This Program is Perfect For

  • Current or aspiring site supervisors, program directors, or child care center owners
  • Passionate educators looking to cultivate positive learning environments and impactful family–staff partnerships
  • Learners needing flexible, online-based professional development aligned with state licensing, excluding international or workforce funding

Head up your own ECE center

Running your own child care center or serving as a site supervisor for our youngest learners requires the vision of an entrepreneur, the skills of a manager, and the heart of a teacher.

In the Early Childhood Education: Supervision and Administration program, you'll learn best practices for recruiting, teacher training, and staff management while working toward your state child development site supervisor or program director permit.

You will learn to instill positive guidance and discipline into your curriculum for infants, toddlers, and young children.

The program is designed for students looking to complete requirements for the Child Development Site Supervisor Permit through the , and for site directors seeking professional development to renew permits for licensed facilities.

Classroom curriculum

  • Child growth and development
  • Classroom teaching strategies
  • Center management
  • Creating a developmentally based curriculum
  • Current industry research and trends

Leadership curriculum

The curriculum delivers targeted instruction to prepare you to become a successful child care owner and build your qualifications as a director. Gain the confidence to manage and run any child care center.

  • Budget administration
  • Facilities management
  • Personnel recruitment—best practices
  • Supervisory skills

Certificate program learning outcomes

  • Create optimal learning environments through efficient staff interactions with children and their families
  • Identify the differences in major learning theories and curriculum models as they pertain to early childhood education center philosophies and use them to enhance and develop appropriate care and education at child care centers
  • Apply effective communication with families, staff, and communities about the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional needs of children as a leader and director
  • Identify high-quality settings for children using quality indicators such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children guidelines and standards and know what they are looking for as it pertains to getting child care centers licensing, permits, and regulations for the state of California
  • Develop positive guidance and mentorship strategies to use when working with diverse groups of children including those with special needs

Meet state licensing requirements

  • California Department of Education Title 5
    The Early Childhood Education: Supervision and Administration certificate program satisfies California Department of Education Title 5 coursework requirements for the Child Development Program Director and Site Supervisor Permit.
     
  • Department of Social Services Title 22
    The program also satisfies the Department of Social Services Title 22 Community Care licensing requirements for qualified directors in a licensed early childhood program.

Courses

Program Requirements

Take 4 courses (20 quarter units)

  • End with certificate of completion review.

1. Required Course(s):

ECEA.X320
$690
  • Online Traditional Complete online with instructor-set deadlines.
Schedule
Date
Start Time
End Time
Meeting Type
Location
Tue, 01-06-2026
12:01am
12:02am
Online Traditional
ONLINE
Tue, 01-06-2026
12:01am
12:02am
Online Traditional
ONLINE
Tue, 02-17-2026
11:58pm
11:59pm
Online Traditional
ONLINE
Tue, 02-17-2026
11:58pm
11:59pm
Online Traditional
ONLINE
 

黑料不打烊

Online Traditional courses have a structured learning environment and fixed deadlines. This course is largely self-study with instructor guidance and includes online learning modules, assignments, and/or quizzes. All course materials and assignments will be available on Canvas, our learning management system.

For this section, student access begins on January 6, 2026. All course work must be completed by 11:59 pm on February 17, 2026.

You will be granted access in Canvas to your course site and course materials approximately 24 hours prior to the published start date of the course.

Required Text:
From Parents to Partners, 2nd ed., Janis Keyser, Redleaf Press, 2017. ISBN: 9781605545141

Winter
ECEA.X321
$690
  • Online Traditional Complete online with instructor-set deadlines.
Schedule
Date
Start Time
End Time
Meeting Type
Location
Tue, 09-09-2025
12:01am
12:02am
Online Traditional
ONLINE
Tue, 09-09-2025
12:01am
12:02am
Online Traditional
ONLINE
Tue, 12-09-2025
11:58pm
11:59pm
Online Traditional
ONLINE
Tue, 12-09-2025
11:58pm
11:59pm
Online Traditional
ONLINE
 

Online Traditional courses have a structured learning environment and fixed deadlines. This course is largely self-study with instructor guidance and includes online learning modules, assignments, and/or quizzes. All course materials and assignments will be available on Canvas, our learning management system.

For this section, student access begins on September 8, but you may still enroll until October 14. All course work must be completed by 11:59 pm on December 9, 2025.

All course work must be completed by their fixed deadlines. Please note if a student enrolls on the start date or after, students will gain access to Canvas 1 hour from enrollment.

You'll be granted access in Canvas to your course site and course materials approximately 24 hours prior to the published start date of the course.

Required Text:

Please note, only 2 books are required for this course. In addition to "Visionary Director by Margie Carter and Deb Curtis, you will need to choose one of the environmenall rating scales. Please choose the appropriate booklet for your program. You only need to choose and obtain one of the environmental rating scales

The Visionary Directorr, 3rd ed., Margie Carter, Deb Curtis, Redleaf Press, ISBN: 978-1605547282 Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS-3), Thelma Harms, Debby Cryer, Richard M. Clifford and Noreen Yazejian, Teachers College Press, 2017. ISBN: 9780807758670 Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale (FCCERS-3), Thelma Harms, Debby Cryer, Richard M. Clifford and Noreen Yazejian,ISBN: 978-0807763018 School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale Updated (SACERS), Thelma Harms, Ellen Vineberg Jacobs, Donna Romano White, Teachers College Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780807755099 Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-3), Thelma Hams and Richard M. Clifford, Debby Crye, eachers College Press, 2014. ISBN: 9780807755709

Fall Online Traditional
Currently no classes scheduled. Would you like to be notified when a class is available?
Fall Online Traditional
ECEA.X323
$690
  • Online Traditional Complete online with instructor-set deadlines.
Schedule
Date
Start Time
End Time
Meeting Type
Location
Wed, 02-11-2026
12:01am
12:02am
Online Traditional
ONLINE
Wed, 02-11-2026
12:01am
12:02am
Online Traditional
ONLINE
Tue, 04-07-2026
11:58pm
11:59pm
Online Traditional
ONLINE
Tue, 04-07-2026
11:58pm
11:59pm
Online Traditional
ONLINE
 

黑料不打烊

Online Traditional courses have a structured learning environment and fixed deadlines. This course is largely self-study with instructor guidance and includes online learning modules, assignments, and/or quizzes. All course materials and assignments will be available on Canvas, our learning management system.

For this section, student access begins on February 11, 2026. All course work must be completed by 11:59 pm on April 7, 2026.

You will be granted access in Canvas to your course site and course materials approximately 24 hours prior to the published start date of the course.

Required Text:
Developing Mentoring and Coaching Relationships in Early Care and Education, Marilyn Chu, Pearson, 2014. ISBN: 9780132658232

Winter

2. Completion Review:

O-CE0095
$95
Schedule
Date
Start Time
End Time
Meeting Type
Location
 

Please enroll in the Early Childhood Education: Supervision and Administration Certificate Completion Fee only once all of the certificate requirements have been met and your final grades are posted.

Recommended course sequence

Flexible course sequence

Courses may be taken in any order provided the prerequisites are met.

Substitutions

To receive your certificate

Upon completion of the course sequence you may request your Early Childhood Education Site Supervisor Certificate Completion Review.

Professional development

Site Supervisor and Program Director credentialing

You must complete six semester units of coursework in administration and supervision of child care and development programs and two semester units in adult supervision to qualify for Site Supervisor and Program Director permits. Our courses help qualify you for these permits. Please go to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to learn how to qualify for Site Supervisor and Program Director permits by taking our courses.

Licensure and Certification Policy

This is a mandatory licensure (permit) for this field of practice.

Please see our Licensure and Certification Policy to learn more.

Requisite knowledge

Required coursework for this professional certificate

Anyone is welcome to enroll in individual courses, provided they meet the specific prerequisites for those courses.

To qualify for a certificate in Early Childhood Education: Supervision and Administration individuals must meet the following criteria:

  • Completion of the ECE: Associate Teacher certificate (20 units)
  • Completion of the ECE: Advanced Teacher certificate (17 units)
  • Hold an associate degree or have completed 90 quarter units (60 semester units) in General Education.
  • Completion of 350 days of experience in an instructional capacity in a child care and development program, working at least three hours per day within the last four years.

NOTE: Students who have a bachelor’s degree or a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential may request a waiver of some required coursework and experience. Contact extension@ucsc.edu for more information.

Grade requirements

Please note that only letter grades of C or higher may be applied to a certificate, and in some programs, students may have more stringent requirements. Students in most employer- and government-sponsored payment programs, such as workforce development, as well as international students on F-1 visas, need to maintain a B average to meet their requirements.

See Grading and Credits Policy for further information.

Program Chair

Certificate Program Advisory Committee


TUPE Coordinator & Student Support Specialist, Morgan Hill Unified School District


Bilingual Educator and Researcher, Stanford University
Instructor, 黑料不打烊 Silicon Valley Extension Early Childhood Education Program


Instructor and Chair, Early Childhood Education: Associate Certificate Program, 黑料不打烊 Silicon Valley Extension


Instructor and Chair, 黑料不打烊 Silicon Valley Extension Early Childhood Education: Supervision and Administration Program


Lead Teacher, Bright Horizons
President and State Director, Santa Clara Valley Chapter of CAAEYC

.
Instructor, 黑料不打烊 Silicon Valley Extension Early Childhood Education Program

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