fees as of Fall 2024. Worcester State reserves the right to change tuition and fees at any time. Accelerated online programs are not eligible for tuition remission benefits, waivers and vouchers.
Financial Aid
The Financial Aid Office at Worcester State is here to assist you with the guidelines and process of financing your education. We will work with you to ensure that you have a clear understanding of your financial aid options while attending Worcester State.
Worcester State online programs are eligible for financial aid, which is available for those who apply and qualify. The first step in applying for financial aid is to file your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Worcester State's Federal School Code is 002190.
Contact the financial aid office at:
Financial Aid Office
Shaughnessy Administration Building
Academic Mall, 1st floor
Office 150
508-929-8056
508-929-8194 (fax)
[email protected]
Calendar
Explore the milestones that guide your student journey
It's always a good time to earn your degree from Worcester State University online. We offer six start dates during the year so you can begin your program when it's most convenient. Check out the chart below for important dates.
Now enrolling:
Session | Start Date | Application Deadline | Registration Deadline | Document Deadline | Tuition Deadline | Last Class Day |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spring 2 | 3/24/25 | 3/7/25 | 3/19/25 | 3/14/25 | 3/19/25 | 5/11/25 |
Summer 1 | 5/19/25 | 5/2/25 | 5/14/25 | 5/9/25 | 5/14/25 | 7/6/25 |
Summer 2 | 7/14/25 | 6/27/25 | 7/9/25 | 7/4/25 | 7/9/25 | 8/31/25 |
Admissions
How to apply for our online early childhood education degree
The admission process is the first step toward earning your degree at Worcester State! Please read the admission guidelines to ensure you qualify.
- Complete online application for admission
- Pay $50 application fee
- Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited (or equivalent) institution with a minimum 2.75 overall GPA
- Submit official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate coursework from regionally accredited institutions
- Some work experience in formal or informal learning environments (submit two academic or professional references)
- If applicants do not have an undergraduate degree or minor in
Education, it is recommended that students have the following coursework
completed on the undergraduate level:
- a course in Child Growth and Development (or a CLEP Human Growth and Development score of 50 or higher)
- a Curriculum course in Early Childhood Education or Elementary Childhood
- Education course in Reading Foundations
Official transcripts may be mailed or emailed directly from the granting institution(s) to:
Mailing Address:
Graduate Admissions Office
Worcester State University
486 Chandler Street
Worcester, MA 01602
Email: [email protected]
Courses
Take a look at the online early childhood education classes
For this master’s in early childhood education online, you are required to take 12 courses for a total of 34 credit hours.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Compare and contrast the central philosophies and major psychological theories which have guided American education and their influence on educational practice.
- Articulate a personal philosophy of education and align that philosophy with classic philosophical and psychological theories and with classroom practice.
- Demonstrate critical insight into the role of research in current educational practice and apply conventions to document research using APA style.
- Use library and internet resources for research purposes and evaluate research studies in light of philosophical and psychological assumptions and application to practice.
- Demonstrate knowledge of key educational reform movements in the United States, the major figures related to these movements, their philosophical tenets, and impact on teaching and learning
- Improve use of technology in research, analysis, and presentation of information.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Write a well-organized literature review that incorporates high-quality sources relevant to a specific problem of practice.
- Identify common ethical issues that can arise during the research process and apply strategies to address these issues in scholarly writing.
- Gain proficiency in writing quantitative research questions and hypotheses as well as qualitative central questions.
- Describe procedures for and types of quantitative and qualitative data collection.
- Evaluate the validity and trustworthiness of data collection instruments.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Recognize the various forms and types of data and assessment that support action research.
- Scrutinize and properly analyze qualitative and quantitative data.
- Effectively organize and present (in writing) qualitative and quantitative findings.
- Compose an action research report using academic writing standards and APA format that demonstrates engagement with the action research cycle and includes the following chapters: introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, and discussion.
- Demonstrate the ability to prepare and submit an IRB application outlining appropriate research design and adherence to ethical standards.
- Reflect on the action research process and how it may impact educational practices.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Analyze one’s own values, goals and sense of self as related to family history and life experiences, assessing how this impacts relationships with children and families.
- Synthesize and analyze recent research on the impact of race, social class, and culture onchildren, families, schools and communities
- Critique strategies that support and empower families through respective reciprocal relationships that involve all families in their children's development and learning
- Apply knowledge of family and community characteristics when involving family in their children's development and learning
- Understand the diversity of students and their families and propose effective anti-bias approaches to teaching and learning and to interacting with families.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Articulate a teaching philosophy that reflects appropriate attitudes toward working with young children with disabilities, delays, and/or risks and their families.
- Develop a strategic plan to transition children into an inclusive classroom and to communicate with and engage with families of children with disabilities.
- Demonstrate the ways that strategies from the IEP process can support the use of assessment and /or observational data to develop a performance profile and annual for a child with or without a disability.
- Collect and apply evidence‐based practices including Universal Design for Learning to individualize lessons and activities working with young children with disabilities, delays, and/or risks to foster communication behavior.
- Develop a plan to guide and support the behavior of a young child with disabilities.
- Design strategies for professional collaboration and self-care.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the theory of balanced literacy and how it can be utilized with the workshop methods to instruct using the gradual release of responsibility.
- Identify specific web-based resources as well as iPad apps that support the five domains of literacy and explain their role in teaching and learning across academic domains.
- Explore and implement various instructional and assessment methods that integrate educational technology based on research and theory.
- Synthesize their knowledge of literacy instructional theories, educational technology, and the state frameworks/curriculum in order to create a unit of study, utilizing Understanding by Design theory, that is student-centered, grounded in the components of balanced literacy, integrates content area standards and features a performance-based task to assess student understanding.
- Create a virtual space for fostering home-school literacy connections that empower families to support student literacy learning.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the critical role that teachers play in helping students think and learn with text
- Understand that assessment is a continuous process that makes use of multiple methods of gathering relevant data for instructional purposes.
- Develop techniques and strategies for using text structure in order to think deeply about ideas encountered during reading.
- Plan differentiated lessons which will enable all learners to be successful in reading and processing content text.
- Create a content unit of study demonstrating strategies and concepts studied in class
- Develop “text talk” and “writing to learn” activities to help students respond to difficult text.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Describe science inquiry and the role it plays in their own and their students’ science learning.
- Build capacity to guide children’s science inquiry and learning using the “Engage-Explore-Reflect” model.
- Facilitate conversations that clarify and deepen children’s scientific thinking and conceptual understanding.
- Develop the ability to support children’s reflection and document children’s comprehension.
- Construct their own science aptitude through hands-on experience.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Explain anti-bias curriculum and how bias can impact teaching of basic concepts within the disciplines and patterns by which these concepts are integrated into the curriculum.
- Consider American civic culture and the concepts and understanding necessary for students to develop a sense of their identity as members of families and communities and citizens of their cities or towns, states, and the world.
- Articulate principles on which a social studies curriculum for young children should be based.
- Evaluate early childhood social studies activities, lessons and units using the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and other curriculum resources.
- Use community and online resources to enhance knowledge of social studies content and pedagogy.
- Reflect on attitudes, strategies, and materials to teach history, geography, economics, and civics, from the perspective of an anti-bias curriculum.
- Identify a central question in Early Childhood History and Social Studies Education and summarize and synthesize research studies to answer this question.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Gain perspective on the development of mathematics and mathematical thinking as the product of cultural realities and community participation.
- Provide effective instruction to learners from other cultures whose language and past experiences may get in the way of understanding how mathematics is taught and learned in the United States.
- Develop the ability to assess for understanding based on a variety of assessment measures.
- Engage in mathematics discourse as they grapple with pure mathematical content through problem solving activities situated in real-life, and how different cultures around the world. used algorithms to provide mathematical answers.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Identify and research a problem of practice in one's field by reflecting on one's teaching practice.
- Determine the significance of a problem of practice in the field of education and within a specific site.
- Develop a clear statement of purpose outlining the goals of a study aimed at addressing a specific problem of practice.
- Critically analyze and evaluate quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research articles for their significance, quality, and validity to conduct a comprehensive literature review.
- Formulate a research question(s) (quantitative) or a central question (qualitative) related to the problem of practice and consider its relationship to the research paradigm and design.
- Determine the meaning and principles of action research.
- Demonstrate effective academic writing, adhere to APA format, and uphold ethical standards, including academic honesty, in all scholarly work.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Describe personal and professional context for the graduate program
- Present a summary of learning which demonstrates mastery of MA DESE common standards for teachers.
- Present artifacts to demonstrate mastery of all (6) program outcomes
Course rotation:
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Please note: Completion of a fully online graduate program at Worcester State University does not meet any state requirements for licensure in education or nursing. The Master of Education program does not provide for the endorsement of any type of initial or professional license in the state of Massachusetts or any other state; however, the successful completion of a fully online graduate program may prepare students to self-petition for licensure in their home states depending on their home states' licensure requirements.