CDA Pathways
Project Information

CDA Pathways addresses systemic quality improvements in child care by expanding local innovations in child Development Associate (CDA) personnel preparation statewide, through the development and implementation of a model for CDA leadership training. The Child Development Associate is a National Credentialing Program developed in 1971 by the Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition to define, train, evaluate, and assess competence in early care and education staff (The council for Early childhood Professional Recognition, 1997). The renewed focus on child care quality issues, as well as the emphasis on program accreditation and the desire for a standardized approach to early childhood core knowledge, has resulted in the CDA becoming recognized as an "important rung" on the professional development career ladder (Maine Child Care Training Project, 1998).

Building upon the work begun in 1998 as a collaborative effort, the focus is on the following four areas:

1. the need for appropriate, high quality standards-based curricula which focuses on the care of infants, toddlers, children with special needs and young children receiving care in both center based programs and family child care homes;
2. the need to replicate model curricula statewide;
3. the need for qualified instructors and advisors; and
4. the need for increased access to expanded, coordinated training options throughout Maine.

The project goals are to increase child care provider participation in training and to improve the quality of child care training programs. The focus of this initiative is to develop teaching curricula that can be used to train staff in providing high quality early care and education to all children, including children with disabilities.

CDA Pathways is a collaborative effort among:

• Kennebec Valley Community Action Program (KVCAP),
• Southern Kennebec Child Development Services (SKCDC),
• Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (CCIDS),
• Catholic Charities Maine, and
• Eastern Maine Technical College (EMTC).

Activities include:

• Finalizing/producing a CDA Infant-Toddler and Family Child Care curriculum,
• Developing and delivering a leadership train-the-trainer series for 8-10 faculty, and
• Disseminating the curriculum and materials

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