Are you considering applying for a Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™? The CDA® credential has many valuable benefits for all early childhood professionals, including helping early educators meet current state and national professional requirements and serving as a pathway to learning best teaching practices. CDA® recipients are competent practitioners who value vital knowledge, skills and formal education. There have been more than 350,000 CDAs® awarded since the early 70s, and 20,000 new CDAs® and 18,000 renewals in 2013 alone.
Start taking action towards your “Best 1st Step” in early childhood education by reviewing the five necessary steps below that every CDA® candidate must follow in order to successfully prepare and complete the process of obtaining a CDA® credential.
Once you’ve completed Step 1, you’ll be ready to complete the following requirements:
Once the Council has received your application, please complete the following steps within six months of your Ready to Schedule notice date. Otherwise, you risk forfeiting your application fee and your Candidate record will be closed:
If the Council determines that after scoring your Verification Visit and CDA® Exam your Cumulative Score meets the credentialing requirement, you will be awarded the Child Development Associate (CDA®) CredentialTM.
The CDA® credential is valid for three years from the awarded date. You may apply to renew your CDA® credential 90 days before it expires. To learn more about CDA® renewal, click here.
With our recent CDA® 2.0 launch, the process of obtaining your credential has never been easier and more convenient. Now is a great time to get motivated about your future as a CDA® candidate! After obtaining their CDAs®, many candidates have gone on to receive advanced degrees, including PhDs in the education field. Remember that there is a CDA® credential for four different settings to conveniently suit your professional goals in early childhood education: For center-based programs there is an Infant/Toddler CDA® and a Preschool CDA®, the Family Child Care CDA® (for children from birth to five years), and the Home Visitors CDA® (for children from birth to five years). All candidates wishing to earn a CDA® for another setting must complete each respective CDA® credentialing process.
The Council wants to give our early childhood teachers a chance to tell their stories. So does Usma Mohamed, the Council’s VP of Brand Experience and Marketing, and she conveys what they have to say.
SPONSORED BLOG As summer winds down and back-to-school season approaches, preschool teachers everywhere are gearing up for another exciting year of guiding littler learners! Amid the hustle and bustle of adorning bulletin boards with colorful.
What inspired you to launch the Reimagine project? Dr. Calvin E. Moore, Jr. (CM), Chief Executive Officer: I joined the Council when we were in the middle of the pandemic and needed to rebuild the.
Experts Speak Autism and Apraxia with Elizabeth Vosseller Early childhood educators play a critical role in the lives of young children and their families around the world. As the administrator of the Child Development Associate®.
National Children’s Day is a special occasion dedicated to celebrating the joys and innocence of childhood. For parents with young children under the age of 5, it’s an opportunity to spend quality time together, creating.
Before a child even steps into a classroom or child care center, their first lessons in life occur within the walls of their home. During their formative years, from birth to age five, children undergo.
As Congress begins negotiating the next round of appropriations to ensure the government is funded for the upcoming fiscal year, it’s important that we work together as child care advocates to amplify our collective voice.
You might have heard the buzz that Congress just passed a new bill funding the government that includes big wins for child care. But are you familiar with the legislative processes that got us here.
Congress just passed a new bill funding the government that includes big wins for child care. Here’s what was included: According to CNN, the Child Care and Development Block Grant, or CCDBG, will see an.
Claudina Hannon, M.A., is currently a freelance Staff Writer/Editor at the Council for Professional Recognition. She is also a linguist and journalist whose experience includes bilingual early childhood education, language acquisition and TESOL.
Council for Professional Recognition
1441 L Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(800) 424-4310
cdafeedback@cdacouncil.org
Council for Professional Recognition
1441 L Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005
+1 800-424-4310
Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Elisa Shepherd is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at the Council, where she leads initiatives to advance the Council’s mission and strategic plan through designing, managing, and executing a comprehensive stakeholder relationship strategy.
With over 25 years of experience in early childhood education (ECE), Elisa has dedicated her career to developing impactful programs, professional development opportunities, and public policies that support working families, young children, and ECE staff. Before joining the Council, Elisa held numerous roles within the childcare industry. Most recently, she served as Associate Vice President at The Learning Experience and as Senior Manager at KinderCare Education, where she influenced government affairs and public policies across 40 states.
Elisa’s commitment to leadership is reflected in her external roles on the Early Care and Education Consortium Board of Directors, the Florida Chamber Foundation Board of Trustees, and as the DEI Caucus Leader for KinderCare Education. She has been recognized as an Emerging Leader in Early Childhood by Childcare Exchange’s Leadership Initiative.
Elisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on child development from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.