The Mary Lou Fulton Teacher’s College isn’t just the best place to get a teaching certification in Arizona… it’s one of the best colleges in the country for educator training, period.
In the past two years, the school placed twelfth in the U.S. for education overall, and eighth for online master’s programs according to the prestigious U.S. News & World Reports Best Graduate Schools rankings.
The reasons for these kudos are easy to spot:
- Every student, whether on campus or online, is offered personalized support services, including academic, career, and wellness coaching.
- The Office of Professional Experiences cultivates diverse experiential learning opportunities exploring different philosophies in different settings.
- A wealth of student associations allows you to explore your own interests with your peers.
Anchored by such heavyweight research stalwarts as the Center on Reinventing Public Education, the Learning and Cognition Lab, and The Learning Futures Collaboratives, ASU doesn’t just train teachers—it redefines what modern teaching can be.
The First Lady of the Teacher’s College Continues to Inspire New Generations of Educators
Mary Lou wanted to be a teacher for almost as far back as she could remember. After graduating high school in the early 1950s, she enrolled in the then-College of Education at ASU. She was well on her way to realizing her childhood dreams… but as with so many dreams, life intervened. Another interest found at college proved to be more compelling: her future husband Ira, a player on the Sun Devils football team.
College had to be put on hold while she raised her family.
Once her two sons and daughter were well on their way to maturity, though, Mary Lou did something that most other people with stifled childhood dreams do not: she went back to school.
In 1975, she earned her degree at ASU and finally became a teacher. Her joy was teaching kids to read. But she always claimed that she learned more from them than they learned from her.
But in the end, Mary Lou ended up doing a lot more for the children of Arizona than just teaching them to read. Her and Ira did well for themselves and gave back heavily to the College of Education… so much so that it’s now the Mary Lou Fulton Teacher’s College.
Mary Lou passed away in 2015 at age 82, but her inspiration and gifts continue to bring the benefits of learning to new generations of teachers and students.
Earning a master’s degree at a university with this kind of reputation and support doesn’t just fuel your future. It offers a chance to change the future of education in general.
Nowhere is that opportunity greater or more important than in early childhood education.
Online Master of Education in Early Childhood Education with Teacher Certification
Increasing amounts of evidence show how important the earliest years of a child’s life are to their long-term health and cognitive ability. The most critical period of brain development happens before kids even get to kindergarten.
In the landmark Early Catastrophe report from 1995, researchers found that children from poorer families were critically behind their peers in vocabulary development. And no matter how good their subsequent schooling, most would never catch up.
Early learning is where the real differences are made in student’s lives.
At ASU, you have the chance not just to learn how to make a difference for kids when it matters most, but also to forge new ground in the studies that are showing how important early childhood education can be.
Designed for teachers who are seeking additional qualifications in their current career path, the Master of Education in Early Childhood Education both offers the tools and knowledge to effectively work with kids at the pre-K-3 level, and the required coursework to get Arizona state certification as a Pre-K teacher.
It also delivers the kind of preparation you need to pass the all-important Subject Knowledge Early Childhood Education Exam as mandated by the Arizona Department of Education for certification in this field.
Because it all comes to you online, it also offers the flexibility to attend from anywhere and to build your class schedule around your busy life. That offers a great fit for any mid-career professional interested in this most critical teaching field.
Going Beyond the Certification Requirements and Breaking New Ground as an ECE Professional
The degree provides more than just groundwork for licensing paperwork, however. As a master’s-level program, it also reaches out into areas like instructional design and teaching techniques. You’ll get a leadership-level overview of trends and other research efforts in the field. And you’ll cultivate a deeper knowledge of early childhood development processes than other teachers are exposed to.
Finally, ASU offers extensive field experience to put your knowledge and training into practice. Two separate internships and a student teaching placement covering both pre-K and K-3 classroom time offer a chance to polish your skills. They all happen under the careful guidance and thoughtful, personalized supervision of expert instructors in the field.
Meeting the state Department of Education standards for an Arizona Early Childhood Education certification is one thing. But to shoulder the responsibility of taking on students at the most delicate and important stage of cognitive development, you need something more than just completing a checklist.
That something extra, in support, in knowledge, in confidence, and in capabilities is exactly what the ASU M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education delivers. You’ll take your place with other ECE educators with pride and lift new generations of kids toward a brighter future.
