Knowledge of child development: Associations among pre-service teachers’ level of education and work experience

Historically, in the USA context child development content knowledge has been one of the main emphases of early childhood teacher education programs, as it is theorized that teachers need strong content knowledge if they are to teach well. Teachers gain knowledge as they move through the degree ladder, from Child Development Associate to Associates to Bachelor’s. The purpose of this study was to examine whether knowledge of child development increased as teachers gained more education. Participants in this study ( n = 98) are part of a larger dataset of an early childhood longitudinal research collaboration between a community college and a university bachelor’s completion program. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire including items on their gender, age, race/ethnicity, highest degree earned, as well as current employment and whether ongoing work was related to the field of early childhood education. Participants also completed the Knowledge of Child Development Inventory, which consists of 56 multiple-choice items of knowledge relating to child development from birth to age 3. The items in the Knowledge of Child Development Inventory are grouped into four significant areas of development: emotional, cognitive, physical, and social. In the Knowledge of Child Development Inventory, each developmental domain group consisted of 14 items with the resulting possible range of scores for each section being 0–14. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted that examined the effect of education level on knowledge of child development. There was a statistically significant main effect for education level on child development. Post hoc tests revealed that the participants with bachelor’s degree scored significantly higher than the participants with both a Child Development Associate and Associates. These results indicate that as students move up through the education ladder, they gain more knowledge of child development.

Bridging Knowledge and Action in the Workplace: An Evaluation on Internship Learning Outcomes of Child Development Associate Degree Program Students

The efficiency of the education systems fundamentally depends on the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms, workshops, laboratories, and other educational spaces. Perfect teachers, well-designed courses, and proper facilities, provision of necessary resources are required for an excellent education, but not enough. This study aims to evaluate child development associate degree program students in their learning during their summer internships the scope of Raelin’s Work-Based Learning Model. The individual level of this model takes place two types of learning (theory and practice) and four types of individual learning (conceptualization, experimentation, experience, and reflection) that arise from a matrix of two forms of knowledge (explicit and implicit). This research was designed as a case study, one of the qualitative research methods. Depending on the tradition of qualitative research, observation, semi-structured interview, and document review strategies were used to increase the reliability of this study. In the analysis of the qualitative data, the descriptive analysis technique was used to define and interpret the data in line with the predetermined themes. The findings obtained in this study revealed that although the students made various observations and practices during their internships, it has been identified that these studies did not include the learning types in the context of the model.

Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential

The Child Development Associate® (CDA) is a nationally recognized credential based on demonstrated competencies widely understood to be essential for working with young children and accepted across the country as the foundational qualification for ECE educators. Since the creation of the CDA program in the early 1970s, the expansion of publicly funded early education programs and rising expectations for programs to address persistent gaps in developmental and educational outcomes for young children are shifting policy debates on educator qualifications. New degree mandates and program quality standards are presenting significant challenges for the field given its history of varied standards, low compensation, and a low skilled workforce with limited experience in postsecondary education. Despite these changes the competencies embedded in the CDA credentialing process remain the basis for new state and federal competency frameworks and career pathway systems to provide the workforce clearly articulated steps toward postsecondary degrees.

Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential

ABSTRACT The Child Development Associate® (CDA) is a nationally recognized credential based on demonstrated competencies widely understood to be essential for working with young children and accepted across the country as the foundational qualification for ECE educators. Since the creation of the CDA program in the early 1970s, the expansion of publicly funded early education programs and rising expectations for programs to address persistent gaps in developmental and educational outcomes for young children are shifting policy debates on educator qualifications. New degree mandates and program quality standards are presenting significant challenges for the field given its history of varied standards, low compensation, and a low skilled workforce with limited experience in postsecondary education. Despite these changes the competencies embedded in the CDA credentialing process remain the basis for new state and federal competency frameworks and career pathway systems to provide the workforce clearly articulated steps toward postsecondary degrees.