Teacher Preparation Programs

Thinking about a career in teaching?  Whether you’re interested in early childhood, elementary, secondary or special education, UMA either offers courses directly or works with other campuses to help you achieve your goals.

Teacher Preparation Programs

Early Childhood Education

The Maine Certification office offers an endorsement for Early Childhood Teacher (Birth-5). The Mental Health and Human Services program at UMA offers the coursework needed to apply for this endorsement. Student teaching is not required for Early Childhood teachers. A complete listing of Maine Department of Education Certificates and Endorsements is included in Chapter 115 Part II available at the Maine DOE website.  

Below is a chart that shows the courses that fulfill the MDOE requirements. In addition, applicants for this endorsement must pass 
  • PRAXIS I:  Applicants for initial teacher certification must achieve a composite score of 526 in the three sections of the PPST/PRAXIS I with no single score being more that three points lower than the required scores. Required scores: Reading: 176; Writing: 175; Mathematics: 175
  • PRAXIS II: Test code 5021(computer)/ 0021 (paper). Qualifying score: 166
  • Contact Patricia Clark <pclark@maine.edu> for more information.
Endorsement 081: Early Childhood Teacher

Prerequisite: PSY 100
 
MDOE REQUIRED COURSES                                   UMA COURSES
(3 credits) Teaching early childhood special education HUS 363 Young children with special needs
(3 credits) Language development and early literacy HUS 362/PSY 363 Language and literacy for young children
(3 credits) Numeracy for the young child HUS 327E Mathematics for young children
(3 credits) Science for the young child HUS 329 Science and the project
(3 credits) Child development or developmental psychology PSY 302 Psychology of childhood
(3 credits) Infant/toddler development HUS 160 Perspectives on infants, toddlers, and young children
(6 credits) Two of the following:
Creative arts
Family studies
Observation of the young child
Assessment of the young child
Social studies of the young child
Advanced child development
Early learning environments
Additional early literacy		 HUS 328 Creative development and art for young children
HUS 261 Early childhood curriculum: Early learning environments
(3 credits) Children’s literature EDU 366 - Young Adult and Children's Literature (from UMA)