Minor
An 18-credit minor with curriculum and instruction, special-education foundations, and the SEI methods Arizona elementary classrooms require — plus your choice of two methods electives.
Curriculum + Instruction
EDU 317 — the gateway to teaching methods
SEI Methods Credential
Required by Arizona classrooms
Special Education Foundation
EDU 314 Introduction to the Exceptional Child
ACU’s Elementary Education Minor is built for students preparing to teach K–6, future Christian-school teachers, homeschooling parents in formation, and children’s-ministry leaders who want substantive teaching credentials beyond curriculum browsing. The 12-credit core covers the foundations elementary classrooms run on: Children’s Books for the Classroom (EDU 230), Introduction to the Exceptional Child (EDU 314), Curriculum and Instruction (EDU 317), and Structured English Immersion Methods (SEI 490).
The 6-credit elective block lets you specialize. Choose two from a focused list — Teaching Math in the Classroom for Understanding (EDU 418), Language Arts in the Elementary School (EED 313), Science and Social Studies in the Elementary School (EED 314), Science of Reading I (EED 415), or Science of Reading II (EED 416). Each elective sharpens a specific content-area teaching skill the elementary classroom assumes.
Pairs especially naturally with Early Childhood Education, Christian Ministries, Family Studies, Communication, and any major where teaching children is part of where you’re headed.
Apply Curriculum and Instruction
Study how curriculum is designed and instruction is delivered in real K–6 classrooms — the gateway course for ACU's education programs.
Recognize Diverse Learners
Build the foundational knowledge to recognize and respond to children with special learning needs.
Teach English Language Learners
Earn the Structured English Immersion methods credential Arizona public and Christian schools assume.
Use Children's Literature Well
Develop a working library of children's books and the skills to weave them into classroom learning.
Specialize Through Methods Electives
Choose two of five methods courses — math, language arts, science/social studies, or the two-course Science of Reading sequence.
A Biblical Worldview takes children seriously as image-bearers and takes teaching seriously as the patient, formative work of shaping young minds.
Children as Image-Bearers
Every child in an elementary classroom — the quick reader, the struggling reader, the child working through hard things at home — carries the dignity of being made in God's image. The minor treats teaching as requiring patience and attention because of who the students are.
Grounds your classroom posture in respect rather than mere control.
Teaching as Shepherding
The model of leadership Scripture holds out — shepherding — fits elementary teaching well. Good teachers protect, feed, guide, and know their students. The minor's focus on curriculum, special education, and English-language learners reflects that shepherding posture.
Equips you to lead a classroom that treats every child as worth knowing.
Truth Across the Disciplines
If all truth is God's truth, then math, reading, science, history, and the arts each reveal something real about the world He made. The minor's methods electives treat content-area teaching as discovery rather than drill."
Helps you connect classroom content to bigger questions students are already asking.
Elementary Education opens doors across K–6 classrooms, Christian schools, ministry leadership, and educational support.
Elementary Classroom Teacher (with a full Education major)
Pair the minor with ACU's BS Elementary Education to enter a full certification pathway.
Christian School Elementary Teacher
Step into Christian schools where state certification is not always required but elementary preparation is.
Substitute Teacher
Build the foundational teaching credentials sub-teaching pools assume.
Children's Ministry Director
Lead children's and family ministries with formal teaching credentials behind you.
Homeschool Parent Educator
Equip yourself to lead a homeschool or microschool with substantive elementary preparation.
Educational Support and Tutoring
Move into classroom aide, tutoring, or learning-center roles in schools, ministries, or community programs.
The Elementary Education Minor is built around what K–6 classrooms actually need — and it's especially strong for students who want substantive teacher preparation without a full education major.
Curriculum and Instruction Gateway
EDU 317 is the gateway course for ACU's whole education curriculum — and it's required in this minor.
Special Education Built In
EDU 314 Introduction to the Exceptional Child is mandatory. Few elementary minors put SPED in the core.
SEI Methods Credential
SEI 490 gives you the Structured English Immersion preparation Arizona classrooms require.
Science of Reading Available
EED 415 and EED 416 are available as electives — current best-practice reading instruction at the foundation level.
Children's Books in the Required Core
EDU 230 builds a working children's-literature library — the kind of practical skill new teachers most often lack.
The Elementary Education Minor builds on a clear prerequisite chain — EDU 317 is the gateway, and IVP fingerprint clearance is required for it.
Talk With Your Academic Advisor
Map the 18 credits into your degree plan and choose which two methods electives best fit where you're headed.
Get Your IVP Fingerprint Card
Arizona requires an Identity Verified Prints (IVP) card before EDU 317 and most education-related coursework.
Take EDU 317 Early
EDU 317 Curriculum and Instruction is the prerequisite (or corequisite) for SEI 490, EDU 418, and the EED 300-level methods courses. Schedule it sophomore or junior year.
View EDU 317Choose Your Two Electives
Pick electives that match your direction — Science of Reading (EED 415/416) for reading specialists, EDU 418 for math-strong teachers, EED 313/314 for general-classroom literacy or content-area teaching.
The Elementary Education Minor gives you curriculum literacy, special-education foundations, the SEI methods credential, and your choice of two specialized methods courses. Apply or reach out today.