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Dear Colleagues,
Join us as we look back on how far we’ve come this year and where we’d like to go. The Council issued new mission and vision statements in 2024, a first since our founding almost 40 years ago. According to our 1985 mission statement, “The Council promotes improved performance and recognition of professionals in the early childhood education of children ages birth to 5 years old.” And we expressed a long-term aim in our first vision statement: “The Council works to ensure that all professional early childhood educators and caregivers meet the developmental, emotional and educational needs of our nation’s youngest children”—still a worthy goal, but the Council’s sights rose as research and public demand put a spotlight on our sector’s value. Our new mission statement says, “The Council advances career pathways for early childhood educators through high-quality, competency-based credentialing.” And this mission serves a broad vision: “The Council envisions a society where all children learn and thrive in environments led by competent, valued early childhood educators.”
And this year we took strides toward reaching our North Star, most recently at our
Early Educators Leadership Conference in November. The conference featured a skilled reenactor of civil rights reformer Frederick Douglass, who urged attendees to “turn their passion for early learning into action,” words that stirred Dr. Calvin Moore, Council CEO. So, he declared his resolve to ensure that all young children get the quality early learning that they need. “Like Douglass, I feel that ‘the soul that is within me no man can degrade,’” Dr. Moore said. “Now, we’re here to make children confident that no one can degrade them. As we search for solutions, let us form a more perfect union through collaboration.”
The Council acted on these words over the summer by joining with three groups to help educators earn their CDA®. We formed a partnership with the Latino Child Care Association of Maryland to build the ranks of Spanish-speaking early childhood teachers. We committed to working with Parents as Teachers to boost the number of educators who earn a home visitor CDA. We allied with the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) to support family child care providers in earning a CDA and develop a joint recognition program to honor providers who earned both NAFCC accreditation and a CDA.
In addition, the Council gave personal kudos to educators who earned our valued credential. On June 14, the Early Childhood Innovation Center at Delaware State University recognized over 100 new CDAs at a completion ceremony where Council COO Andrew Davis was a guest speaker who stirred everyone there. A week later, Andrew went to Florida International University where the Early Learning Coalition welcomed more than 100 new CDAs to the early learning community and applauded their achievement.
There was also cause for celebration when the Council marked National Apprenticeship Week last month. The CDA has played a vital role in supporting apprenticeship programs by providing a structured way for educators to build their careers. And this year we did even more to align the CDA with apprenticeship programs by presenting a registered apprenticeship webinar series aimed at educators, child care directors, state and local policymakers, along with other stakeholders in early learning and care.
And people nationwide have a stake in our field’s future, as Dr. Calvin Moore says in his new blog, America Has Questions: Child Care in 2024. His survey of the year’s news points to the broad impact of the child care crisis, as shown by alarming headlines: “Work Hours Lost by the Millions,” “Child Care or Rent,” and “Child Care Crisis Hampers Opportunity for America’s Families.” Birth rates, budgets and billions of dollars are all at risk if the crisis continues. So, in 2025, the Council will strive to provide some answers by giving Americans more of the skilled educators they need. It will be a new year, but our vision will stay the same as we keep reaching for that North Star: a society in which all children learn and thrive.
See you in 2025,
The Council for Professional Recognition
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