CDA Courses
About the CDA
The Child Development Associate (CDA) national credentialing program is a professional development opportunity for early educators working in a variety of settings with children ages birth to 5 years old and their families to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities in the early childhood education field.
​
CCPN coordinates the process for students to obtain their CDA credential from start to finish. The first step is enrolling in a course to obtain your required 120 hours of training needed before the exam. Additionally, we assist with your portfolio, can provide the setting for your exam, and provide contacts for the verification visit.
Hours earned through courses by CCPN are also able to be used with select colleges for AA or BA degree completion.​
Courses Open for Enrollment
All CDA courses are currently full. We will be enrolling for additional courses in the fall of 2025.
If you have already been approved for funding by the ECE PDO to take a CDA course: Please save your approval email so that we can enroll you in future courses at a later date.
If you have not been approved by the ECE PDO to take a CDA course: Please fill out our CDA Interest Form so that we can contact you when we are enrolling for future cohorts!
CDA FY25 08
*This is a hybrid course. Students will have regularly scheduled classes and additional time to independently complete work.*
*This is an accelerated course. Students will complete coursework in less than 30 weeks.*​
​
Start Date: Wednesday 4/30/2025
End Date: Wednesday 8/27/2025
Type: Hybrid, Accelerated
Location: Online
Class Times: Weekly Wednesday night Zoom meetings 6-9pm. Students will also complete work independently outside of regularly scheduled classes. Students will complete coursework in less than 30 weeks.
Course Cost: $0. There are no tuition, books, or administration fees for the student if approved for funding by the ECE PDO.
Click to read all course info and policies.
​
Click to read all eligibility requirements to take the course ("Participant Eligibility" section).
​
​
How to Enroll
The available courses are funded by the ECE PDO at PHMC (PDO). The PDO sets requirements that potential students must meet in order to be approved for funding to take the course. You must be approved for funding before CCPN can enroll you in a course. ​Make sure to read all requirements for eligibility here before proceeding.
​
-
The "Apply for Funding" link below will take you to the ECE PDO's form for to apply for funding for CDA courses. This form is NOT to enroll in a course. The form is to make sure you are eligible to take a CDA course. You will enroll in the course you want at a later step.
-
Create your account on their website by clicking "Register" and enter your information. Make sure to select "Child Care Professional Network" on the question that asks for your IHE/PLO partner. You may not be able to take any of our courses if you don't select this option.
-
The PDO may communicate with you about additional info they may need. The PDO will refer you to us if/when they determine you are eligible to take a course.
-
We will then send you the enrollment form. You will choose the class you want to enroll in on this form. Once you complete that you will officially be enrolled for your course.
NOTES:
-
The ECE PDO eligibility form is not made by CCPN, so if you have questions about the form please direct those questions to pdoeligibility@phmc.org.
-
CCPN can offer a $100 bonus to candidates who successfully obtain their CDA credential. This $100 is able to be awarded to you if you complete the course, obtain your credential, and send us a screenshot of your credential uploaded to your PD Registry profile. The full details of how the deposit works are in the Course Policies.
-
Enrollment for classes ends about 1 week before the first class date (or when the class fills up, whichever comes first). Applying for PDO funding can take some time. The course you want to take may close enrollment if you apply for funding close to the enrollment deadline.
Future Courses
We are enrolling for courses all throughout the year. Courses typically open for enrollment 6-8 weeks before the course begins. If you do not see a course you're interested in, but would like to be notified when we are enrolling for new courses: Please let us know using the short form linked here.
If you are an employer paying for your staff's CDA, and you need an invoice in order to pay for accounting purposes, please contact ccpnpa.org@gmail.com.
Info for ECE Employers
If you are an early learning program owner/director and would like to arrange a CDA cohort custom for your staff that suits your program's needs, we may be able to arrange a privately-funded CDA cohort for you. We can provide a CDA that is a cohort of just your staff and may be able to do it at your location at times flexible to you. We can accommodate programs that have 10 or more staff who will be enrolled and are located in the Southeast PA region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties.) These cohorts would be supported financially by the child care program requesting them. Please contact ccpnpa.org@gmail.com to find out about pricing and please include a few details such as:
​
-
Number of staff who will be enrolled
-
Your program's address
-
The month or time of year you'd like the course to begin
-
The modality you'd like the course taught in (online, in-person, hybrid)
Why Choose Our CDA Courses?
Low Cost
The cost of these courses is reduced by grants. Depending on the course, you may pay very little or nothing to take our CDA courses.
Tech Support
We have laptops, flash drives, and more to loan to those who need them to complete coursework.
College Credit
Courses can matriculate to college for those pursuing an AA or BA degree in ECE.
Flexible Schedule
Courses are offered as online and face-to-face at a variety of times.
Expert Instructors
Our instructors are PQAS certified and have years of experience teaching.
Schedule CDA Exam
If you have already completed your CDA course, you can schedule your exam at the Pearson link below. Note that it's posssible to do your exam at our Resource Center. When choosing your location, you can select "Childcare Professional Network" as your exam location.