The undergraduate program in early childhood education is approved by MSDE and is offered in a unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). The primary objective of the program in early childhood education is to prepare well-qualified teachers to teach in pre-school classrooms through third grade, providing prospective teachers with the experiences needed to acquaint them with the curricula organization, objectives, procedures and instructional resources of the school. Prospective teachers are also provided with classroom experiences dealing with direct analysis of teaching situations and problems, the selection, use, organization, and presentation of subject matter, techniques for the evaluation of results of teaching and learning, and the practical application of theories and principles of learning. Classroom experiences are primarily conducted at one of our Professional Development School (PDS) sites.