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CDA Council for Professional Recognition

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We give early childhood teachers the certification (CDA) and support they need to give all young children the quality care and education they deserve.

Over the past 49 years, we have issued over 1,000,000 CDA credentials. Nonpartisan. The Child Development Associate® (CDA) is the most widely recognized credential in early childhood education (ECE) and is a key stepping stone on the path of career advancement in ECE. The CDA credential is based on a core set of Competency Standards, which guide early care professionals as they work toward becoming qualified teachers of young children. CDAs have knowledge of how to put the CDA Competency Standards into practice and understanding of why those Standards help children move with success from one developmental stage to another. Over the past 45 years, we have issued over 800,000 CDA credentials to educators in Preschool, Infant/Toddler, Family Child Care and Home Visitor settings, including to those who have earned their CDA through high school programs.

10/12/2026

Dr. Patty Berron came to Texas from Mexico with a college degree, a baby on the way, and very little English. She could only find jobs cleaning houses and doing yard work, and she knew she needed more.

So she volunteered at the Head Start center where her older child went to preschool. Singing songs and watching Sesame Street with the children helped her learn English, and in 1989 she earned her bilingual CDA®.

Today she has a PhD, runs her own consulting company, and coordinates CDA Pathway to Purpose at the National Head Start Academy, where she helps high school students earn their CDA. She once walked a young man into a college office and insisted he enroll in the CDA program. He now supervises a Head Start program.

Was there a place that first made you think this work was for you? Tell us about it in the comments.

Read Dr. Berron’s story: https://bit.ly/3UgEwUK

10/08/2026

Laura Diaz Torres just renewed an Infant Toddler CDA®.

Another CDA renewed. Another educator committed to the children and families who need them most.

Congratulations on this milestone, Laura!

10/07/2026

Does someone on your team have a lapsed CDA®? Maybe it's you.

The CDA Renewal Amnesty window is open through April 26, 2027, and it covers credentials that expired as far back as January 1, 2016. The classroom experience did not stop when the paperwork did, and this is the window to catch the credential up.

If you lead a program, you may be the first person who can start that conversation with someone on your team. Not sure if a credential qualifies? The amnesty page is the best place to check first.

Know a director who should see this? Share it with them today.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/3SLzw9E

10/06/2026

Season 3 of the Council Table starts next Wednesday, October 14.

Dr. Calvin E. Moore Jr. is back at the table with early childhood leaders, and the conversations cover a lot of ground: how educators build careers, what it takes to run a child care business, and what a CDA® opens up for the people who earn it. New episodes will drop every week.

We have a question for you before the season begins. If you could pull up a chair at the Council Table, what would you want to hear leaders talk about? Tell us in the comments. We read every one.

Subscribe so you don't miss Episode 1: https://bit.ly/48D6yOg

10/05/2026

Dr. Angela-Perla Almodovar has a PhD, serves as a dean at a university, and coaches CDA® candidates across the country. She also spends a couple of days each week subbing in a family child care classroom, changing diapers and wiping runny noses.

Why? She says it's hard to coach teachers if you don't get your hands dirty sometimes.

Her story starts in a Head Start classroom in Waterbury, Connecticut, where she earned her CDA. It's a good one to read during Head Start Awareness Month.

Who in your life showed you what it looks like to keep learning and keep growing in this field? Tell us about them in the comments.

Read Dr. Almodovar's story: https://bit.ly/4dnQHpj

10/02/2026

Join CDA Advisory Committee leaders for a dynamic capstone conversation exploring the future of early childhood education and the collective actions needed to strengthen and sustain the workforce.

The Table We've Been Building: A Roundtable on ECE's Future closes out the Voices That Move the Field series, bringing together everything the series has explored: workforce development, leadership pathways, investment in the profession, and what it will actually take to build a stronger future for educators, children, and families.

Panelists Dr. Angela-Perla Almodovar and Charvella McKaye join moderator Dr. Usma Mohammed.

Join CAN and RSVP: https://bit.ly/4xK4Y6R

10/01/2026

Zaida Guadalupe Aries Aleman just earned her CDA®, an Infant-Toddler credential.

Another CDA® earned. Another educator ready to show up for the children and families who need them most.

Congratulations on this milestone, Zaida!

09/30/2026

Hispanic Heritage Month is a good time to ask what Hispanic parents really look for in child care.

A Bipartisan Policy Center survey of Hispanic working parents found that trust in the provider came first, whether families used formal or informal care. A clean, safe setting, skilled staff, licensing or accreditation, and a good reputation followed. Bilingual programs ranked among the least important, though most parents still wanted some Hispanic traditions and values in their child's care.

Dr. Calvin Moore, our CEO, saw the same priorities leading a Head Start and State Preschool program in Los Angeles County. Families wanted caring, competent educators they could trust with their children, the same thing every family wants.

Read Dr. Moore's full reflection: https://bit.ly/4dEqm6i

09/29/2026

In 1995, Ray Jaramillo dropped out of college and was working at a bowling alley when a chance encounter changed everything. The owner of a Las Cruces, New Mexico preschool asked if he wanted to substitute teach. Two days turned into two weeks. Two weeks turned into a job.

Some parents weren't comfortable with a man teaching young children back then. A few threatened to leave the school. But his boss, Barbara, defended him and encouraged him to earn his CDA®, which he did alongside four coworkers.

Ray went on to write two children's books inspired by his own childhood, spend eight years on the local school board, and eventually buy the very school where he started. He didn't have enough money for the bank's down payment, so he offered his personal collection of hundreds of children's books as collateral. The bank said yes.

Ray's team now includes three male educators, something that would have felt impossible when he began.

Read his full story: https://bit.ly/4e3RcVB

09/28/2026

We're moving! Effective October 1, 2026, the Council for Professional Recognition will have a new official mailing address and a new physical office address.

For mailed correspondence, documents, payments, and materials:
P.O. Box 65305, Washington, DC 20035

For in-person business:
1501 M Street, NW, Suite 820, Washington, DC 20005

Please send all mailed items to the P.O. Box beginning October 1, 2026, and update your records. Our phone numbers and email addresses aren't changing.

Have questions? Check our FAQs: https://bit.ly/4rK0cVB

Address

1441 L Street NW, Suite 600
Washington D.C., DC
20009

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+12022659090

Website

https://www.cdacouncil.org/

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