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Dear Colleagues,
Do you know the story of Black History Month, a celebration that’s now nearly 100 years old? It all started with Carter G. Woodson, who founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in Washington, DC. Woodson was a professor at Howard University, a historic Black institution, where he was determined to help his students advance by taking a broad approach to teaching. “The mere imparting of information is not education,” Woodson pointed out. “Real education means to inspire people to live more abundantly, to learn to begin with life as they find it and make it better.”
Our early childhood teachers do this, too, especially those who earn a CDA®. They know that education is not just about imparting facts. It’s also about addressing children’s social, emotional and physical growth so they can live full lives. And this month we feature two educators who are helping to spread the reach of the CDA. They’ve seen that “having a CDA means a teacher knows what they’re doing with children,” as Ray Jaramillo points out when we feature him this month.
Ray is the owner of the Alpha School in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and the author of Gust, Gust, Gust! about a boy who’s afraid of the wind. In recent years, Ray has done book readings at several colleges, and he’s also used his voice to speak out for the early childhood profession. He spent eight years on the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education and now serves on the New Mexico Child Care and Education Association, where he works with other advocates and lawmakers to improve early learning policies in the state. “We’re now focusing on adjusting our child-to-teacher ratios,” he says, “and we’re trying to make the CDA part of the career pathway for New Mexico early childhood teachers.”
Earning a CDA also prepares high school students for rewarding careers, Dr. Bisa Batten Lewis tells us as we celebrate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month, too. But the students need teachers who know how to guide them toward the credential, as Candace Vinson points out in this month’s edition. So, she works with the Michigan State Department of Education to support CDA teachers and convince high school principals to invest in CDA programs. “In recent years,” Candace says, “we’ve expanded from 55 to 132 high school CDA programs, which has brought more skilled young people into the early childhood field. And they’re needed since Michigan doesn’t have enough qualified teachers to serve all children. So, the high school CDAs “will advance equity in early learning,” as Candace points out.
Equity in early learning has always been a hallmark of the CDA, now in its 50th year. And Dr. Calvin Moore recently appeared on the Childcare Directors Chair podcast to provide updates on the CDA credentialing process in honor of this half-century mark. In the podcast, Dr. Moore discussed the Council’s latest efforts, including CDA renewal amnesty and an coming birth-to-five credential. He also pointed to the importance of ongoing professional growth and mentorship in the early childhood field, along with the role of the CDA in promoting professional standards.
The CDA enjoys widespread recognition, but it wouldn’t be the valued credential that it is today without the Black early childhood researchers who have helped it develop. And Dr. Moore discusses a few of them in his newest blog, Dolls and Data. They include Edmund Gordon, co-founder of Head Start, which led to the birth of the CDA, and Evangeline Ward, executive director of the CDA Consortium, which designed a performance-based system for the credential. Credit also goes to Evelyn Moore, an early fan of the CDA, co-founder of the National Black Child Development Institute and one of the teachers in the Perry Preschool Project, a milestone in early anti-bias learning. And “Black researchers can make a unique contribution to the early learning field since they are a part of the community they study,” as Dr. Moore points out. “They bring a first-hand perspective and a focus on equity as they lay down the groundwork for change.”
Happy Black History Month,
The Council for Professional Recognition
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