NAC is a Teacher Education Center offering courses required by the California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division, as well as other classes providing insight to teachers working in Early Care and Education classrooms. Students earn extension (upper division) units in the program through our partnership with California State University East Bay Extended Education, which manages NAC grades and student transcripts. Over the years, NAC has trained thousands of East Bay teachers.  Recently, we partnered with the City of Oakland Senior Assets Training Program to teach two Child Development classes, for people over age 55 who are interested in a new career option.
 
NAC classes offer students the opportunity for on-site observations in the BlueSkies’ Children’s Program. Time to observe the infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their teachers as they move about the play environments enhances the educational experience, bringing the course material to life and illustrating the way that theory informs practice.
 
Books and other materials for the classes are included in the enrollment fee. Several of the NAC classes use manuals specifically written for the course. Manuals are given to students to keep and their cost is included in the registration fee. In classes that use textbooks, the books are on loan to students from the NAC library for the duration of each class.
 
The following two courses will be offered in late fall 2007:
 
CHILD DEVELOPMENT / TED 7279
3 semester units
3 hours per week including lecture and observation/15 weeks
Prerequisite: none
The goals of the course are: to gain knowledge in human development from birth to age 12, with special emphasis on social, emotional and cognitive needs and development of toddlers and preschoolers; to develop skills in child observation and interpretation of data specific to child care providers; to relate developmental theory to sound educational practice; to be able to express what has been learned through written homework assignments, case study and discussion in class. An interactive class that includes on-site observations in the "children's village" of the BlueSkies school.
 
HOME, SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY / TED 7027
3 semester units
3 hours per week/15 weeks
Prerequisite: None
A course about the socialization of young children with a focus on childrearing, caring and early education within a developmental context. The course addresses how the constantly changing cultural, ethnic and socio-economic diversity in the United States affects the family. The course approaches learning using a Piagetian theory of knowledge acquisition and construction of knowledge, where students use their own experiences to make sense of new information from their existing knowledge.  

NAC also offers the following courses, as funding allows (please check our site in the future for updates on course offerings):
 
OBSERVATION: Assessing and Solving Classroom Problems / TED 7542
2 semester units
3 hours per week/10 weeks
Prerequisite: Child Development
CURRICULUM WORKSHOPS / TED 7073, 7091, 7226
Topics in Early Childhood Curriculum 1 – 3 semester units
6 workshop sessions, each 7.5 hours, for credit or professional growth hours