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National Directory of Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Institutions
The Council is pleased to serve as host for the National Directory of Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Institutions (Directory). It provides an important resource to a wide spectrum of people searching for information about institutions that offer teacher preparation programs in early childhood education. The comprehensive, alphabetical listing of US colleges and universities contains pertinent contact information and the early childhood specialty area (i.e. infant/toddler, preschool, school-age, etc.) Additionally, institutions offering *CDA training and distance learning programs are identified.
(*Institutions that offer a CDA training program develop their curriculum independent of the Council's participation or endorsement).
View the National Directory of Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Institutions
Keeping the Directory current
The Directory is a constantly updated document, requiring institutions to inform the Council of information to be added or deleted. Institutions not listed may be added by sending the required information (follow the format in the Directory) to the Council: directory@cdacouncil.org or for assistance call 800-424-4310 or 202-265-9090.
How the Directory was prepared
Researchers at the National Prekindergarten Center (NPC) at FPG Child Development Institute created an initial list of programs by combining information from the 2002 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), which is the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) annual data collection from all IHEs in the United States and territories, American Associate Degree Childhood Educators (ACCESS), and the previous directory information collected by the Council for Professional Development and the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) in 1999. The list included 1,581 institutions of higher education (IHEs) and included all types of postsecondary institutions including public and private institutions, 2- and 4-year institutions, community colleges, technical institutes, Tribal colleges, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Data for the Directory were obtained from 1,218 institutions.
Survey highlights
In addition to collecting basic information for the Directory, NPC also collected descriptive facts about a variety of program variables including faculty, students, curriculum, and challenges. Some highlights from this survey include:
- Most early childhood teacher preparation programs covered a broad age range from birth to eight years.
- There were more early childhood programs offering Associate's degrees (64%) than there were Bachelor's degree programs (38%).
- Most programs offering CDA training were in 2-year colleges or universities.
- About 48% of colleges or universities awarded transfer credits to students entering with CDA credential.
- Over 80% of faculty members in early childhood teacher preparation programs were White, non-Hispanic.
- For programs in 2-year colleges or universities, two of the largest challenges faced by programs were students' competing work or family related responsibilities and attracting and keeping students due to poor working conditions in the field of early childhood. For programs in 4-year colleges or universities, the largest challenges were attracting and retaining faculty who were ethnically or linguistically diverse.
More information and updates can be accessed at the NPC web site .
The work was conducted by the National Prekindergarten Center at FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with funding from Foundation for Child Development .
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