Master’s in Early Childhood Education or Child Development

[kmsei]

Hi, I am an Early Interventionist or as some people say Developmental Therapist. I work with children from birth to three years of age who have developmental delays or disabilities. I already have a Bachelor’s degree. I am interested in an online Master’s program for Early Childhood Education or Child  Development. I prefer something self paced and  inexpensive if possible. I will more than likely be moving up as our program director in the next 2 to 3 years due to seniority and the possible retirement of another staff member. I am very busy due to working 40 or more hours a week and have 3 kids so I need something flexible. Thank you for your help in advance.

[PrettyFlyforaChiGuy]

Hello, and welcome to the forum. I completed Walden's competency-based MS in Early Childhood Studies, focusing on the Management, Administration, and Leadership track. It might be well-suited for your needs, but note that there is also a Teaching and Learning track.

Here is a link with more information: https://www.waldenu.edu/online-masters-p...ency-based

Feel free to ask any questions and/or send a PM, and good luck no matter what you choose!

[kmsei]

Hello, and welcome to the forum. I completed Walden's competency-based MS in Early Childhood Studies, focusing on the Management, Administration, and Leadership track. It might be well-suited for your needs, but note that there is also a Teaching and Learning track.

Here is a link with more information: https://www.waldenu.edu/online-masters-p...ency-based

Feel free to ask any questions and/or send a PM, and good luck no matter what you choose!

Thank you for replying. If you don’t mind me asking, how many hours a week did you devote to your work? Also, did you have to write a lot of papers? I hate writing papers, but I know that’s part of it. Lol

[PrettyFlyforaChiGuy]

If I had to quantify the time spent, I'd say I'd read through the assessment rubric and learning materials for each competency first to target relevant citations (~3-4 hours), outline the assessment submission (maybe another ~2-3 hours), then finalize the submission (~10-20 hours, depending on the content). There were roughly 30 competencies in total for the entire program.

Yes, there are paper-based submissions; it's a grad-level program that emphasizes organizational management, so no real way around that. I don't know the exact number off the top of my head, but the degree felt remarkably flexible by also including the following types of assessments: audio presentations, family brochures, marketing flyers, grant applications, research proposals, advocacy and outreach campaigns, employee schedules, lesson plans, program handbooks, building schematics, short-answer responses, and more. I appreciated the real-life applicability of these assessments, and the issue of childhood obesity became a shared theme to most of my own submissions, which allowed me to interweave a common thread throughout the entire tapestry of the curriculum.

The field was totally new to me, so you may be able to demonstrate how much you already know and move at a quicker pace. I walked away knowing a lot more about the ECE field.