Midland College to offer bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood EducationNovember 11, 2021

Midland College (MC) officials are pleased to announce that beginning August 2022, the college will offer a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education.   Interested students should enroll in prerequisite courses and courses that lead to the Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) degree this spring.  Once a student has completed those courses, he/she can then move into the bachelor’s program.  To enroll in the program and obtain information, contact MC Dean of Education Denise McKown.

“We have offered an Associate of Arts in Teaching degree for several years,”   MC President Dr. Steve Thomas explained.  “The new bachelor’s degree will build upon the associate degree.  One of the major parts of our mission at Midland College is to train and educate Permian Basin citizens to meet the workforce demands of our community, and this program definitely fulfills a need in our community for early childhood teachers.”

The new bachelor’s-level program will prepare students to teach pre-kindergarten through 3rd grade.  The college is also in the process of becoming a Texas Education Agency (TEA) educator preparatory program.  The new MC bachelor’s-degree program will be the first TEA-approved community college program in Texas that builds on an associate degree in education.  Students graduating with a Midland College bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education will be eligible to take the state teacher certification exam in pre-k through 3rd grade.

“Midland College currently offers courses in the AAT program both face-to-face and online,” MC Vice President of Instructional Services Dr. Damon Kennedy said.  “All upper-division courses will be offered face-to-face.  What makes this program truly unique is that students will be able to get hands-on experience working with the Pre-K Academy at Midland College.”

Kennedy explained that the college’s pre-k academy is in its 3rd year of operation and has been a tremendous success, also fulfilling a need in the community—that of quality pre-k programming.  MC instructional administrators purposefully designed the curriculum in both the current AAT and the new bachelor-degree programs to give students a unique opportunity in a lab environment at the pre-k academy.

The bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education is pending approval by SACSCOC and will be the third baccalaureate degree offered by MC.  The college also offers bachelor’s degrees in Organizational Management and Health Services Management.