What Qualifications Do You Need to Be a Daycare Director in Colorado?

Director qualifications are licensing rules, and in Colorado they come from the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC), whose Division of Early Learning, Licensing, and Administration licenses child care facilities under 8 CCR 1402-1 (Child Care Facility Licensing Rules); the current version on the Secretary of State site is dated 2026.

The rule sets one standard for directors of large centers and lighter options for directors of small centers, and it lets a current PDIS early childhood professional credential at Level III or higher stand in for the Department's own director letter at a large center.

Our research did not transcribe the exact size cutoff between a small and a large center, so confirm with CDEC how a given center is classified.

When this page and the rulebook disagree, the rulebook governs.

For a large center, the education routes in the rule include a bachelor's, master's or doctorate from an accredited college or university in a field the rule lists — early childhood education, child development and elementary education are among the examples — and, without a degree, ten specified 3-credit courses totaling 30 semester credits.

A Department-approved course of training is the third route in the rule.

Our research found the early childhood education associate degree in the experience rule rather than in this list of education routes: with one, the rule asks for 3 months (455 hours) of verified experience (next section).

Grades carry real weight here: every course grade used for the large-center director or assistant director qualification must be a "C" or better.

Experience moves with education.

A director who qualifies through a listed-field bachelor's degree or a PDIS Level III credential needs no additional experience.

With an early childhood education associate degree, the rule asks for 3 months (455 hours) of verified experience, and with the 30 semester credits but no degree it asks for 6 months (910 hours).

Colorado centers document those hours: a center must give departing staff, within 30 days, a letter verifying their hours worked with children, with infant and toddler hours listed separately — the record early childhood teachers use to prove experience for qualifications.

Under the large-center rule, two documents can put a director in the chair: the director qualifications letter the Department issues to a director who meets an education-and-experience route, and the early childhood professional credential recorded in Colorado Shines PDIS, where a current Level III or higher credential substitutes for the letter.

Small centers may qualify a director with a CDA, a PDIS credential at Level II or higher, a Colorado Department of Education teaching license with an early childhood or elementary endorsement, or experience-plus-coursework routes.

On administration coursework, the requirement our research transcribed sits on the assistant director rule, which names two administration courses inside the half-of-the-director-coursework option.

A director qualifications letter does not run forever: the renewed letter expires five years from approval of the renewal application, and on the routes the rule describes, most directors in centers open over six hours a day renew by taking a 3-credit college course every five years.

Directors and assistant directors also complete two Department-approved trainings — Working with an Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant and Introduction to Child Care Health Consultation — within 90 days of employment.

Alongside the director-specific rules, the annual professional development floor applies to center staff who work with children: at least 15 clock hours each year, with at least 3 hours in social-emotional development.

Colorado writes the second-in-command into the licensing rule.

An assistant director working under the supervision of a director must be at least 18, have at least 9 months (1,365 hours) of experience as an early childhood teacher, and hold a bachelor's degree or half of the director coursework, including two administration courses.

Presence is a rule of its own at large centers: if the director cannot be present 60% of any day, an assistant director must be on site, and an assistant director may substitute for a vacant director for up to 12 weeks per calendar year.

Yes — the licensing rule requires prospective and current staff in the director roles to register with the Colorado Shines Professional Development Information System (PDIS): large center directors, large center assistant directors and small center directors, alongside early childhood teachers and infant program staff.

PDIS is also the credentialing registry: its early childhood professional credential at Levels I, II and III is a recognized path to Colorado teacher and director qualifications.

The Council for Professional Recognition's Colorado state profile lists the Colorado Shines Professional Development Information System, at www.coloradoshinespdis.com, as the state's workforce registry.