(pictured from left to right) Gayle Cunningham, Dwayne Crompton, Paula Jorde Bloom, Ed Greene, Victoria Fu, Shizuko Akasaki, Ernest Washington, Valora Washington and Yasmina Vinci)

The Council Board of Directors Approve Strategic Plan

Last week the board of directors of the Council for Professional Recognition held their annual board meeting, in Phoenix, Arizona.  The board was pleased to learn about all of the exciting transformational work of the Council over this past year – online applications, revised publications, staff trainings on communication and customer service, high school student CDA eligibility, and, perhaps most importantly, the work currently underway to strengthen and streamline the credentialing process which will result in “CDA 2.0” later this year/early next year.

All of these projects and more are part of a four-year Strategic Plan, crafted by the executive team of the Council and, now, accepted by the board.  The Strategic Plan was designed to move forward the Mission and Vision of the Council:

Mission of the Council

The Council for Professional Recognition promotes improved performance and recognition of professionals in the early childhood education of children aged birth to 5 years old.

Vision of the Council

The Council works to ensure that all professional early childhood educators and caregivers meet the developmental, emotional, and educational needs of our nation’s youngest children.

To best meet our Mission and Vision, CEO Valora Washington and the Council staff created four organizational goals:

• Build Partnerships
• Focus on People
• Incorporate Technology
• Expand Communication

Each of these goals now has a variety of powerful strategies that Council staff will be working diligently to bring to fruition.  Highlights include:  a system for incorporating customer feedback into a continuous quality improvement (CQI) process, an active online community of Candidate resources and discussions, a revised CDA exam, greater support for the Home Visitor field, international partnerships that bring CDA certification to other countries and domestic partnerships that invite and encourage community college systems to incorporate CDA programs and articulate their curricula to Associate degree programs.

If you have other suggestions for how the Council for Professional Recognition can continue to improve our products and services or be of greater support for the professional development of the early childhood field, please send your thoughts to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .