Category Archives: About the CDA Credential

Many of our stu­dents ask us, “what can you do with a CDA?”  First, let’s answer the ques­tion “what is a CDA cre­den­tial?” The Child Devel­op­ment Asso­ciate (CDA) cre­den­tial is a nation­al­ly rec­og­nized pro­fes­sion­al cre­den­tial admin­is­tered by the Coun­cil for Pro­fes­sion­al Recog­ni­tion. The coun­cil is often called the CDA Coun­cil.  Obtain­ing a CDA cre­den­tial will advance yourCon­tin­ue read­ing “What Can You Do With A CDA?”

We hear this ques­tion a lot here at Care Cours­es! So, How do you get a CDA cre­den­tial? All of the infor­ma­tion in this post applies to earn­ing the Fam­i­ly Child Care CDA, the Preschool Cen­ter-Based CDA, and the Infant Tod­dler Cen­ter-Based CDA. (For infor­ma­tion on the Home Vis­i­tor CDA, which has dif­fer­ent require­ments, pleaseCon­tin­ue read­ing “How do I get a CDA credential?”

Which CDA Set­ting is Right for You? The CDA can be obtained in four dif­fer­ent set­tings: How do you choose a CDA set­ting? Choose the set­ting that match­es your work set­ting! How to choose your CDA set­ting To decide which of these set­tings is right for you, you have to ask your­self 2 ques­tions: If oneCon­tin­ue read­ing “How Do I Choose My CDA Setting?”

Are you pur­su­ing your Nation­al CDA? Have you already com­plet­ed a por­tion of the 120-hour train­ing require­ment, but still need more train­ing before you can apply? Look no fur­ther because we’re here to help! “I’ve only done train­ing through Care Cours­es. Will I be able to use my Care Cours­es to get my nation­al CDA?  WillCon­tin­ue read­ing “How do I Com­plete my Train­ing for the CDA?”

Have you com­plet­ed your CDA train­ing and are now fill­ing out your appli­ca­tion? If so you might be won­der­ing “Who is my Pro­fes­sion­al Devel­op­ment Spe­cial­ist?” or “Where can I find a PD Spe­cial­ist?” or “Do I know my PD Spe­cial­ist?”  Look no fur­ther because Care Cours­es is here to help!  A PD Spe­cial­ist is an ear­lyCon­tin­ue read­ing “Who is my CDA Pro­fes­sion­al Devel­op­ment Specialist?”

You have prob­a­bly heard of the Child Devel­op­ment Asso­ciate (CDA) cre­den­tial. But what is it? And more impor­tant­ly, is it right for you? We work close­ly with the CDA Coun­cil here at Care Cours­es, so here’s our take on why it is ben­e­fi­cial to get this pro­fes­sion­al cre­den­tial. Whether you’ve been work­ing in the fieldCon­tin­ue read­ing “Top 5 rea­sons you should get a CDA Credential”

If you are using Care Cours­es to com­plete the 120 hours of train­ing for your Nation­al CDA, you have 12 months to com­plete your course­work.  The CDA Process The CDA process typ­i­cal­ly takes six to eight months (on aver­age) to com­plete, but every can­di­date is dif­fer­ent.  The CDA Coun­cil does not rec­og­nize an indi­vid­ual asCon­tin­ue read­ing “Is there a time lim­it for the CDA?”

If you are renew­ing your nation­al cen­ter-based or fam­i­ly child care Child Devel­op­ment Asso­ciate (CDA) cre­den­tial, you will need an Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion (ECE) Pro­fes­sion­al to serve as your ECE Review­er. Who can serve as an ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion (ECE) review­er? An ECE Review­er must have recent—within the last year—and first­hand knowl­edge of your capa­bil­i­tyCon­tin­ue read­ing “Who can serve as my Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion (ECE) Reviewer?”