First Award Ceremony for The Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential™, 1975, Washington, DC.

In the early 1970s, a group of innovative early childhood educators gathered together to think about how to improve the quality of early care and education. The concept for the CDA credential was born out of those meetings and was initially funded by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF). After several years of development, the first CDA was awarded in 1975.

The Credentialing Program was administered by the CDA Consortium from its inception until 1979 and by Bank Street College from 1979 to 1985. At that point, ACYF entered into a cooperative agreement with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) for the purpose of creating a separate nonprofit organization to administer the CDA Credential. That organization, the Council for Professional Recognition, began administering the CDA on September 1, 1985.

Over the years the Credentialing Program has expanded to serve early childhood teachers in all types of settings. To date, over 300,000 CDA credentials have been awarded, with approximately 18,000 early childhood professionals becoming new CDAs annually.

Edward Zigler, assisted by Marilyn M. Smith, presents the first CDA Credential to Margaret E. Wright on July 24, 1975, in Washington, DC.