“If you’re ready to get started, click below and I’ll help you get your CDA in as few as 3 months!” — Mary Wardlaw, Ed.S., Founder of National CDA Training
CDA Courses for Individual Training: Your Complete Guide
Earning a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential is one of the most meaningful career steps an early childhood educator can take. It validates your knowledge, advances your earning potential, and proves to parents, directors, and licensing boards that you have the skills to nurture and educate young children. This page explains exactly what the individual training path involves, how our program works, what you will learn, and what to expect from the moment you enroll through the day you receive your credential.
What Is the CDA Credential?
The Child Development Associate credential is the most recognized and widely earned early childhood credential in the United States. It is awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition to educators who demonstrate competency across eight core areas of child development and care. Approximately 500,000 CDA credentials have been awarded since the program began, and many states now require or incentivize the credential as part of their childcare licensing and Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) requirements.
There are three credential settings to choose from based on your work setting:
- Preschool CDA: For educators working with children ages 3 to 5 in a center-based setting.
- Infant/Toddler CDA: For educators working with children from birth through age 3 in a center-based setting.
- Family Child Care CDA: For educators who provide care in their own home.
Each setting has the same training requirements—120 hours of professional development across the eight CDA content areas—but the content is tailored to the age group and environment you work in. National CDA Training offers individual courses for both the Preschool and Infant/Toddler credential settings.
The 120-Hour Training Requirement: What It Covers
To qualify for the CDA credential, the Council requires 120 clock hours of professional development spread across eight content areas. These are not arbitrary topics—they represent the full range of skills and knowledge every high-quality early childhood educator needs. Here is an overview of each area:
- Planning a safe, healthy learning environment: How to design spaces and routines that protect children physically and emotionally, prevent illness, and support healthy development.
- Advancing children’s physical and intellectual development: Strategies for supporting gross and fine motor development, language acquisition, literacy, math readiness, and curiosity through play and intentional activities.
- Supporting children’s social and emotional development: Techniques for building secure attachments, teaching self-regulation, and guiding children through conflict with empathy and consistency.
- Building productive relationships with families: How to communicate with parents and guardians as genuine partners, share observations respectfully, and navigate cultural differences with sensitivity.
- Managing an effective program operation: Administrative practices that help you run a smooth, organized classroom—from documentation and scheduling to collaboration with colleagues and supervisors.
- Maintaining a commitment to professionalism: Understanding your ethical responsibilities, pursuing ongoing growth, advocating for children and the profession, and practicing self-care.
- Observing and recording children’s behavior: Practical methods for documenting children’s learning and development to guide instruction, communicate with families, and meet program requirements.
- Understanding principles of child development and learning: The foundational research on how children grow from birth through age 5, including developmental milestones, the role of play, and how trauma and adverse experiences affect development.
Our curriculum assigns hours to each content area in proportion to their weight in the CDA competency standards, so by the time you finish the program, you are genuinely prepared—not just checked off a list.
What Makes Our Individual Training Different?
Plenty of CDA training programs exist, but National CDA Training was built from the ground up to solve a specific problem: educators were completing trainings and immediately forgetting what they learned because the format was passive and disconnected from real classroom life. We built something different.
Scenario-Based Learning That Stays With You
Every module in our curriculum is built around real classroom scenarios—not abstract lectures or walls of text. You watch a situation unfold and decide how to respond. Your brain processes these scenarios as actual experience, which is why educators who train with us often describe feeling genuinely more confident in the classroom, not just more informed. This is the same principle behind flight simulators and medical training simulations: mental rehearsal creates real skill.
100% Online and Self-Paced
Our training is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on any device. There are no live sessions to schedule around, no commutes to training centers, and no pressure to keep pace with a group. You can complete a module before work, during lunch, or after the kids go to bed. Most students finish the full 120-hour curriculum in 8 to 12 weeks, though some complete it faster and others take a bit longer—whatever works for your life.
Private Online Community
When you enroll, you join a private community of fellow educators going through the same process. You can ask questions, share experiences, celebrate milestones, and get encouragement from people who truly understand the demands of working in early childhood education. This peer support has been one of the most valued aspects of the program for many of our students.
CDA Portfolio Support
The CDA application requires you to submit a Professional Portfolio that includes a family questionnaire, a resource collection, and six reflective competency statements. We guide you through building every section of your portfolio so nothing is missing when you apply. This is where many self-directed candidates get stuck—our support ensures you have a complete, polished portfolio ready to submit.
CDA Exam Preparation
The CDA Exam is a 65-question computerized assessment administered at Pearson Vue testing centers. Our curriculum is specifically designed to build the knowledge and reasoning skills tested on the exam, and many of our students report feeling well-prepared on test day. We also provide tips, practice questions, and guidance on what to expect so there are no surprises.
Meet Your Instructor: Mary Wardlaw, Ed.S.
National CDA Training was founded by Mary Wardlaw, Ed.S., an early childhood education leader with over 30 years of hands-on experience as a center owner, director, and educator. Mary holds an Education Specialist degree in Early Childhood Education and has dedicated her career to making high-quality professional development accessible, practical, and genuinely useful for working educators.
Mary’s philosophy is simple: training should make you better in the classroom, not just on paper. Everything about the curriculum she built—the scenarios, the coaching, the community—reflects her belief that early childhood educators deserve the same quality of professional development as any other specialized field. Her mission is to elevate the early education workforce one credential at a time.
Learn more about Mary Wardlaw, Ed.S. →
The Full CDA Credential Process: From Enrollment to Credential
Here is what the journey looks like from start to finish when you enroll in individual training with National CDA Training:
Step 1: Enroll and Begin Training
Click the enrollment link for your setting (Preschool or Infant/Toddler), complete checkout, and you will have immediate access to all training modules. Start with any content area that feels most relevant to your current classroom situation, or work through the modules in the recommended sequence.
Step 2: Accumulate Your 120 Hours
Work through all eight content areas, completing the activities and reflection exercises in each module. Your progress is tracked automatically, and you receive a certificate of completion when you finish. This certificate documents your 120 hours for the Council’s application.
Step 3: Build Your Professional Portfolio
With our guidance, compile your CDA Professional Portfolio. This includes your family questionnaire results, your resource collection (eight items corresponding to the eight content areas), and your six reflective competency statements. We provide templates, examples, and coaching to ensure your portfolio is complete and meets the Council’s standards.
Step 4: Apply Through the Council’s Portal
Create or log into your account at cdacouncil.org and submit your CDA application. Upload your training certificate, your Professional Portfolio, proof of your 480 hours of work experience with children, and secure a Professional Development Specialist (PDS) to conduct an observation visit. Pay the application fee and submit.
Step 5: Pass the CDA Exam and Verification Visit
Schedule your CDA Exam at a Pearson Vue testing center and complete your verification visit with your PDS. The Council will review everything and notify you when your credential has been awarded—typically within a few weeks of completing all steps.
Who Is This Program For?
Our individual training is ideal for:
- Teachers and aides in center-based preschool, infant/toddler, or Head Start programs who want to earn their CDA credential.
- Educators whose state’s QRIS system offers higher quality ratings or financial incentives for staff with CDA credentials.
- Teachers who want to advance into lead teacher or director roles that require a CDA or higher credential.
- Anyone who wants structured, evidence-based training in early childhood best practices—even if a credential is not immediately required.
What Happens After You Earn Your CDA?
Your CDA credential is valid for three years. Before it expires, you will need to complete a 45-hour renewal process. National CDA Training also offers CDA renewal courses for both the Preschool and Infant/Toddler settings. Many of our initial training students return for renewal training, which is a testament to the quality of the experience.
Beyond renewal, your CDA can serve as the first step toward an Associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education. Many community colleges offer credit for CDA holders, allowing you to earn a two-year degree in less time and at lower cost than starting from scratch.
100% Satisfaction Guarantee
We are confident you will find this training to be the most practical, engaging CDA preparation available. If for any reason you are not satisfied within the first 30 days, contact us for a full, no-questions-asked refund. Your investment is completely protected.