EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION (BIRTH – KINDERGARTEN) PROGRAM

The goal of the Birth through Kindergarten teacher education program is to graduate students qualified to facilitate the nurturance and development of children with a wide range of capabilities, consult and collaborate with families and other professionals, analyze and plan developmentally appropriate activities and environments for children; evaluate and assess the appropriateness of programs, books and materials, apply principles of child development and successfully work with and advocate for families from diverse cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. Specifically, Birth through Kindergarten teacher education graduates will:

1. Know patterns of child growth and development to insure developmentally appropriate practices for all children;
2. Recognize and provide environments that are safe and health y, predictable, and consistent:
3. Be broadly educated to select curricula goals and activities that allow children to construct knowledge, acquire skills, concepts, attitudes, and behaviors that are developmentally appropriate, theoretically sound and implemented in a responsive environment that uses positive guidance techniques;
4. Understand that families are the carriers of the child’s history and as such are the primary frame of reference for children’s development and learning, and that outside care and education must be sensitive to the cultural context of the family and effectively communicate with and involve parents in the educational process;
5. Know developmentally appropriate ways to assess and evaluate children and programs and use that information to make decisions about future programs, interventions, referrals, planning, and teaching strategies;
6. Know Developmentally-Culturally Appropriate Practices sanctioned by NAEYC, and can integrate them in the development, implementation, and management of programs and in consultation and collaboration with parents and community professionals; and
7. Commit to continuing professional development, advocacy, and leadership, and a professional code of ethics.

The goals and objectives of the Elementary Education program are to provide prospective elementary teachers with;

1. An understanding of the diverse roles of elementary teachers.
2. Knowledge of the history, philosophy, theories, and principles that under gird modern elementary education.  
3. Sensitivity to attitudes, emotions, cultural heritage, and special needs of all children.
4. Knowledge in promoting good school/community relations through effective communication skills.
5. Appropriate decision-making skills in developing and implementing the educational process.
6. Knowledge of human growth and development as it applies to the appropriate developmental practice in elementary school.
7. An understanding of the importance of reading, skills for teaching and improving the reading skills of children, and an appreciation for literacy connections between reading ability and overall student success.
8. Opportunities to plan and implement developmentally appropriate practices with children in grades K through 6.
9. Opportunities for practical experiences in a sequential program.
10. Skills and research for the use of educational technology in the classroom.
11. Multicultural education approaches to learning by creating instructional opportunities adapted to learners from diverse cultural backgrounds and exceptional learners.

Accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, the Social Work program offers the Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.) Degree, a Professional Degree. Graduates of Livingstone College’s Social Work program are prepared for entry- level professional employment in public and private agencies such as child welfare agencies, family service agencies, mental health centers, public assistance agencies/schools/ hospitals, and service agencies for the elderly and handicapped. Careers may also involve work with the developmentally disabled, homeless shelters, and housing programs.

The goals for students’ learning and program impact are designed to enable graduates of the program to articulate a practice paradigm that emerges from a commitment to human rights, social and economic justice, and individual and collective empowerment. The following goals are rendered from this guiding programmatic commitment:

1. To provide a curriculum that prepares graduates for competent beginning professional generalist social work practice with diverse client systems guided by the values and ethics of the social work profession;
2. To provide a curriculum that prepares graduates to engage in prevention activities that promote well-being and healthy social functioning;
3. To provide a curriculum that prepares graduates to practice with diverse individuals, groups, organizations and communities;
4. To provide a curriculum that prepares graduates to alleviate poverty, oppression, and other forms of injustice; and
5. To provide a curriculum that prepares graduates to identify, assess, and develop strategies that change conditions that impede, infringe, and deny people the right to social and economic justice.

Preparation as a generalist social work practitioner presupposes that basic cognitive learning and an underlying value ethic will make a distinction between the social work student, and the liberal arts graduate. Building on a liberal arts general education base, the Livingstone College Social Work Program sees the B.S.W. Graduate as one who can perform as a beginning social work practitioner and serve the wider community, yet maintain awareness for lifelong learning, continuing education, or specialist study.

Social Work majors must meet the forty-seven (47) hours General Education requirement of the College. A minimum total of forty- two (42) is required for the program, plus twenty-four (24) credits of mandated cognate [support] courses and electives. Additionally social work majors must complete six (6) hours in Spanish, which meets the foreign language requirement of the college and six (6) hours of college mathematics which serves as the mathematics requirement of the college.

NOTE: In order to receive credit for required courses in the field, support courses and foreign language courses, the minimum grade of “C” must be earned. Students who wish to major in Social Work must apply for admission to both the College and the Social Work Program. There are two (2) separate admission requirements as specified in the “Admission Procedure” section of the Social Work Program Student Handbook. Copies of the handbook may be obtained from the office of the Chair of the Social Work Department. After admission to the program, students must maintain a 2.5 GPA in major courses and 2.0 GPA overall.

All senior social work majors are required to pay a seventy-five dollar ($75) field instruction fee* at the time they register for SWK 460-Field Instruction/Seminar course, and must make arrangements for transportation to and from their field placement prior to the beginning of the course.

Social Work Mors must earn a “C” or better in the following courses:

• Eng 131 Freshman Comp I
• MAT 133 College Math I
• SPA 131 Spanish I
• ENG 132 Freshman Comp II
• MAT 134 College MAT II
• SPA 132 Spanish II
• BIO 140 Freshman Bio

All Cognate courses All Social Work courses Social Work majores must take the following behavioral science courses:

• POL 233American Politics
• PSY 130 Intro to Psychology
• SOC 130 Principls of Sociology

The Psychology Program provides students with a foundation in the methodologies, theories, research findings, and applications of contemporary psychology. Upon receipt of the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Psychology, students are prepared for graduate study or employment in psychology and related fields. The rigorous education of psychology majors emphasizes:

1. Committing students to a program designed to broaden and enrich their experiences.
2. Challenging students to maximize their efforts and skills through a search for knowledge.
3. Promoting student growth and development of a practical philosophy enabling stud ents to apply moral, ethical, and spiritual values to problems related to behavioral and mental processes in a multicultural and global context.
4. Fostering the development of the total person by stressing the importance of achievement, leadership, and community service.

The goals and objectives of the Psychology Program are as follows:

1. To familiarize the student with a variety of content areas in preparation for graduate school.
2. To foster skills in designing and conducting research and in analyzing and inte rpreting data.
3. To stimulate comprehension of psychological literature.
4. To create an awareness of ethical issues and guidelines.
5. To expose the student to issues of diversity in psychological theory, research, and practice.

A brief description of what the Teacher Education Statistics are will go here….

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A brief description of what the Social Work Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes are will go here…

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