Early Childhood Education: Lead Teacher Certificate

The Lead Teacher Certificate prepares you to work directly in the early childhood education environment. This certificate builds upon the associate teacher certificate. Lead teacher courses deepen your understanding and experience of developmentally and culturally appropriate curriculum, children with special needs and their families, and behavioral guidance and classroom management.

The courses in the certificate meet NH Child Care Licensing Requirements and provide knowledge in the Core Knowledge areas required for by NHDHHS, Bureau of Child Development and Head Start Collaboration Credential. The course curriculum follows the standards of the National Association of the Education of the Young Child Degree Standards for Preparing Early Childhood Professionals.

Part of your experience in the early childhood program is the completion of observational hours at approved childcare centers. You must complete observational hours in all early childhood educational courses as part of your coursework.

Final requirement for completing field observations and teaching is a criminal background check and fingerprinting. There is a minimal fee required. It is your responsibility to pay the fee and complete the fingerprints and background check.

Several of our courses are NoLo courses that have minimal textbook costs.

Students in the Early Childhood Education program must have sufficient strength, stamina, motor coordination, and sensory capabilities to perform the following:

• Standing for sustained periods, walking, running, bending, and sitting on the floor to meet children’s needs and accomplish tasks;
• Frequent lifting, moving and transferring children, especially infants and toddlers;
• Sufficient visual and hearing acuity to ensure a safe environment; and ability to respond quickly to children, colleagues, and professional partners in the event of an emergency;
• Sufficient verbal ability to express and exchange information and ideas as well as to interpret important instructions to children, colleagues, professional partners, and parents;
• Sufficient skills in written expression to accurately record children’s daily progress and milestones as well as medications administered, accident and suspected child abuse/neglect reports, etc.;
• Ability to work with frequent interruptions, to respond appropriately to unexpected situations, including situations requiring immediate crisis response and role responsibility exchange; to demonstrate safe and required care for children, families, colleagues, and the workplace as a whole; and to cope with substantial variations in workload and stress levels;
• Ability to consistently attend and participate in classes and practice on time;
• Ability to demonstrate and maintain organizational skills and time management in classes and at the practicum site;
• Ability to respond to children’s personal needs, including changing diapers, in a manner that safeguards the health and safety of the student, children, and staff;
• Ability to work professionally and respectfully with a diverse range of children, including children of different races, cultures, religions, and ethnicities, as well as children with a wide range of disabling conditions;
• Ability to maintain proper boundaries in both the school and home environments; and
• Ability and disposition to adhere to and practice the Code of Ethical Conduct set forth by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. NCC reserves the right to amend its technical standards at any time and impose them on all current students

Technical Standards guide you as to skills and abilities required to function successfully in the program and ultimately in the Early Childhood Education profession. If you feel you may not be able to meet one or more of the technical standards you should contact department faculty to discuss individual cases. The Early Childhood Education Department will seriously consider all academically qualified candidates provided that the technical standards can be met with or without reasonable accommodations. No essential technical standards will be waived or modified. Information on the Technical Standards for this program is also available in the Technical Standards section of this catalog.

Scholarships are available for our program through the T.E.A.C.H. NH Scholarship Program. The scholarship program supports the cost of tuition and books, offers paid release time from work for scholarship recipients, and a bonus upon completing 9-12 credits within 12 months. For more information and to see if you qualify, visit T.E.A.C.H. NH Scholarship.

Grants are available through a partnership with Granite State College and the Division of Children Youth & Families, Department of Health, and Human Resources. CCSNH students working at least 20 hours per week in an NH licensed early childhood program are invited to apply. Eligible students may receive assistance for one ECE Course per term. Visit  CCSNH Scholarship website to see if you qualify.