{"id":3524,"date":"2020-08-11T19:58:01","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T19:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thrm.msiak.net\/seed\/career-pathways\/cda-credential"},"modified":"2025-05-15T08:59:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T16:59:54","slug":"cda-credential","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/career-pathways\/credentials\/cda-credential","title":{"rendered":"CDA Credential"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-seed-blue-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8ad01f7836886415a8a71711f43ce5d1\">CDA Credential<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>The Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential, administered by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdacouncil.org\/\">Council for Professional Recognition<\/a>, is a nationally recognized credential in the field of early childhood education. The CDA Credential is a key stepping stone on the path of career advancement for early educators and must be renewed every three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-seed-blue-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-d69cf4c6146858453842795adbfbfd95\">Benefits of Earning a CDA Credential<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Advance your career.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Meet job requirements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reinforce your commitment to early childhood education.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provide parents with peace of mind.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Understand developmentally appropriate practice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Increase your confidence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-seed-blue-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e3ebf0781e82c21982f5722739365686\">CDA Credential Settings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Candidates can earn the CDA Credential in four different early childhood education settings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pre-K (center-based)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Infant\/Toddler (center-based)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Family Child Care (home-based)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Home Visitor<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-seed-blue-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-fe0a240d9ea34f56759dcbba276c8cf4\">Am I Eligible to Earn a CDA Credential?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To be eligible to apply for a CDA, early childhood professionals must:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Have a high school diploma or GED, or be a high school junior or senior enrolled in an early education\/child development vocational<br>program.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Volunteer or work in a licensed\/regulated child care program.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-seed-blue-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-fb335b445a8449ff198325ad4dfef8af\">What Are the Costs for a CDA Credential?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The costs related to obtaining a CDA Credential include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Training and\/or education fees needed to achieve the 120 clock hours of professional education covering the eight CDA Subject Areas.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>$25, plus shipping and handling, to purchase a CDA Competency Standards Book.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>$425 for the initial CDA Credential application fee.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>$150 to renew your CDA Credential after three years (or if applying online, the fee is $125).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Alaska SEED&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/financial-support\/child-development-associate\">CDA Application\/Renewal Award<\/a> can help you pay for the application and renewal fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-seed-blue-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-664c7231f63c06d0259e17d094c2191f\">What Supports Are Available to Me?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you operate or work in a licensed early childhood education program and are a member of the Alaska SEED Registry, you may be eligible for a <a href=\"\/seed\/financial-support\/child-development-associate\">CDA Application\/Renewal Award<\/a> to pay for the CDA application and renewal fees.&nbsp;&nbsp;A <a href=\"\/seed\/financial-support\/professional-development-reimbursement\">Professional Development Reimbursement (PDR)<\/a> can help you pay for training, and a <a href=\"\/seed\/financial-support\/travel-reimbursement\">Travel Reimbursement (TR)<\/a> can help you with travel costs to obtain training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>thread<\/strong>, which houses and manages Alaska SEED, can also help you obtain a CDA Credential by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Advising you on the CDA process, eligibility, and requirements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reviewing your training\/education transcript to determine which credits will be accepted by the Council for Professional Recognition, and providing advisement to ensure the requirements for formal child care education are met.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Providing training accepted by the Council for Professional Recognition.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Conducting Verification Visits as part of the assessment process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Contact <strong>thread <\/strong>at 907.265.3100 or <a href=\"mailto:info@threadalaska.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">info@threadalaska.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To learn more about the CDA Credential, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdacouncil.org\/\">visit the Council for Professional Recognition&#8217;s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CDA Credential The Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential, administered by the Council for Professional Recognition, is a nationally recognized credential in the field of early childhood education. The CDA Credential is a key stepping stone on the path of career advancement for early educators and must be renewed every three years. Benefits of Earning a<a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/career-pathways\/credentials\/cda-credential\" title=\"Read CDA Credential\">&#8230; Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":3527,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-boxed-seed-2.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3524","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"ab-block-post-grid-landscape":false,"ab-block-post-grid-square":false,"gb-block-post-grid-landscape":false,"gb-block-post-grid-square":false,"post-thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"klindsey","author_link":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/author\/klindsey"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"CDA Credential The Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential, administered by the Council for Professional Recognition, is a nationally recognized credential in the field of early childhood education. The CDA Credential is a key stepping stone on the path of career advancement for early educators and must be renewed every three years. Benefits of Earning a...&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3524"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6792,"href":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3524\/revisions\/6792"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threadalaska.org\/seed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}