Financing early care and education white paper

Council for Professional Recognition 2460 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 | www.cdacouncil.org
Financing Early Care and Education with a
Highly Qualified Workforce
1
Introduction: A Vibrant Legacy
When President Nixon vetoed the Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1971, the Head Start
program was the primary federally funded program addressing early childhood education, health, nutrition,
and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families. At that time, Head Start had
a significant challenge: how to properly train and equip early childhood educators, many of whom were
community residents, to staff the programs. To address this challenge, the Child Development Associate
Consortium, a private, non-profit organization was established during June of 1972 in an effort to create
strategies to “assess the competence of child care personnel and to grant credentials to those persons assessed
as competent.”i
In the early 1970s, consortium leaders from around the country collaborated to design a unique method
to meet two major challenges facing the field at that time: the need to build a day-to-day replicable
program quality that could produce positive outcomes for children and their families, and to prepare staff
working directly with young children to deliver those services competently and consistently. The result of
this collaboration was the creation of the Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™ based on a
foundation of early educator competencies to meet those challenges.
In 1973, the Consortium developed the process of defining competencies and creating an assessment
process for the Child Development Associate Credential. Through their research and evaluation processes,
and rooted in its strong diversity framework, the consortium produced six powerful aspirations for early
childhood teacher education. Early childhood teacher education should include:
White Paper

Council for Professional Recognition 2460 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 | www.cdacouncil.org2
1. Multiple sources of evidence about teacher competence
2. Family engagement
3. Observation of a teacher’s practice
4. Academic training
5. Work experience
6. Career Pathwaysii
Much of the vision articulated by the 2015 report entitled Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth
through Age 8: A Unifying Foundationiii
continues to express these six aspirations for the early childhood
education workforce and the unrealized ambitions of the Consortium. But there’s much more to the CDA
than its rich historical legacy.
Funding and Scale of the CDA Credentials
The Consortium issued the first CDA in 1975. The initial funding came from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services and the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF).
The Council for Professional Recognition began to administer the CDA in September 1985. Today the
CDA continues to be a prominent early childhood education credential in the Head Start community
from which it emerged. However, its reach is much broader, and most CDA recipients are not Head
Start personnel. Today, over 400,000 early educators have earned a CDA credential for one of four early
education settings: preschool, infant/toddlers, home visitor or family child care. The CDA is, without
question, the largest credentialing program of its kind in the United States.
Today, the Council is a self-funded organization. The application fee was $375.00 in 1985 a fee that did
not change until September 1, 2013. All of its funding is derived primarily from book sales and credential
fees.
Why CDA?
The CDA credential plays multiple roles in the preparation and recognition of early childhood educators.
First, as a nationally recognized credential based on testing and observed mastery of competencies, the
CDA is integrated into many state licensing requirements as a baseline quality standard. Second, through
partnerships with institutions of higher education (IHEs), the CDA is an entry point to postsecondary
education for many nontraditional students. Finally, for many new early childhood educators, the CDA
credential is a foundational step on an articulated career pathway that starts with employment while
offering a progressive pathway toward higher education degrees and leadership opportunities.

For these reasons, the CDA has a proven market value for individual early educators because they meet
current state and national professional requirements. CDA recipients are recognized as competent
practitioners who value vital knowledge and skills and formal education.
The CDA represents competency because it includes both a strong knowledge base (education) and
demonstrated practice (experience). Listed below are seven elements tied to educator competency that make
the CDA credential an effective measure of teacher practice.iv
1. The CDA encompasses multiple sources of evidence, such as 120 hours of professional education
in early childhood development, 480 hours of work experience, a Professional Portfolio that
demonstrates an understanding of competence, feedback from families, an observation that
demonstrates effective practice, and content knowledge via the CDA exam. While some states have
established CDA-related certificate programs that are often described as equivalent to the CDA,
state credentials have been demonstrated to offer a much less comprehensive and robust professional
development system than the CDA.v
2. The CDA credentialing assessment represents an organized process, a coherent sequence of
learning experiences aligned with defined learning outcomes, and a comprehensive system of
assessment that ensures that Candidates master defined learning outcomes and—most importantly
—can demonstrate them in practice.
3. The CDA includes a direct observation of the CDA Candidate in their work setting as a lead
teacher by a Council Professional Development Specialist.
4. The CDA credentialing assessment can be conducted in any language that supports the language
that a teacher’s daily work requires. When program settings and teachers acknowledge and support
children’s home language and culture, ties between the family and school are strengthened.
Moreover, the CDA embeds knowledge and skill required for working with diverse children and
families. The CDA is the only national multilingual credentialing system that assesses educators in
the language of their daily work.
5. The CDA values parent involvement that encourages family members to provide feedback on a
CDA Candidate’s strengths and areas for professional development.
6. The CDA credential is a career pathway to learning best teaching practices for many early
childhood educators, such as:
• A lead teacher who already holds an academic degree, but needs to gain hands-on practical skill
and competency in early care and education
• An assistant teacher with experience, but little formal education
• A family child care provider who must improve the quality of his/her setting to meet licensing
requirements

• A high school student interested in pursuing a career in working with young children who is
both “workforce ready” and better prepared for matriculation into an early childhood higher
education degree program
7. The CDA is portable, recognized in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories,
community colleges, school districts and the U.S. military.
All of these features are field-wide aspirations for early childhood educators expressed in the Transforming
the Workforce report.
Transforming the Workforce: CDA 2.0
With its strong legacy and comprehensive assessment, the CDA has continued to evolve. In recent years,
the CDA has undergone a significant transformation that has positively impacted the lives and careers of
early childhood educators across the United States. We called this transformation “CDA 2.0”.
Following years of study and consultation with dozens of organizations, state leaders, individual experts
and governmental staff, CDA 2.0 was launched in June 2013. CDA 2.0 updated the CDA knowledge base
while preserving familiar time-tested elements such as the professional portfolio, family engagement, and
the national exam. CDA 2.0 also added new elements such as Candidate reflection and the creation of a
national network of thousands of Professional Development Specialists (PD Specialists).
The five major components of the CDA transformation are a stronger knowledge base; strengthened
Candidate experiences; creation of a nation-wide network of Professional Development Specialists; strategic
alliances; and an unparalleled commitment to diversity beyond beliefs and principles— that emphasizes
what we actually do and how we do it.
First: the CDA 2.0 represents a stronger knowledge base. Updated competencies (education and
experimental requirements) were developed through expert consensus. Individuals across the United
States, as well as staff from national organizations and government agencies, contributed. From this expert
consensus, the Council:
1. Produced a new Essentials textbook from scratch (2nd Edition published in January 2017)
2. Created new CDA competency standards books for infant-toddler, preschool, home visitor and
family child care
3. Designed a workbook to support Candidate preparation
4. Created with psychometricians and professional item writers a completely new CDA national
exam that is aligned with the content of the Essentials textbook, competency standards books and
workbook. The new exam was extensively field tested in English and in Spanish; exam items were
selected and cut scores were developed through a deliberative process. Since 2013 the Essentials

textbook and workbook and the CDA exam have been continually upgraded to reflect new
knowledge and skills. About 25 percent of the exam is refreshed each year.
5. Required CDA credential renewal every three years, rather than every five years
6. Significantly updated the CDA renewal process (in 2015)
7. Created multiple new communication channels with CDA Candidates, training organizations, and
the general public
Second: the CDA 2.0 enhanced the Candidate experience. CDA 2.0 also embraces technology, making
it –for the first time – possible to apply online and easy to do so. Technology also empowers Candidates
during the credentialing process with access to real-time status reports and updates about their application.
Candidates select a PD Specialist from an online directory and schedule their electronic CDA exam at a
convenient time and location, using widely located Pearson VUE testing services. Because Pearson VUE
delivers exam scores daily, and the PD Specialist Verification Visit scores are also electronically delivered
to the Council, credentialing decisions now take days rather than months. Given the rapidly changing
knowledge base and competencies required to be an effective early childhood educator, the CDA 2.0
transformation reduced the renewal period from five years to three years. The Council’s transformation
required significant innovations and enhancements to the Council’s internal systems, such as telephone
and internet services (we receive about 11,000 telephone calls each month, 900 “chats” and 700 emails).
Consequently, our transformation included the creation of a dedicated customer service center. Indeed
CDA 2.0 provides Candidates and credential holders a stronger and more streamlined professional
development experience than ever.
Third: the CDA 2.0 created the CDA Professional Development Specialist. These PD Specialists
bring mentoring and coaching skills as well as the early childhood education expertise, to the in-person
observation of every Candidate who applies for a credential. The PD Specialist skills are needed to assess a
Candidate’s competencies and facilitate the Candidates’ self-reflection during the Verification Visit.
Immediately popular, within months of the CDA 2.0 launch, thousands of mid- and senior-level
professionals in the early childhood education field applied to become CDA Professional Development
Specialists. Prospective Specialists must meet the Council’s application criteria. If approved, they are
then invited to take a self–paced online training that concludes with an exam of their knowledge and
competence. The multimedia training gives them all of the information needed to conduct the CDA
Verification Visits using the new design of the R.O.R. process (Review, Observe, and Reflect). Council
webinars, conferences, meet-ups, individualized technical assistance, a technology portal and other tools are
used for frequent two-way communication with PD Specialists.
The CDA 2.0 Verification Visit has three parts based on the R.O.R. Model®: Review-Observe-Reflect®. The
R.O.R. Model represents the tasks undertaken by the PD Specialist that contribute to the assessment of
CDA Candidate’s competency. During the Verification Visit, the PD Specialist will:

• Review the contents of the Candidate’s Professional Portfolio (formerly the Professional Resource
File), training transcripts/certificates and Family Questionnaires.
• Observe the Candidate working with children, recording criterion evidence where applicable.
• Reflect with the Candidate, focusing on the Candidate’s areas of strength or growth found in the
Portfolio or seen during the observation.
During the Visit, the Specialist uses the Comprehensive Scoring Instrument to determine Recommended
Scores in each of the thirteen Functional Areas, using a combination of both portfolio evidence and
observable criteria.
Fourth: the CDA 2.0 design includes a central role for strategic alliances. The Council’s work has two
intentions: better serving the early childhood education workforce while advancing the field. We work
diligently to create partnerships with a wide variety of employers, colleges, and training organizations.
Through these partnerships, we work to provide seamless, responsive and customized experiences for
Candidates. We also support field-wide systems development in states as well as with community-based
organizations or diverse communities.
Some of the benefits of the Council’s strategic alliances efforts are the focus on career pathways, the
recruitment of early childhood educators, and the identification of new funding sources for the workforce.
For example, in 2011, guided by the belief that a commitment to professionalism can begin as early as
high school, the Council began allowing high school juniors and seniors enrolled in Career and Technical
Education (CTE) programs to earn their CDA credential. These ambitious students were required to meet
all of the qualifications of other CDA Candidates, including 120 hours of education, 480 hours of work
experience, a professional portfolio and family questionnaire, direct observation by a Council-contracted
Professional Development Specialist, and a comprehensive examination.
Since 2012, about 1,500 CDA credentials have been awarded to high school students, a number that is
showing a rapid increase as our strategic alliance team works more closely with high schools and the U.S.
Department of Labor. Our preliminary studies of these aspiring professionals demonstrate the effectiveness
of this strategy in recruiting highly motivated and talented young people to our profession: most of these
credential earners graduate high school and enter employment or higher education with a focus on young
children.vi
For example, our very first high school student is now - six years later - a Head Start staff
member in Indiana. Now that we have successfully tested this model, we are working to expand it.
Fifth: the CDA, historically and as the 2.0, has an exceptionally strong commitment to diversity.
Since its inception, the Council of Professional Recognition has exhibited its commitment to diversity,
inclusion, and equity. All Council books are available in both English and Spanish. Multiple sources
of evidence — training, parent engagement, and observation — ensure that diversity is woven into
the delivery setting. As part of CDA 2.0, the Council formalized this commitment by establishing the
Multilingual and Special Programs division at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., in January 2013.
This division ensures that Candidates are well served based on their special circumstances, disabilities or
special issues. We give attention to all multilingual CDA Candidates and Candidates so they have the same

level of access to the Council’s high-quality services and the same opportunity to earn a CDA credential as
English- or Spanish-speaking Candidates. CDAs have been awarded to Candidates who speak a combined
60 different languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Creole, French, Hmong, Korean, Lakota, Mandarin,
Navajo, Portuguese, Salish, Sign Language, Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese and Yiddish. The Professional
Development Specialists network speak a combined 52 languages.
The Council supports the work of Candidates in all communities, in multiple languages, and those working
in special programs and under special conditions, migrant, Alaska Natives and American Indian, Home
Visitor, educators with disabilities, international programs, and military programs in the U.S. and overseas.
A key example of the Council’s efforts in this area is its history in helping CDA Candidates from the
Lakota Nation obtain their credentials in their native language and bilingual Lakota-English specializations.
The elders in the communities partnered with the staffs at various programs at the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation in South Dakota to incorporate the language into everyday life for children. At the beginning
of each day, teachers and staff communicated with each other in the Lakota language. Now, in the Oglala
Lakota College Head Start Program, the Lakota language is spoken 80 percent of the time, and families
are encouraged to use the language at home. CDA Candidates on the reservation assemble their portfolios
in both English and the Lakota language and, during their training, they often set up their classrooms
by labeling all items in the Lakota language, making it visible on walls, chairs, tables, etc. to illustrate its
importance. Today, the CDA program on the Pine Ridge Reservation is alive and thriving. Each semester
brings in enthusiastic Candidates looking to positively impact the lives of their young children.
Lessons Learned and Next Steps
Enacting these comprehensive changes to the CDA credentials in 2013 required over $2 million of
investments in technology enhancements, exam development/testing, staff training, early childhood
subject matter experts, publications, and constituent communication. Due to the manner in which the
transformation was created and funded, this transformation is financially sustainable and has the full
commitment of the Council’s staff and Board of Directors.
We have learned many lessons from our transformation to CDA 2.0 including:
1. There is ongoing strong demand and need for the CDA within the workforce. Currently, we are
credentialing over 20,000 new Candidates annually and renewing the credentials of over 18,000
Candidates each year. It is clear that, from a professional development perspective, the Council
touches the careers of more early childhood educators in a year than any other system that works
with children from birth to age five.
2. Employers value the CDA. Over 70 percent of Candidate fees are paid by employers. State and
national scholarship programs like T.E.A.C.H. pay for thousands of CDAs each year. These financial
investments are made because employers and communities recognize the value and impact that the
CDA represents.

3. CDA Candidates are willing to learn and adapt to technology. In planning for CDA 2.0, Council
staff were repeatedly advised that the early childhood education community in general, and
the CDA community specifically, would prove resistant and reluctant to use technology. This
assumption has been demonstrated to be completely unwarranted. Although both paper and
on-line applications are available to all Candidates, 75 percent of initial applicants apply online,
and 58 percent of renewal Candidates apply on-line. Virtually all Candidates take a computer-based
examination at Pearson Vue testing centers without incident.
4. The CDA is self-sustaining. From its inception until 2013, CDA initial application fees were
$325.00 and renewal fees were $50. The CDA fees are still very low at $425.00 for initial
applications and $125.00 for renewal fees. These low fees are made possible by our growing use of
complex technology; the commitment of the early childhood education field to the CDA i.e. the
thousands of professionals throughout the United States who give their time for Verification Visits;
and the high volume of CDA Candidates.
5. The Council and the CDA have stood the test of time as many initiatives have emerged and waned
over the years. The CDA has a deep well of support within the United States as thousands of
training organizations, trainers, and employers rely upon it.
How the Transformative Journey Continues
The substantive changes that have already occurred with CDA 2.0 credentials are just the beginning of the
Council’s work to strengthen the early childhood education workforce. The following is a brief list of some
of the Council’s ongoing work for the field as we move toward CDA 3.0:
1. We have our attention on and are working to address issues of quality in the training provided by
organizations that prepare Candidates for the CDA exam and a career in early childhood education.
2. The Council is responding to international demand. We are already issuing credentials in the United
Arab Emirates. Several other countries are now training Candidates to apply for the CDA credential
in 2017.
3. From our extensive PD Specialist network, we recognize the need for more professional recognition
for the field’s leaders — directors, and more seasoned caregivers and instructors.
To further leverage its transformation of CDA credentials, the Council is now engaged in efforts to:
1. Refresh the CDA national exam (target change is 25 percent each year in both English and Spanish)
2. Research characteristics and career trajectories of the workforce from the Council’s extensive database
3. Design CDA 3.0 including a new technology enterprise system
4. Collaborate with several national initiatives engaged in dialog about how best to “professionalize the
workforce.”

Suggested Citation: Washington, Valora, Ph.D. Financing Early Care and Education with a Highly Qualified
Workforce. Council for Professional Recognition. Washington, D.C., 2016. Reprint with permission.
9
Concluding Remarks
As an independent national organization, the Council for Professional Recognition has a single agenda: to
support early childhood educators and advance the profession of early childhood education. We are able to
focus on this mission because we are relatively independent of changing political/policy priorities and the
shifting funding associated with those processes.
While this hearing today is focused on financing for the early childhood education workforce, I want to
conclude my comments by mentioning an essential element of the extensive transformation process that the
Council has experienced. That element is the commitment and loyalty of the Council staff to our purpose:
to promote the improved performance and recognition of professionals in the early childhood education of
children from birth to five years old.
Sustainable transformation requires significant financial resources and staff support of the vision in equal
measure, because fundamental change is challenging, even when highly desired. I can truly say that the
staff of the Council for Professional Recognition understand what we have done and why we have done it.
We have a very close view of the early childhood education workforce, we respect this workforce, and we
understand how, together, we contribute to the lives of young children by facilitating the competence of
CDA Candidates. The relationships between CDA Candidates, employers, training organizations, CDA
credential holders, PD Specialists and the Council form an integrated and dynamic system that makes
transformation possible.
We are proud of the strong legacy in early childhood education that the CDA represents and we are grateful
to the profession which has sustained and transformed this 45-year-old legacy so it continues to be highly
relevant now and for future generations of early childhood educators.n
i Klein, J., & Williams, C.R. (1973). The development of the Child Development Associate® (CDA) program. Young Children, 28(3), 139-145. &
Council for Professional Recognition. (2013). Essentials for working with young children. (1st Ed.).Washington, DC: Washington. Also see: Hutchi-
son, B.L. (1991). The Child Development Associate®: Prototype for early childhood educators. Educational Horizons, 70(1), 41-48 & Ward, E.H.
(1976). The Child Development Associate Consortium’s Assessment System. Young Children, 31(4), 244-254
ii Washington, Valora, Ph.D., Hannon, Claudina, M.A. and Roberson Jackson, Beverly, Ed.D. The African American Pioneers: Legacy Influences on
Early Childhood Teacher Preparation. Council for Professional Recognition. Washington, D.C., 2016
iii IOM (Institute of Medicine) and NRC (National Research Council). 2015. Transforming the workforce for children birth through age 8: A unifying
foundation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
iv Washington, Valora, Ph.D. Why CDA? Why Now? - A Focus on Competency. Council for Professional Recognition. Washington, D.C., 2015.
v Washington, Valora, Ph.D. and Roberson Jackson, Beverly, Ed.D. Routes to Competency: The Child Development Associate® Credential and State-
Based Professional Development. Council for Professional Recognition. Washington, D.C., 2016.
vi Washington, Valora, Ph.D. CDA and Career and Technical High Schools as an Effective Entry into Early Care and Education. Council for Profes-
sional Recognition. Washington, D.C., 2015. See also: Washington, Valora, Ph.D., Murphy, Kenneth, M.B.A., and Sarkar, Mousumi, M.S. The
CDA® Credential Provides High School Students a Career and Higher Education Pathway. Council for Professional Recognition. Washington,
D.C., 2016. Reprint with permission.

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05/2017
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