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Apply hereOnline Early Childhood Graduate Certificate
You want to focus your efforts on improving the lives of children and, ultimately, society. Mizzou's online Graduate Certificate in Early Childhood and Family Policy is a flexible program for work in various careers in education, social work, government and more. Enter a graduate program built for you to specialize your skills whether you’re working, preparing to switch careers or continuing your graduate education.
This graduate certificate is a collaborative program with Mizzou’s College of Arts and Science (A&S) and College of Education & Human Development (CEHD) offering you unique online courses. The program will help prepare you to think differently, lead in new ways and tackle the policy, infrastructure and advocacy challenges inspired by the present era of early childhood efforts. Feel confident knowing you’re entering a graduate program administered by two renowned departments, A&S’s Truman School of Government and Public Affairs and CEHD’s Department of Human Development and Family Science.
About the Graduate Certificate in Early Childhood and Family Policy
Courses will cover critical thinking and the nuances of the policymaking and implementation processes. Develop a deep understanding of
- The history of early childhood education.
- Effective policy design.
- Policy evaluation at multiple levels.
This program inspires you to enact social change backed by early childhood policy. You'll work in a variety of learning environments and better understand how to implement policies that affect young children in the classroom. Working within early childhood empowers you to know and represent children and advocate on behalf of those being served. And you'll be equipped to collaborate with pedagogical leaders to design, analyze and advocate for constructive policies driven by research and evidence-based practice.
As a Mizzou student enrolled in this certificate program, you'll also benefit from access to courses offered by other universities as a part of the Innovative Digital Education Alliance (IDEA) consortium. You'll be able to enroll in courses offered by early childhood and family policy experts throughout the region.
Quick facts
Official name
Graduate Certificate in Early Childhood & Family PolicyCampus
Program type
Graduate certificateAcademic home
Delivery mode
100% onlineAccreditation
Higher Learning CommissionCredit hours
12Estimated cost
$7,464.00*This cost is for illustrative purposes only. Your hours and costs will differ, depending on your transfer hours, your course choices and your academic progress. See more about tuition and financial aid.
Career prospects
This graduate certificate program will prepare you for work in a variety of careers in the following areas:
- Local, state or federal government
- Local education agencies
- Early childhood professional organizations
- Foundations or advocacy organizations
- Non-profit agencies
- United Nations
- World and regional banks
Program structure
Courses for this program are eight weeks long. Delivery of this program is 100% online: no campus visits are required.
Most students take two classes per semester and complete the course work in just one year.
Coursework includes
- History, child development and equity
- Examining practices, policies and key issues
- Early childhood policy analysis
- Policy, leadership and policy advocacy
Delivery
100% onlineCalendar system
8-week coursesTypical program length
1 yearTypical course load
2 courses per semesterInnovative Digital Education Alliance (IDEA)
IDEA is a consortium of 20 renowned public universities from across the United States, offering online degree and certificate programs in human sciences and agriculture. Students apply to and are admitted by one university, enroll in all of their courses through that university and graduate from that university. However, the online courses are taught by faculty in the discipline from several universities.
Accreditation
The University of Missouri is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States.
Faculty spotlight
Louis Manfra has worked in the Department of Human Development and Family Science since 2010. Dr. Manfra earned a doctorate in developmental psychology from George Mason University in 2006. His research broadly focuses on children's cognitive development, learning and school success during the early childhood years, especially as it relates to school readiness, self-regulation, motivation and self-directed speech. He is currently exploring the impact of these constructs on long-term achievement in elementary school and identifying early skills and environmental factors that increase school success among at-risk and vulnerable children and children from diverse populations.
Angela Hull teaches policy processes and nonprofit management in the master of public administration and public administration undergraduate programs. Dr. Hull has been the University of Missouri's (Mizzou) program director of individualized degrees since 2022. She has a doctorate in policy studies and a master’s of public administration from Mizzou. She was previously executive director of the Association for Education Finance and Policy where she contributed to annual Missouri school finance policy briefs. She worked in education associations, including state government relations for school boards and teacher groups. Her policy and research consultant work included school district grant evaluations and policy research on teacher preparation, certification, compensation and pensions, and early childhood systems development. She has been a CLASS® certified observer of an i3 evaluation with the American Institutes for Research and executive director of Missouri’s Coordinating Board for Early Childhood.
Irma Arteaga earned a master's in public policy and a doctorate in applied economics from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Arteaga's research seeks to understand the consequences of early childhood investments over the life course. Specifically, she examines the role of contextual factors and program dosage, intensity and components on children’s well-being. Her research agenda has three dominant themes: analysis of the short-term effects of early childhood interventions and program delivery on children’s well-being, analysis of the long-term effects of child policy on children’s well-being, and analysis of early childhood investments in the developing world.