The Child Development Associate (CDA) Certificate is the simplest, quickest, and most inexpensive way to further your career in early child care and education. Receiving your CDA can help you become a lead child care teacher or open your own licensed child care center in Virginia. The certificate is also valid in all fifty states, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virginia Islands.
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It can take less time to get your certificate than an associates degree! You earn your CDA by:
It is recommended to enroll in training for your professional development hours. You can find many inexpensive options (like ChildSavers’ Online CDA Training) that will help you purchase your books, calculate the 120 hours of training and 480 hours of professional work experience needed to earn your certificate, put together your Professional Portfolio, train for your Verification Visit, and prepare you to take (and pass!) your exam.
Important note: You will need to choose which child care setting you will be applying for (Center-Based Preschool, Center-Based Infant-Toddler, Family Child Care, or Home Visitor). Within 3 years of submitting your CDA application, you must obtain 480 hours of professional work experience in your applied child care setting.
To take the CDA Exam, you must first apply to the Council of Professional Recognition. The fee to apply online is $425. All exams must be scheduled and taken through Pearson VUE at a local testing site.
After you apply to the Council of Professional Recognition, you will schedule your exam and your CDA Verification Visit (Observation). An approved specialist will visit your workplace to observe your interactions with children in a specific age group. The specialist will then sit down with you to review your strengths and areas of improvement. They will also review your Professional Portfolio. Their findings and evaluations, along with your exam scores, factor equally into whether or not you will earn your certificate.
You will need to submit a Professional Portfolio along the road to earning your CDA. According to Child Care Aware, your Professional Portfolio needs to include:
The timeline to get your CDA is flexible, but it normally takes less time than an Associates degree. Earning your certificate is also usually cheaper than taking college courses or earning a college degree.
Typically, child care professionals sign up for a training course, which can vary in length. These training courses help prepare you for the exam, purchase the study book(s), earn your required professional development hours, build your portfolio binder, and much more.
You receive your CDA once you’ve passed your exam, completed your 120 hours of professional development, passed the review of your Professional Portfolio, and passed your Verification Visit.
The fee to apply for your CDA exam and assessment is $425. This includes a review of your Professional Portfolio and Verification Visit. Low-cost online training like ChildSavers‘ 13-month training course costs $20 per class ($260 total) and $80 for books.
We also offer an additional, quarterly Portfolio class for $40. This workshop will provide step-by-step instructions over two nights as to how to complete your CDA Professional Portfolio. The Professional Portfolio is a requirement in completing your CDA.
In total, earning your Child Development Associates Certificate could cost as low as $805 when you train with ChildSavers.
There are 13 classes in ChildSavers CDA Training Course. Each class costs $20 (one class/month) and books for the course cost $80. We also offer an additional, quarterly Portfolio class for $40.
Please note: Our class does not include the $425 CDA application fee. You will need to pay for that separately.
ChildSavers offers CDA classes online! Our training is 13-month course leading up to your test and observation. We’ll help you on your journey to earning your certificate, which will include:
To participate in training, you must:
Those who earn a CDA will need to renew their certification every three years. To renew your CDA Credential, the cost is $150 for paper applications. Candidates who apply online will receive a $25.00 discount and the cost for renewal is $125.00.
If you’re in need of additional professional development hours after you receive your Child Development Associates Certificate, or for your program, check out ChildSavers’ free and low-cost training for child care professionals.
