Do you want to widen your career options in the early learning field and work with more than one age group of children? Many educators do, and the Council is giving you a new way to gain the skills you need to serve all our youngest children—whether infants and toddlers or preschoolers—in the center-based programs where our Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™ holders often work. On August 1, we’ll be launching our new center-based Birth to Five CDA® Credential to give educators the flexibility they want, along with the competence-based foundation that’s always been a hallmark of the CDA.
We’ve designed the new credential setting with our stakeholders’ feedback in mind. A solid 87 percent of educators want a credential like this, as they told us when we surveyed 1,000 members of the early childhood community in 2023. Since then, the Council’s innovations team has collaborated with other internal teams and external focus groups to develop a credential that will benefit many members of the early childhood profession.
“The Birth to Five CDA® Credential is recognition of the tremendous amount of work that program directors and administrators do to meet the different staffing-level requirements in their classrooms,” says Council CEO Dr. Calvin E. Moore, Jr. Right now, there aren’t enough people in the field, so the new credential setting will help address staffing shortfalls and bridge child development knowledge across age groups. “It’s also a great step ahead in giving our educators the mobility to move into a different setting if their interests change,” as Dr. Moore adds. And they’ll be able to do it for just $525, the cost of earning a CDA for a single setting. “So, the new credential setting is an acknowledgement of our constituents’ changing needs, and it shows that the Council is willing to change, too, as we work to transform the early learning field.”
But some things will stay the same, especially the Council’s focus on competence in the early childhood classroom. Educators can still apply for our established infant-toddler and preschool settings if they prefer to serve a specific age group. And the requirements for the new Birth to Five CDA® Credential will align with those in our existing settings: 120 hours of coursework and 480 hours of experience working with children, along with an exam, portfolio and verification visit in which educators can demonstrate their knowledge and skills, all requirements that we’ll explain more when we release our new Birth to Five CDA® Competency Standards book. In the meantime, we have provided answers to some questions about the new credential that might come to your mind as you think about how it could meet your needs.
| Requirement | Description |
| High School Education | Candidates must have a valid high school diploma, GED, or be a high school junior or senior enrolled in a career and technical education program in early childhood education. |
| Training/ Educational Hours | Candidates must complete 120 hours of coursework on the development of children aged birth to five, with at least 10 hours in each of the eight CDA® subject areas. |
| Work Experience |
Candidates must have at least 480 hours of experience working with children aged birth to five in the past three years. This experience should include at least 160 hours—as a paid employee or volunteer— in each sub-age group within a center-based setting. Sub-Age Groups Infants Toddlers Preschoolers (Birth-17 months) (18 months-36 months) (3–5-year-olds) *Center directors will confirm in the application that candidates have 480 hours of experience, with at least 160 hours in each age group. |
| CDA Verification Visit® | Candidates will have a verification visit at a state-licensed or legally exempt child development center where the CDA Professional Development Specialist™ will observe them working with at least three children in the infant-toddler range of birth to 36 months or at least six preschoolers ranging in age from three to five years old. |
| CDA® Professional Portfolio | Candidates will complete a professional portfolio that includes all sub-age groups within the Birth to Five setting. |
| CDA® Exam | CDA candidates applying for the Birth to Five CDA Credential must take the Birth to Five exam. |
We encourage you to consider taking the steps you’ll need to earn our new CDA® credential. It will not only expand your career options. It will also benefit our field by providing skilled early learning professionals to serve a broader range of children. Their development and growth are foremost in the Council’s mind as we look to advance the CDA, including our new Birth to Five CDA Credential.
The CDA can be the best first step toward a career in early childhood, and we’re now exploring the best next step, the Child Development Professional™ (CDP), an advanced, competency-based lead teacher credential. We envision the CDP as another way to move the early learning workforce ahead, our ongoing goal—and the reason why we’ve developed our Birth to Five CDA Credential. At the Council, we are always searching for new ways to serve you even better.
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Vice President of Product
Mackenzie Pelland serves as Vice President of Product at the Council. In this role, she oversees the Council’s product strategy and portfolio, including credentialing programs, educational publications, professional development resources, and branded merchandise, ensuring offerings are sustainable and responsive to the evolving needs of early childhood educators and the broader early care and education field. Her work focuses on building scalable, user-centered products that strengthen quality and integrity across the Council’s credentialing, educational, and professional learning offerings.
Prior to this role, Mackenzie served as Director of ECE Observation Systems at the Council, where she oversaw the observation portion of the CDA® credentialing assessment process and led the ECE Observation Team. She also worked to support, refine, and strengthen the Professional Development Specialist community to better meet the needs of a diverse CDA® candidate population.
Before joining the Council, Mackenzie was Senior Director of Monitoring and Compliance Systems at Acelero Learning, where she led the development and execution of monitoring systems related to federal grant compliance, child care licensing, health and safety, incident management, and facilities compliance across Head Start programs nationwide. She also previously served as Program Accountability and Policy Implementation Manager at New York City’s Department of Education within the Division of Early Childhood Education.
Mackenzie is recognized as a credentialing specialist by the Institute for Credentialing Excellence. She holds a master’s degree in education policy from Teachers College, Columbia University, a Certificate in Education and Program Evaluation from Georgetown University, and a bachelor’s degree in politics and education from Occidental College.
Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Elisa Shepherd is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at the Council, where she leads initiatives to advance the Council’s mission and strategic plan through designing, managing, and executing a comprehensive stakeholder relationship strategy.
With over 25 years of experience in early childhood education (ECE), Elisa has dedicated her career to developing impactful programs, professional development opportunities, and public policies that support working families, young children, and ECE staff. Before joining the Council, Elisa held numerous roles within the childcare industry. Most recently, she served as Associate Vice President at The Learning Experience and as Senior Manager at KinderCare Education, where she influenced government affairs and public policies across 40 states.
Elisa’s commitment to leadership is reflected in her external roles on the Early Care and Education Consortium Board of Directors, the Florida Chamber Foundation Board of Trustees, and as the DEI Caucus Leader for KinderCare Education. She has been recognized as an Emerging Leader in Early Childhood by Childcare Exchange’s Leadership Initiative.
Elisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on child development from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.
Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)
Janie Payne is the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Wilmington, NC with her husband and two dogs.
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