Developmental Psychology Honors (Little School)

For over 35 years, our Developmental Psychology Honors (Little School) course has provided our senior students an unparalleled experiential learning opportunity where they learn critical child development concepts and master teaching skills that they immediately put into practice in the preschool classroom. In the process, our students learn more about their talents and interests in the field of child development and education. Our Little School teaching alumnae have graduated to become teachers, special education teachers, speech and language pathologists, pediatric nurses, pediatric occupational or physical therapists, school counselors, and child psychologists.

Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, we expanded our Little School program by partnering with several area Catholic grammar schools, all within an approximate three-mile radius, which are thrilled to welcome our students as preservice teachers in their preschool and primary level classrooms. These schools include: Christ the King, Most Holy Redeemer, Queen of Martyrs, St. Barnabas, St. Cajetan, St. Catherine, St. Christina, St. John Fisher, St. Linus, with potential for more. In these locations, our students provide small group instruction to students, perform classroom observations, and act as a preservice teacher, similar to college level requirements of teachers.

The Little School class is a double period class. Our students have "lecture" at McAuley on Tuesdays and Thursdays and are at their assigned field placement on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We align class time to our students' schedules to ensure they will have ample time to safely travel to and from their field placements without worry of being late for their next class. We recognize transportation may be a challenge for some of our students, and we do everything possible to organize carpools and field time to allow all accepted students this opportunity.