Requirements for the National Credential: the CDA

Requirements of Credentialing and Certifying Agencies

I. National CDA Credential

Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition,Washington, D.C.

This national credential is required of teachers in preschool programs by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The division for accreditation of the NAEYC is the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. The NAEYC also has a division known as the Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development, which was established to improve early childhood program quality through the improvement of professional preparation and training provided for individuals who care for and educate children, birth through age eight.

Current requirements stipulate that the child development associate of an early childhood teacher must have a child development associate credential or CDA, the requirements for which are as follows:

Center-Based and Family Child Care

To meet the requirements for the Direct Assessment Route for the CDA training program National Credential, students must meet the following requirements:

• Be 18 years or older
• Hold a high school diploma or equivalent, GED
• Have 480 hours of experience working with children within the past 5 years
• Have 120 hours of formal child care education and training within the past 5 years.

Concerning these requirements the proposed program provides the academic instruction and recognizes the actual experiences in the field. Specifically:

Queensborough Community College can offer assistance to those who need to complete their high school education. There are programs that lead to a GED into which QCC counselors can direct aspirants to enroll.

As part of the certificate program there are courses in Education that have incorporated practicums that involve hours of experience working with children.

• ED-135 History and Curriculum for Early Childhood: 18 hours/week for 15 weeks, totaling 270 hours
• ED-140 Infant Toddler Environment: 18 hours/week for 15 weeks, totaling 270 hours

As part of the certificate program offered by QCC, the two eight-hour courses in education, listed below, will qualify for the formal child-care education and training (120 hours total required: 2 courses @ 4 credits each totals 8 credits and at 15 hours/credit, totaling 120 hours).

In addition the courses in sociology and psychology offer additional formal education which contributes to the satisfaction of content area requirements.

According to the Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition, which issues the CDA Credential, the 120 hours of formal education must be documented, with no fewer than 10 hours in each of the following content areas:

1. Planning a safe, healthy environment to invite learning
2. Steps to advance children’s physical and intellectual development
3. Positive ways to support children’s social and emotional development
4. Strategies to establish productive relationships with families
5. Strategies to manage an effective program operation
6. Maintaining a commitment to professionalism
7. Observing and recording children's behavior
8. Principles of child growth and development

The requirement for formal child-care education may be met through participation in the wide variety of training available in the field, including in-service. While the formal education hours may be for credit or noncredit, the hours must be under the auspices of an agency or organization with expertise in early childhood teacher preparation.  The organization or agency must provide verification of the candidate’s education in the form of a transcript, certificate or letter.

Field Work Experience

The current requirements for the CDA credential is 480 hours of experience working with children within a five-year period prior to applying for CDA. The QCC Day Care Assistant program provides you with 504 hours of field experience in conjunction with the education courses, ED-135 and ED-140. If you are currently employed in a daycare setting, your time at work may be applied towards the hourly requirements.

Please note that completion of these courses does not automatically lead to the CDA credential. Students must complete the assessment process by the Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition to obtain the CDA.

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Documentation of Competence

To obtain the national CDA Credential, center-based and family-care CDA candidates must submit to the Council documents that verify their competence in early care and education, as follows:

1. Professional Resource File: A collection of reference materials related to the candidate’s work.
2. Parent Opinion Questionnaires: Feedback from parents with children in the candidate’s classroom or family child care home.
3. CDA Assessment Observation Instrument: Recorded observations of the candidate’s skills while working with children and families as primary care giver.
4. Oral Interview: Interview conducted by a Council-trained representative to evaluate the candidate’s skills and knowledge of good early  child care practices.
5. Written Assessment: A two-hour, multiple-choice examination administered by the Council representative.

II. Federal Head Start Program (see Appendix IV)

HEAD START ACT

2. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
   1. IN GENERAL, the Secretary shall ensure that not later than September 30, 2003, at least 50 percent of all Head Start teachers nationwide in center-based programs have
      1. an associate, baccalaureate, or advanced degree in early childhood education; or
      2. an associate, baccalaureate, or advanced degree in a field related to early childhood education, with experience in teaching preschool children.
3. ALTERNATIVE CREDENTIALING REQUIREMENTS.  The Secretary shall ensure that, for center-based programs, each Head Start classroom that does not have a teacher that meets the requirements of clause (I) or (II) is assigned one teacher who has
   1. a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential that is appropriate to the age of the children being served in the center-based program;
   2. State-awarded certificate for preschool teachers that meets or exceeds the requirements for a child development associate credential; or
   3. degree in a field related to early childhood education with experience in teaching preschool children and a State-awarded certificate to teach in a preschool program.

As this proposed certificate program at Queensborough Community College prepares a student to meet the requirements for a CDA, it prepares them to obtain work in a Head Start program.

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