Care Courses Blog

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 your pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment. This achieve­ment shows oth­ers that you know how to sup­port the social, emo­tion­al, phys­i­cal, and intel­lec­tu­al devel­op­ment of young chil­dren. Check out our blog “How Do I Get a CDA Cre­den­tial?” for more information.

So, once you know how to get your Nation­al CDA, you can check out our state child care train­ing infor­ma­tion pages to learn how it can be used in your state. The states accept the CDA for dif­fer­ent requirements. 

Not sure where to start? Go to our Care Cours­es web­site, select your state’s name, and then click on “how the CDA can ben­e­fit you in [the state you work in].” Or, give us a call and we can help!

Below are exam­ples of what you can do with a CDA in a few states: Mary­land, New York, Texas, and Illinois. 

What are the benefits of having a CDA Credential in Maryland?

In Mary­land, hav­ing a CDA:**

• (plus addi­tion­al train­ing, col­lege cred­its, and expe­ri­ence) qual­i­fies you to work as a direc­tor in a preschool with 21 or more chil­dren, or a preschool with infants and tod­dlers, or in a large fam­i­ly child­care home.
• (plus addi­tion­al train­ing and expe­ri­ence) qual­i­fies you to work as a direc­tor in a preschool with 20 or few­er chil­dren or a school age center.
• (plus addi­tion­al train­ing and expe­ri­ence) qual­i­fies you to work as a teacher in a preschool cen­ter or large fam­i­ly child­care home.
• (plus addi­tion­al train­ing) qual­i­fies you to work as a provider in a fam­i­ly child­care home.

**Look­ing for free train­ing reim­burse­ments in Mary­land? Child care providers with a MD Child Care Cre­den­tial at lev­el 2 or high­er are eli­gi­ble to receive up to $400 in reim­burse­ments each year for core of knowl­edge train­ing. Our CDA train­ing is ful­ly eli­gi­ble for the MSDE train­ing reim­burse­ment pro­gram. 

What are the benefits of having a CDA Credential in New York?

In New York State, hav­ing a CDA:

• (plus either a plan of study lead­ing to a bachelor’s degree or a New York State Children’s Pro­gram Admin­is­tra­tor Cre­den­tial and addi­tion­al expe­ri­ence) qual­i­fies you to work as a direc­tor in a child day care center.
• (plus addi­tion­al expe­ri­ence) qual­i­fies you to work as a group teacher for preschool­ers or infants and tod­dlers in a child day­care center.

If you are locat­ed in New York City, please refer to Arti­cle 47 of the NYC Health Code (sec­tions 47.13, 47.15, and 47.17) or speak with your con­sul­tant from the Depart­ment of Health for the guide­lines on how a CDA can be used and what require­ments you need in order to work as a Group Teacher and/or Day­care Director.

What are the benefits of having a CDA Credential in Texas? 

In Texas, hav­ing a CDA:

• (plus addi­tion­al train­ing and expe­ri­ence) qual­i­fies you to work as a direc­tor in a child-care center.
• (plus addi­tion­al train­ing and expe­ri­ence) qual­i­fies you to work as a pri­ma­ry care­giv­er in a licensed child­care home.
• (plus addi­tion­al train­ing and expe­ri­ence) qual­i­fies you to work as a direc­tor in a school-age or before- or after-school program

What are the benefits of having a CDA Credential in Illinois?

In Illi­nois, hav­ing a CDA:

• (plus addi­tion­al expe­ri­ence and col­lege cred­its) qual­i­fies you to work as a child­care direc­tor of a day­care center.
• qual­i­fies you to work as an ear­ly child­hood teacher in a day­care center.
• qual­i­fies you to work as a care­giv­er in a group day­care home.

Care Cours­es pro­vides sup­port through­out your train­ing and after. We are here to help make this expe­ri­ence pleas­ant and reward­ing! Start your train­ing today!

Please let us know how we can assist you fur­ther with the CDA process! Call us: 1–800-685‑7610, Mon­day through Fri­day, 9–5 ET, or email us days, evenings and week­ends: info@CareCourses.com. We’re here to help!