Early Childhood Development

VPCC’s Early Childhood Associate Degree prepares students planning to transfer to partner four-year institutions teacher preparation programs. It is specifically designed for students who plan to seek endorsement and licensure as teachers in Early Childhood Education (PreK-3rd ) or Special Education.

This degree is designed to provide individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge to work in early childhood education programs. The program brings classroom theory and practical experiences together. Students will be placed in a coordinated internship in an appropriate school or childcare center to gain supervised field experience. Many classes in the program will take place at the Center of Excellence in Early Childhood Development in Newport News.

	FALL ’25 – SUMMER ’26 TUITION & FEES
	Virginia Residents	Out of State Rate
	$170.30 per credit hour	$358.90 per credit hour

Program Outcomes: Graduates will be able to:

Upon completion of the Early Childhood program, students will be able to create healthy, respectful, supportive and challenging learning environments for young children (NAEYC, Standard 1c).
Upon completion of the Early Childhood program, students will be able to design, implement and evaluate developmentally meaningful and challenging curriculum for each child. (NAEYC, Standard 5c).
Upon completion of the Early Childhood program, students will be able to practice responsible assessment using appropriate assessment tools to promote positive outcomes for each child, including the use of assistive technology for children with disabilities. (NAEYC, Standard 3c).
Upon completion of the Early Childhood program, students will demonstrate knowledge about a variety of community resources and their uses to support young children’s learning and development and families’ well-being. Students will assist families to find high quality resources and to partner with other early childhood experts (e.g., speech pathologists, school counselors), as needed, to support young children’s development and learning. (NAEYC, Standard 2c).
Upon completion of the Early Childhood program, students will be able to demonstrate personal and professional behaviors while upholding ethical standards and other professional guidelines. NAEYC, Standard 6b).

Possibilities

Graduates find employment in a variety of early care settings, including Heat Start, religious-based and military child development centers and for-profit and nonprofit programs. Those who earn an associate of applied science in Early Childhood Development can explore several employment opportunities. Graduates become:

paraprofessionals in public schools
preschool teachers
childcare program directors
in-home childcare professionals
before/after school resource program employees

	G3 ELIGIBLE PROGRAM
	This program is eligible for the G3 Tution Assistance programs.

Transfer Partners

Several four-year universities are accepting our AAS in Early Childhood Development, should you decide to continue your education and earn a bachelor’s degree:

James Madison University.
Longwood University
Radford University (Special Ed) AAS to BS Teacher Licensure
George Mason University AAS to BS Early Childhood Ed
Virginia Commonwealth University Early Childhood Education and Teaching
Old Dominion University

Accreditation

The Early Childhood Development AAS degree at Virginia Peninsula Community College is accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Early Childhood Higher Education Programs of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
The current accreditation term runs from June 30, 2021 through March 31, 2028.

The Early Childhood Program prepares candidates to be proficient in the:

NAEYC 2010 Initial Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation Programs

CANDIDATE PERFORMANCE	ACADEMIC YEAR 2023 – 2024
STANDARD 1: Promoting Child Development and Learning	80% of the candidates met expectations.
STANDARD 2: Building Family and Community Relationships	80% of the candidates met expectations.
STANDARD 3: Observing, Documenting, and Assessing to Support Young Children and Families	80% of the candidates met expectations.
STANDARD 4: Using Developmentally Effective Approaches	80% of the candidates met expectations.
STANDARD 5: Using Content Knowledge to Build Meaningful Curriculum	80% of the candidates met expectations.
STANDARD 6: Becoming a Professional	80% of the candidates met expectations

Career Possibilities

Early childhood program outcome data — published timeframe is 2 years

Outcome Measure #1: The Number of Program Completers

Academic Year	Number of program completers	% of program completers who were attending full-time (at the time of completion) NOTE: 12 CREDITS OR MORE IN LAST ENROLLED TERM	% of program completers who were attending part-time (at the time of completion) NOTE: LESS THAN 12 CREDITS IN LAST ENROLLED TERM
2023 – 2024	12	50%	50%
2022 – 2023	7	14%	86%
2021 – 2022	8	38%	63%

Outcome Measure #2: The Program Completion Rate

Academic year in which a Fall cohort of full-time candidates enrolled in the program (select three sequential years) NOTE: FIRST-TIME STUDENTS ONLY	Percentage of those candidates who completed the program within 150% of the published timeframe	Percentage of those candidates who completed the program within 100%, 200% (twice) or 300% (three times) of the published timeframe (Please circle, underline or bold the indicator above on which the program will report.)
Fall 2020	–	–
Fall 2019 (5)	0%	0%
Fall 2018 (6)	0%	0%

Note: Fall 2020 cohort redacted because the N is small enough to compromise student confidentiality.

Outcome Measure #3: Institutional Selected Data
(A) The fall-to-fall retention rate in the program for each of the three most recently completed academic years

Academic Year	% of Part-Time Candidates Enrolled in the Program (% of Total Enrollment)	Retention Rate among Part-Time Candidates	% of Full-Time Candidates Enrolled in the Program (% of Total Enrollment)	Retention Rate among Full-Time Candidates
Fall 2023	47%	63%	53%	67%
Fall 2022	56%	33%	44%	57%
Fall 2021	40%	67%	60%	67%

Note: transferred within one year to a four-year institution

Academic Year	Outcome Measure	Performance Data
2022 – 2023		29%
2021 – 2022		38%
2020 – 2021		36%

For example, students that graduated in the 2020-2021 academic year must have transferred to a four-year institution between May 1, 2021 and May 1, 2022