Last month over 80 early childhood higher education faculty in Ohio were convened by the Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children to talk about the status of professional preparation.  The meeting was facilitated by Council CEO Dr. Valora Washington and included a meeting emphasized the importance of weaving a coherent system of professional development throughout our field by focusing on the competencies and standards of what every early educator should know and be able to do.  Ohio executive Kim Tice stressed the value of specialized early childhood knowledge by staff as a means to improve quality for both the individual and their programs.

The CDA credential is a critical first step on the career pathway for every early childhood professional and for those seeking to further their education through both Associate and Bachelor degrees.   That’s why many of the two year colleges present at the Ohio meeting had already embedded the CDA credential coursework as part of their credit-bearing curriculum (CDA coursework in these colleges leads directly to the Associate degree).  Recently Gayle Cunningham, renowned ECE expert, was also quoted as saying, “When we have teaching staff who come to us with degrees in areas other than early childhood education, we require that they get their CDAs.  That’s the way we ensure that they have a good foundation in early childhood education.”

If your community college does not have a CDA program, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to find out how you can build this partnership.