The Council for Professional Recognition is the organization that awards the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, and initial CDA assessment applications are made online through its YourCouncil system.
BLS reports that some states and employers require childcare workers to hold a nationally recognized credential, most often the CDA.
Here is who the Council is and how to use YourCouncil to apply, schedule and renew.
Who is the Council for Professional Recognition?
The Council for Professional Recognition is the body that awards the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential.
It also runs the application itself: initial CDA assessment applications are made online through the Council's YourCouncil system, with the assessment fee paid at application.
According to the Bipartisan Policy Center's 2024 workforce report — a secondary source, not a Council page — the first CDA was awarded in 1975, and the Council's one millionth CDA went to an 18-year-old high-school graduate in Arizona.
The credential now comes in five settings: center-based Infant-Toddler (birth to 36 months), center-based Preschool (ages 3 to 5), center-based Birth to Five, Family Child Care (birth to 5 in a home), and Home Visitor.
What each setting covers, who is eligible and what the assessment involves are on our CDA credential guide.
BLS notes that some states and employers require childcare workers to hold a nationally recognized credential, most often the CDA, which must be renewed every 3 years — so a CDA in hand means working on the Council's 3-year cycle.
What it does besides the CDA
The Council does more than award the CDA.
It also approves the professionals who assess CDA candidates, maintains a separate credential for military programs, and keeps tools that candidates and employers both use.
- CDA PD Specialists. The Council approves the Professional Development Specialists who conduct verification visits. Qualification runs through a CDA or a degree in early childhood education or child development (or a related major with at least 18 semester / 24 quarter hours of early childhood coursework), plus experience: 6 years with a CDA, 4 years with an associate degree, 2 years with a bachelor's or 1 year with an advanced degree, along with a year facilitating another adult's growth. Approved applicants complete the Council's online training and a short online exam, then sign a contract and submit a W-9, and the Council allows up to 45 business days to review applications. PD Specialists receive a $100 honorarium per candidate and may not charge candidates any fees.
- The Military School-Age (MSA) credential. A separate Council credential for military programs — there is no civilian school-age CDA setting.
- Workforce registry partnerships. The Council accepts workforce registry transcripts from all U.S. state and territory workforce registries for the CDA, and partners with the National Workforce Registry Alliance through a memorandum of understanding.
- The CDA Scholarships page. The Council says income-eligible candidates may have their state pay for all or part of CDA training and possibly the assessment fee, and it lists funding organizations by state.
- Certificate Search. Employers can check a CDA's status online by entering the certificate number; the statuses are Active, Expired or Revoked.
Two more things define the Council's role.
It does not provide CDA training or endorse any training program — training has to come from an organization with early childhood teacher-preparation expertise.
And it speaks publicly when credential rules are at stake: in August 2026 the Council warned that ACF's proposed Head Start rule could eliminate CDA-related qualification requirements for several Head Start positions, including family child care providers and home visitors.
That rule is a proposal, not one in force.
How to set up YourCouncil
YourCouncil is the Council's online system for CDA applications.
The Council describes earning the credential as three steps — Prepare, Apply, Demonstrate — and the Apply step is where YourCouncil comes in: you apply online and pay the $525 assessment fee at application.
The fee is non-refundable and non-transferable, and the 6-month window to complete the credentialing process starts on the date your payment is submitted.
Since February 2, 2026, applications must include an uploaded Professional Portfolio, and the portfolio has to be prepared within the 6 months before you submit your application.
Your YourCouncil login is where the application, the fee payment and the portfolio upload come together.
Home Visitor candidates follow a different process — their portfolio is still reviewed onsite by a PD Specialist rather than uploaded.
What the Council's public pages describe is the application flow, not the account-creation screens — the pages we read do not confirm the sign-up steps in detail.
Start from the Council's website, cdacouncil.org, choose your setting's educator pathway, and follow the YourCouncil prompts.
The eligibility thresholds and the Prepare step are covered step by step in our how to get a CDA guide.
Applying, scheduling and renewing online
Once the Council approves your application, the process moves through two notices.
You receive a first Ready to Schedule notice for the CDA exam, and only after the exam can the verification visit be scheduled, via a second Ready to Schedule notice.
For the English and Spanish exams, scheduling does not run through the Council: both are taken at Pearson VUE test centers and scheduled through Pearson VUE — candidates call 1-866-507-5627 for English or 800-511-6951 for Spanish.
To be assessed in a language other than English or Spanish — American Sign Language counts — you need Council approval before submitting your application; approved candidates take a computer-based exam via remote proctoring and must still complete both the exam and the verification visit.
The exam has 65 multiple-choice questions — 60 questions plus 5 scenario questions with a short narrative and photo — and up to 1 hour 45 minutes to complete it.
The Council does not publish a passing score.
Since February 2, 2026, candidates who show a qualifying level of competence on the exam no longer complete a verification visit; everyone else still gets one.
Retakes cost $125 per attempt, up to two additional tries; after three unsuccessful attempts a candidate may reapply after a six-month waiting period.
Once exam and visit scores reach the Council — generally within 24-48 hours — a credentialing decision may take 1-3 business days if nothing is missing, while errors or missing items can push it to at least 4-6 weeks.
Awarded credentials are delivered as a digital certificate and badge through Credly; a printed certificate costs $30.
Renewal runs on the Council's clock too.
A CDA is valid for 3 years from the award date, a renewal application can go in up to 6 months before expiration and must be received by the expiration date, renewal stays in the setting of the original credential, and renewal costs $250.
The Council says most renewals are awarded automatically on submission of a complete application and payment, but a percentage are randomly audited — audited candidates get 30 calendar days to fix their documentation.
If a CDA expires, the holder must reapply for a new credential, with no exceptions or extensions to the renewal deadline outside the amnesty program.
That amnesty is time-limited: the CDA Renewal Amnesty Program runs from July 6, 2026 to April 26, 2027 (11:59 PM EST) and lets anyone whose CDA expired as far back as January 1, 2016 renew by meeting all current renewal requirements and paying $250 online.
The full renewal requirements list is on our CDA renewal guide.
The CDA process changed on February 2, 2026
Contacting the Council
The Council's candidate business lives online.
Applications and payments run through YourCouncil, and anyone verifying a credential — including an employer — can use the Council's online CDA Certificate Search by entering the certificate number, which returns one of three statuses: Active, Expired or Revoked.
Exam scheduling runs elsewhere for the English and Spanish exams: both are scheduled through Pearson VUE, not the Council — 1-866-507-5627 for English and 800-511-6951 for Spanish.
For other questions — eligibility, approval to be assessed in another language, PD Specialist applications, scholarship funding — the published contact routes live on the Council's website, cdacouncil.org.
Our research did not verify a current Council phone line or email address, so use the contact options the Council publishes there.
Once the credential is current, it is the credential some states and employers require: browse childcare teacher jobs when you are ready to use it.
This page is career information, not licensing or legal advice. CDA rules, fees and deadlines are set and administered by the Council for Professional Recognition — confirm current requirements with the Council, and with your state child care licensing agency if your state's staff rules reference the CDA.