Early Childhood Education Master's Degree Program

Master's Program

The Early Childhood and Elementary Education program focuses on the broad spectrum of development and learning in children from infancy through preadolescence. This program is designed primarily for experienced classroom teachers at the early childhood and elementary levels, but it is also suitable for personnel in human services and similar fields.

Start Your Bold Future

By submitting this form, I agree that UTSA may contact me by email, voice, pre-recorded message and/or text message using automated technology.

Why Pursue a Early Childhood Education Master's Degree

Accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Early Childhood Higher Education Programs of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the Master of Arts in Early Childhood and Elementary Education offers focused areas of interest as well as customized programs for students to pursue their preferred area of study.

With personalized attention and low students-to-teacher ratios, this program is perfect for those looking to grow their educational skills and/or focus on research and application appropriate for further graduate study or professional growth.

See What Our Students Say

When you choose UTSA, you join a community of talented students being taught by award-winning faculty. See what our students have to say.

Admission & Application Requirements

Applications are submitted through the UTSA Graduate Application. Please upload all required documents (listed below) on your UTSA Graduate Application. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure completion and submission of the application, a nonrefundable application fee, and all required supporting documents are on file with UTSA by the appropriate application deadline.

Early Childhood and Elementary Education (MA)
	Required Degree	Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university in the United States or have proof of equivalent training at a foreign institution.
	Minimum GPA	3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) Departments may consider GPA of last 60 semester credit hours
	Coursework	Completed adequate credit hours or foreign institution equivalent coursework as preparation for the program.
	Transcripts*	Required from all institutions attended; international transcripts must be recorded/translated to English
	Credential Evaluation	Required if you have earned university-level credit from foreign institutions. Submit an evaluation of your transcripts from Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) directly from the graduate admission application platform
	English Language Proficiency	550 TOEFL Paper / 79 TOEFL Internet / 6.5 IELTS / Duolingo 100
*Unofficial transcripts will be taken into consideration for admissions; however, if admitted into the program, you must submit official transcripts to the University.

Apply 2024-25 Application Apply 2025-26 Application

Application Deadlines

Applicants are encouraged to have their admission file completed as early as possible. All applications, required documents and letters of recommendation, if applicable, must be submitted by 5:00 PM U.S. Central Time on the day of the deadline. Deadlines are subject to change.

Early Childhood and Elementary Education (MA)
Timing on Admission Decision: Completed applications will be reviewed for admission on a rolling basis. Decisions generally will be made and sent to applicants within 4 to 6 weeks of receiving the application.
Application Deadlines for:	Priority	International	Domestic
Spring 2025		November 1	December 1
Summer 2025		April 1	May 1
Fall 2025		June 1	August 1
Spring 2026		November 1	December 1
Summer 2026		April 1	May 1

Funding Opportunities

Resources

Career Options

UTSA prepares you for future careers that are in demand. The possible careers below is data pulled by a third-party tool called Emsi, which pulls information from sources like the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, online job postings, other government databases and more to give you regional and national career outlook related to this academic program.

Courses are offered at night once a week for three hours (6 PM to 8:45 PM) Monday-Thursday in the fall or spring. Or during the day for two hours a day, Monday through Friday in the four-week summer sessions. In addition, some courses are available at night, meeting Monday through Friday for three weeks in the May-mester.

This program is housed on the UTSA Main Campus.

Both qualitative and quantitative, as well as mixed methods
School settings and community based contexts
Some included areas: teacher professional development, obesity prevention, dual language instruction, environmental education, interdisciplinary teaching, and differentiated instruction.