Last updated 2026-07-09
TL;DR
The CDA credential requires 120 clock hours of training across 8 subject areas, at least 480 hours of experience with children, a written Professional Portfolio, a 65-question exam, and an observed Verification Visit. Council fees run $425 for first-time applicants. Training adds anywhere from $0 to $2,000 depending on your state and whether you get scholarship help.
What is CDA credential training, exactly?
The Child Development Associate (CDA) credential is the early childhood field's entry-level national credential, issued by the Council for Professional Recognition since 1975. It says a caregiver has met a set threshold of training, experience, and observed skill with young children. If you've been searching for cda credential details, you probably hit it as a licensing or employment requirement. That tracks. Many state childcare licensing rules and the federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) rules tie quality ratings, subsidy eligibility, and staff qualification standards to CDA attainment. [1]
Training for the CDA is not a degree program. It's a competency-based process. You collect 120 clock hours of formal professional development, log 480 hours of hands-on work with children in the age group and setting you're applying for, build a written Professional Portfolio, pass the CDA Exam, and sit for a formal observation. Finish all five and the Council issues your credential. It's good for three years before you renew. [2]
The credential comes in five setting types: Center-Based Preschool, Center-Based Infant/Toddler, Family Child Care, Home Visitor, and Bilingual Specialization. Your training hours have to match your setting. A family child care provider on the Family Child Care path needs training built around mixed-age groups in a home, not generic child development content.
What are the 120 training hours, and how are they structured?
Your 120 clock hours have to cover all eight Subject Areas of the CDA competency framework. Here are the eight: [2]
1. Planning a safe, healthy learning environment 2. Advancing children's physical and intellectual development 3. Supporting children's social and emotional development 4. Building productive relationships with families 5. Managing an effective program operation 6. Maintaining a commitment to professionalism 7. Observing and recording children's behavior 8. Understanding principles of child development and learning
The Council sets no minimum number of hours per area. All eight have to be covered, and the total has to hit 120. In practice, most training providers build their units around these eight areas, and plenty of state licensing agencies add their own floor (some require at least 10 hours in areas like health and safety).
Hours can come from a mix of sources: community college coursework, T.E.A.C.H. scholarship programs, Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agency training, online platforms, employer professional development days, or conferences. A 3-credit college course usually generates 45 to 54 clock hours toward the 120. Two solid college courses can cover the whole training requirement. If your state's T.E.A.C.H. program pays tuition, that route can cost you almost nothing. [3]
One thing to watch. The Council accepts training completed within three years of your application date. Hours from a workshop you took four years ago do not count unless you can show they were part of an early childhood degree program. Plan your timeline around that window.
How many hours of work experience do you need for the CDA?
480 hours. That's the Council's minimum for professional experience with children in the age group and setting that matches your credential type. [2] At 30 hours a week in a licensed program, that's roughly four months of full-time work. Part-time, you're looking at eight months or more.
The hours have to be direct work with children, in a group setting or home-based program, not administrative or coaching roles. You document them through your employer or program supervisor. The Council doesn't require a set log format. Many candidates keep a dated spreadsheet their director signs off on every so often, so there's no scramble when it's time to apply.
Experience and training hours can run at the same time. You don't have to finish all 120 training hours before you start counting experience. Most candidates build both at once, which is the sane approach if you're already working in a program.
What does CDA training actually cost?
Two buckets: the Council's fees, and whatever you pay for your 120 training hours.
The Council charges $425 for first-time applicants who complete the online application. [2] Some candidates add prep resources like the CDA Competency Standards book (around $25) or practice tools. Budget $450 to $500 for the Council side.
Training costs swing hard by source:
| Training Source | Typical Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Community college (2 courses) | $600 to $2,000+ | Varies by state; T.E.A.C.H. may cover this |
| State CCR&R agency workshops | $0 to $150 total | Many states offer free or subsidized training |
| Online platforms (e.g., ProSolutions, CCEI) | $100 to $400 for 120 hrs | Self-paced; Council must accept provider |
| Employer-sponsored training days | $0 | Already paid by your center |
| CDA Gold (Council's own prep program) | $125 to $175/month | Includes training content + portfolio tools |
Live in a state with strong T.E.A.C.H. funding and you might pay nothing for training. The T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood National Center reports that its scholarships cover CDA-related education costs for eligible early childhood workers in more than 20 states. [3] Check your state's CCR&R agency before you pay out of pocket for anything.
Most candidates land between $425 and $650 all-in if they use subsidized or low-cost training. Full community college tuition with no scholarship, plus exam prep, can push you past $2,500.
How long does it take to get a CDA credential?
The Council sets no minimum time. The real constraints are the 120 training hours, the 480 experience hours, the time to build your Portfolio, and how fast you can schedule your visit.
Work in childcare full-time and train part-time (one college course a semester plus a few CCR&R workshops), and a realistic timeline is 12 to 18 months. Go hard, running two accelerated online courses at once while working full-time, and six to nine months is doable.
After you submit your online application, the Council processes it and schedules your formal observation (the Verification Visit) with a CDA Professional Development Specialist. The Council targets completing the process within 60 days of application submission, but actual timelines have run longer when Specialist availability is thin in your area. [2]
If you're chasing a state licensing deadline, count backward from it and give yourself at least 90 days of buffer between application submission and when you need the credential in hand.
What goes into the CDA Professional Portfolio?
The Professional Portfolio is a written document you create and submit to the Council with your application. It has three required parts. [2]
First, the Resource Collection. This is a set of documents that show your professional knowledge: sample family newsletters, references to local community resources, your philosophy statement, a written statement on professional ethics, and documentation of your training hours. The Council publishes an exact list of what each setting type needs.
Second, six Reflective Competency Statements. These are short essays, usually 200 to 500 words each, where you describe your own practice against six of the CDA Competency Goals. You explain what you do, why you do it, and how it connects to child development principles. These eat the most time for most candidates. Many CCR&R agencies and college programs coach candidates through writing them.
Third, Family Questionnaires. You hand these to at least six families you work with, they fill them out, and you turn in the sealed envelopes to your Specialist at the Verification Visit. The questionnaires ask families about your communication and relationships. You don't see the responses before you submit them.
A thorough Portfolio takes most candidates 20 to 40 hours to assemble, on top of the training and experience hours. Start collecting resource materials early. Don't wait until training is done to start the Portfolio.
What happens at the CDA Verification Visit?
The Verification Visit is a formal observation by a CDA Professional Development Specialist. The Specialist comes to your work setting (or connects by video, which became an option during COVID and stuck around for some credential types) and watches you work with children for a set period. They also review your Professional Portfolio during or around the visit. [2]
After the observation and portfolio review, the Specialist writes up an assessment of your competencies and sends it to the Council. It's not a pass/fail score you get on the spot. It's one input the Council weighs alongside your exam score and portfolio to make the final call.
To find a Specialist, the Council keeps a searchable directory of CDA Professional Development Specialists on its website. You search by state. Some states have thin Specialist coverage in rural areas, which is exactly why the remote observation option matters. If you're rural, ask your state CCR&R whether there's a local Specialist or whether remote visits are open for your credential type.
What is the CDA exam, and how hard is it?
The CDA Exam is a 65-question multiple-choice test given at Pearson VUE testing centers nationwide. [2] Questions come from the CDA Competency Standards, the Council's foundational book, which covers child development theory, health and safety, curriculum and learning environments, family engagement, and program management. The exam is offered in English and Spanish.
The Council doesn't publish official pass rates, so treat any pass-rate claim you see with suspicion. Anecdotally, candidates who finish their 120 training hours and work through the Competency Standards book tend to pass on the first try. The exam isn't built to fail people. It's built to confirm a candidate absorbed the knowledge behind the credential.
Prep styles vary. Some candidates lean on the Competency Standards book alone. Others buy exam prep courses from providers like ProSolutions Training or CCEI, which include practice questions. The Council's own CDA Gold program bundles exam prep content. Budget two to four weeks of deliberate review if you're not already deep in an ECE course.
Which states require or incentivize the CDA for childcare licensing?
It differs sharply by state. Some states require a portion of licensed childcare staff to hold a CDA or equivalent. Others incentivize it through tiered quality rating systems (Quality Rating and Improvement Systems, or QRIS), where a higher staff credential score means higher subsidy reimbursement or quality bonus payments. A few states require it for program directors.
The CCDF final rule issued in 2022 pushed states toward a workforce with higher baseline qualifications, and many states revised their licensing rules in response. [1] States like Michigan (see Michigan daycare licensing for that state's rules) now build CDA attainment into their licensing standards or tiered quality ratings.
Child Care Aware of America's annual "Demanding Change" report tracks state-by-state workforce requirements. Its 2023 report found that 40 states plus the District of Columbia had quality rating systems that specifically rewarded CDA or higher credentials for teachers or directors. [4]
Here's the part operators miss. In a state with a childcare subsidy system tied to quality ratings, holding a CDA can directly raise your reimbursement rate, so the credential pays for itself over a fairly short stretch.
Check your state licensing office and your state's QRIS administrator to see exactly which credential levels are required versus optional. The rules are too varied to generalize past the federal floor.
How do you renew a CDA credential?
CDA credentials expire after three years. Renewal takes 45 clock hours of professional development completed since your last credentialing date, evidence of continued work with children (generally 80 recent hours), and the renewal fee, which the Council sets at $150 as of 2024. [2]
You can't let a CDA sit expired forever and then renew it. Once a credential has been expired more than three years, the Council makes you apply as a new applicant. That means the full 120 training hours, 480 experience hours, Portfolio, exam, and Verification Visit all over again.
For renewal, the 45 hours can come from the same sources as initial training: college courses, workshops, conferences, online CEUs. Many state CCR&R agencies track these hours in a registry, which makes documentation at renewal much easier. Sign up for your state's professional development registry early in your career instead of reconstructing your training history the week renewal comes due.
Are there free or low-cost ways to complete CDA training?
Yes. Several routes can drop your out-of-pocket cost to near zero.
T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood scholarships run in more than 20 states and cover tuition, books, and sometimes transportation for early childhood workers pursuing CDA-related education at community colleges. Eligibility usually means working in a licensed program for a set number of hours per week and earning below an income threshold. The T.E.A.C.H. National Center keeps a map of participating states on its website. [3]
State CCR&R agencies offer free or low-cost professional development workshops that count toward the 120 hours. Some states run specific CDA Preparation workshops that walk candidates through the whole process. Child Care Aware of America's network lists local CCR&R contacts. [4]
Head Start and Early Head Start programs are required by federal performance standards to support staff pursuing credentials, and many provide paid release time and cover fees for training and the Council application. [5] Work in a Head Start program? Talk to your education coordinator before you spend a dollar of your own money.
Some employers, especially center-based programs with quality rating bonuses tied to staff credentials, will reimburse CDA application and training costs because the credential lifts their quality rating and subsidy reimbursement. Ask directly. The worst answer is no.
For curriculum knowledge that feeds your Portfolio and exam prep, resources like free preschool curriculum materials can sharpen the practical examples in your Competency Statements at no cost.
ChildCareComp's compliance toolkit includes a state-by-state guide to CCR&R agencies and T.E.A.C.H. contacts if you want a shortcut to local funding.
How does the CDA relate to other early childhood credentials and degrees?
The CDA sits at the base of the early childhood credential ladder. Above it, in rough order: the Child Development Associate Advanced credential (for those with an AA in ECE), the Associate of Arts in Early Childhood Education, the Bachelor of Arts or Science in ECE or Child Development, then graduate degrees. NAEYC recognizes the CDA as the field's entry-level national credential. [6]
Many community college ECE programs are built so coursework counted toward the CDA also stacks toward an AA degree. Take two college courses to satisfy your 120 training hours, and those credits may count toward a full associate degree. The CDA isn't a detour from degree-seeking. It's a step on the same path.
Some states accept the CDA as equivalent to specific credits in their licensing qualification matrices. A state might require a program director to hold a certain number of ECE credit hours and list the CDA as meeting part of that.
The CDA is not a teaching license or state certification. In most states, licensed childcare programs are regulated separately from public school prekindergarten. A CDA satisfies childcare licensing staff qualification rules, not public school teacher certification.
Thinking about curriculum approaches for your program once you're credentialed? Look at options like preschool curriculum, creative curriculum for preschool, or Montessori preschool curriculum. Solid curriculum grounding also makes your Competency Statements easier to write.
For family daycare providers, the CDA hits harder because it raises your qualifications in a setting where the director and the teacher are often the same person. Understanding how a daycare center structure compares to a home-based setting also clarifies which credential path fits you.
What common mistakes slow down or derail a CDA application?
A handful of problems come up over and over.
Not tracking training hours as you go. This is the big one. Candidates finish their training with nothing to prove it: no certificates, no transcripts, no sign-in sheets. The Council requires documentation of all 120 hours. Keep a folder, physical or digital, and drop in every certificate the moment you get it.
Picking the wrong setting type. Apply for Center-Based Preschool when your experience is all infant/toddler rooms, and your application can get rejected or force you to redo the process for the right setting. Choose your credential type before you start racking up hours.
Leaving Family Questionnaires to the last minute. You need at least six returned from families. Families move, lose paper, and forget. Hand them out early and follow up. The Verification Visit can't happen without them.
Underestimating the Competency Statements. These essays take most candidates way longer than expected. "I keep children safe" isn't enough. You need specific practices, a link to child development knowledge, and honest reflection on your own growth. Give yourself two to three weeks to draft and revise all six.
Missing the three-year expiration on training hours. Complete a workshop more than three years before your application date and those hours may not count. The Council's rule is that training has to be recent unless it's part of a formal degree program. Plenty of candidates find this out after they think they're done.
Frequently asked questions
What is a CDA credential and who issues it?
The Child Development Associate (CDA) credential is a national early childhood credential issued by the Council for Professional Recognition, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1975 and is the most widely recognized entry-level credential in the childcare field. It certifies that a caregiver has met set standards of training, experience, and observed competency with young children.
How much does it cost to get a CDA credential?
The Council's application fee is $425 for first-time applicants as of 2024. Training on top of that ranges from essentially $0 if you access T.E.A.C.H. scholarships or free CCR&R workshops, up to $2,000 or more for full community college tuition without aid. Most candidates with subsidized training spend $450 to $650 total.
How long does it take to get a CDA credential?
For someone working full-time in childcare and training part-time, 12 to 18 months is typical. Candidates on accelerated online training who work full-time can finish in six to nine months. After you submit your application, allow another 60 to 90 days for the Council's review and Verification Visit scheduling.
Can I complete CDA training online?
Yes. The Council accepts training hours from accredited online providers. Platforms like ProSolutions Training and CCEI offer online courses that fill the 120-hour requirement. The Verification Visit was also made available remotely for some credential types. Your professional experience hours still have to be completed in person, working directly with children in a licensed program or family childcare setting.
Do I need a CDA credential to open a daycare?
It depends on your state. Some states require the director or a percentage of staff in licensed programs to hold a CDA or equivalent. Others make it optional but incentivize it through higher quality rating scores and subsidy reimbursement. There's no federal rule that a program director personally hold a CDA, but CCDF rules push states toward higher workforce qualification standards overall.
What is the difference between the CDA credential and an early childhood degree?
The CDA is a competency-based credential, not an academic degree. It requires 120 training hours and demonstrated practice, not a full semester-credit load leading to an Associate or Bachelor's degree. But if you take college courses to satisfy your 120 CDA training hours, those credits often count toward an AA in Early Childhood Education, so the two paths can overlap.
What are the 8 subject areas required for CDA training?
The Council requires training across: planning a safe and healthy learning environment, advancing children's physical and intellectual development, supporting social and emotional development, building relationships with families, managing an effective program, maintaining professional commitment, observing and recording children's behavior, and understanding child development principles. All eight have to be covered within your 120 training hours.
How do I find a CDA Professional Development Specialist for my Verification Visit?
The Council for Professional Recognition keeps a searchable online directory of CDA Professional Development Specialists at cdacouncil.org. You search by state or zip code. In rural areas with thin Specialist coverage, remote observation by video has been available for certain credential types. Your state CCR&R agency may also connect you with a local Specialist.
Can CDA training hours come from workshops I attended years ago?
Only if they were completed within three years of your application date. The Council requires training hours to be recent. Hours from courses taken as part of a formal ECE degree program may be an exception, but standalone workshops, conferences, or online modules completed more than three years before application generally do not count toward the 120-hour requirement.
Does holding a CDA credential affect childcare subsidy reimbursement rates?
In many states, yes. State Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) give programs higher quality scores when staff hold credentials like the CDA, and higher quality scores often mean higher CCDF subsidy reimbursement rates. Child Care Aware of America reported in 2023 that 40 states plus D.C. had quality rating systems that specifically rewarded CDA or higher staff credentials.
How do I renew my CDA credential?
CDA credentials must be renewed every three years. Renewal takes 45 clock hours of professional development completed since your last credentialing, evidence of ongoing work with children, and a $150 renewal fee to the Council. If your credential expires and more than three years pass without renewal, you must complete the full initial application process again, including all training and experience hours.
Is financial help available to cover CDA training and application costs?
Yes. T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood scholarships, available in more than 20 states, can cover tuition, books, and fees for eligible childcare workers pursuing CDA training at community colleges. State CCR&R agencies often offer free training workshops. Head Start programs are required to support staff pursuing credentials. Some center employers also reimburse CDA costs because the credential raises their quality rating score.
What is the CDA exam like and how do I prepare for it?
The CDA Exam has 65 multiple-choice questions and is given at Pearson VUE testing centers. It covers child development theory, health and safety, curriculum and learning environments, family engagement, and program management. The Council's Competency Standards book is the primary study resource. Exam prep courses from providers like ProSolutions Training or the Council's own CDA Gold program include practice questions and structured review.
What credential type should I choose for a home daycare?
If you run a licensed family child care home, choose the Family Child Care CDA credential. This path addresses mixed-age groups, home-based learning environments, and the regulatory and business context of family daycare. Your training hours should emphasize content relevant to home-based settings. Choosing the wrong setting type, like Center-Based Preschool, creates problems if your experience hours are all in a home-based program.
Sources
- Office of Child Care, HHS — Child Care and Development Fund Final Rule 2022: CCDF final rule requirements that states move toward higher baseline staff qualification standards, including credential attainment
- Council for Professional Recognition — CDA Credentialing Requirements: 120 clock hours of training across 8 subject areas, 480 hours of professional experience, $425 first-time applicant fee, $150 renewal fee, 65-question exam at Pearson VUE, and three-year credential validity period
- T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood National Center: T.E.A.C.H. scholarships cover CDA-related education costs for eligible early childhood workers in more than 20 states
- Child Care Aware of America — Demanding Change: Repairing Our Child Care System 2023: 40 states plus D.C. had quality rating systems that specifically rewarded CDA or higher credentials for teachers or directors as of 2023
- Office of Head Start, HHS — Head Start Program Performance Standards (45 CFR Part 1302): Head Start programs are required by federal performance standards to support staff in pursuing credentials including the CDA
- National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) — Early Childhood Workforce Overview: CDA is recognized as the entry-level national credential in the early childhood field, with state licensing rules and quality ratings commonly referencing it
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Care — Child Care and Development Fund State Plans: State CCDF plans document workforce qualification requirements and quality rating incentives tied to CDA and other credentials
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor — Childcare Workers Occupational Outlook: CDA credential listed among common qualification pathways for childcare worker employment and wage differentiation
- National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance — QRIS Resource Guide: State quality rating and improvement systems tie higher reimbursement rates to staff credential levels including the CDA