Licensure
Early Childhood Education
With State of Kansas Licensure (residents of Kansas)
This program is designed for students who wish to work in early education programs in administrative or teaching positions, including work with parents and community agencies, as well as with young children, aged birth through kindergarten.
The Kansas State Department of Education and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education has approved K-State's early childhood education pre-service program. Students completing the early childhood education program in the School of Family Studies and Human Services are eligible for licensure by the Kansas State Department of Education in early childhood unified, birth through kindergarten. Program degree requirements are subject to change to meet licensure requirements. The early childhood unified, birth through kindergarten, license combines early childhood education and early childhood special education content knowledge and pedagogy in one blended pre-service teacher education program.
To complete the ECE program, students must have full admission into the teacher education program. K-State offers 72 hours of general education and professional teacher education courses through distance education. Before applying to the distance program to complete the professional courses for the ECE bachelor's degree, students need to take specific general education courses. These courses can be taken on the K-State campus in Manhattan or from other institutions. Emphasis is placed on successful completion of English 100 and 200, Speech 106, Math 100, Statistics 325, Biology 198, and a Physical Science with Lab. Students who wish to take general education courses at institutions other than K-State should visit the K-State transfer equivalency web page prior to enrollment to ensure that the courses will transfer to K-State. Barton County Community College has partnered with K-State to offer the first two years of coursework for the Early Childhood Education bachelor's degree. This provides a seamless transfer of credits from one institution to the other. Read more about this partnership on the Admissions page.
Without State of Kansas Licensure (non-residents of Kansas)
This program is designed for students who wish to work in early education programs in administrative or teaching positions, including work with parents and community agencies, as well as with young children, aged birth through kindergarten. Out of state students are not eligible for State of Kansas Licensure (unless they desire to re-locate) but can still obtain a bachelor’s degree in Family Studies and Human Services with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education.
To see what courses are required, view the information on the Course Information page link. If you have completed credit hours at another university, check the Transfer Equivalency Guide link below to see what courses they are equivalent to at Kansas State.
Read more about the program.
To get started, complete the K-State Application for Admission.
