LCCC Offers CDA Professional Development for Students and Educators in Early Childhood Education. Tuition Funding Support is Available
Early childhood educators who would like to advance their careers in this field can access funding that will cover the cost of professional development coursework. For students who meet qualifying criteria, this funding support can help them earn 120 hours of training required for the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential.
Classes begin on Feb.21 and run through Sept. 19. Sessions are designed to accommodate the schedules of working professionals and are offered fully online. The LCCC CDA Credential program consists of three noncredit classes: Fundamentals of Early Childhood Education, Children’s Growth and Development, and Observation and Recording – all of which meet the Preschool CDA requirements.
Funding is available through the Early Childhood Education Professional Development Organization at PASSHE (ECEPDO@PASSHE), a grant-funded educational collaboration of colleges, universities and programs statewide that support early childhood educators.
LCCC is an ECEPDO partnership school, which enables students to earn credits that can be seamlessly transferred to any other ECEPDO partner school. To be eligible for tuition assistance, students must be Pennsylvania residents; be a current employee at a certified child care program for three months or more or demonstrate employment history of six months in child care if newly hired (participants actively enrolled in PDO activities will not be impacted by change of employer as long as the new employer is a certified child care program); work a minimum of 25 hours per week directly in a certified child care program; and be interested in pursuing coursework at a participating ECEPDO partner college toward an AA or BA degree or a CDA credential.
Applications are made here. To learn more about the ECEPDO@PASSHE and how it benefits early childhood educators, visit ecepdo.org. Applications can be accessed from that website, as well.
An orientation session will be held the week of Feb. 14. To register and receive a meeting link, please call or email Doni Binczak, Program Manager, Center for Leadership & Workforce Development at LCCC, at dbinczak@lccc.edu, 610-799-1950.
