Early Childhood Education

The Early Childhood Teacher Education minor at Illinois State supports attainment of a subsequent endorsement for birth to age 7 (grade 2) for other Teacher Education majors. Teacher candidates will gain the professional knowledge, skills, and experiences needed to specialize in early learning within their chosen major. They will also be able to access opportunities focused on birth to grade 2 settings including parent-infant education, special education preschool education, public school pre-kindergarten, childcare, or kindergarten through second grade.

Why Study Early Childhood Education?

The Early Childhood minor is only available to current Illinois State University Teacher Education majors and is application based. Courses are sequenced across fall, spring, and summer semesters for two years and include three summer courses and three fall courses. Passage of the required state of Illinois content test is required for the addition of the subsequent endorsement on the professional educator license (PEL).

Application Information

Minors can only be declared by current Illinois State students. Current students can use the Apply to Your Program tool on My.IllinoisState.edu.

Cohorts of 25 students are admitted based on application review. Applicants must be teacher education majors with at least 30 credit hours including hours in progress.

Application Period

Applications are open from September 15 to October 1.

Academic Advising