The demand for early childhood care and education programs continues to increase not only in response to the growing demand for out-of-home care but also in recognition of the critical importance of educational experiences during the early years.  We must develop an integrated system of early childhood care and education that includes comprehensive approaches that directly involve families and communities, program design, implementation, and evaluation. 

Our goals are to develop students that are capable of thinking critically and thoughtfully about their role as educators.  We strive to instill in our students the need to allow children to construct their own knowledge about the world around them; to provide safe and caring learning environments where children can grow and learn at their own rate through interactions with the environment, learning materials, each other, and adults, as well as developing the ability to function independently; to create instructional lessons and activities that utilize a multiplicity of teaching strategies that are informed by best practices in education and that meet the needs of diverse learners; and lastly to ensure that assessment guides instruction so that teachers utilize information gained though observation, record keeping, and testing to not only evaluate the progress of each child, but also to meet the individual daily instructional needs.

People who work with children must have special skills---knowledge of child development, boundless patience, good judgment, real strength of character, and maturity to exercise the balance of control and latitude children require.  Few fields offer so many job opportunities for people with varying levels of training, in such a variety of settings, and with as many different scheduling patterns. 

Lee College offers two degree programs:  Associate of Arts in Early Childhood Education through Grade 4 and Associate of Arts Education Grade 4 through 8 (Generalist).