What Are the Requirements to Be a Daycare Teacher in Colorado?

Colorado licenses child care centers through the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) and its Division of Early Learning, Licensing, and Administration.

The rules a center and its teachers follow sit in one rulebook: 8 CCR 1402-1, the Child Care Facility Licensing Rules, whose current version on the Colorado Secretary of State's site is dated 2026.

Staff qualifications, training hours and background checks all come from that rulebook.

When a requirement on this page and CDEC's current rulebook disagree, the rulebook governs.

Colorado's rule gives the title early childhood teacher to the staff member assigned responsibility for a single group of children, working under the supervision of a director.

An early childhood teacher must be at least 18 years old and meet at least one of nine qualification options.

The options named in our research include a current CDA in center-based preschool, center-based infant-toddler or family child care; a PDIS early childhood professional credential at Level II or higher; an ECE associate degree; 21 months (3,185 hours) of verified experience caring for four or more unrelated children under 8, plus a PDIS Level I credential or two 3-credit ECE courses; or a Department-approved course of training plus 9 months (1,365 hours) of experience.

Experience has to be verified: centers must give departing staff a letter verifying their hours worked with children, with infant and toddler hours listed separately, within 30 days of the last day of employment.

A center can ask for more than the licensing floor in its own postings, so read each one.

The aide role in Colorado's center rule is the staff aide.

A staff aide must be at least 16 years old and work directly under the supervision of the director or an early childhood teacher; in infant rooms, a staff aide must be at least 18.

The sections of 8 CCR 1402-1 our research transcribes do not spell out a separate qualification route titled assistant teacher, so if a posting uses that title, ask the center or CDEC which qualifications apply to it.

Several Department-approved trainings come due before you start working with children — some keyed to the age group you'll work with.

Standard Precautions training and Child Abuse Prevention training must both be completed before you work with children, and each is renewed every year.

Safe Sleep training is due before you work with infants, and Shaken Baby/Abusive Head Trauma training is due before you work with children under 3, renewed every two years.

All staff who work with children must complete at least 15 clock hours of ongoing professional development each year, beginning with the start date of the employee.

At least 3 of those hours must be in social-emotional development.

On top of the hours, the safety trainings renew on their own cycles: Standard Precautions and Child Abuse Prevention every year, and Shaken Baby/Abusive Head Trauma every two years.

Colorado's CPR rule is a coverage rule, not an everyone-certified rule: for every 30 or fewer children in attendance, at least one staff member on duty must hold a current Department-approved First Aid and CPR certificate covering all ages.

Other caregivers must complete the Introduction to First Aid and CPR module within 30 days, so one certification does not, by itself, meet the rule for the other caregivers in the building.

Health checks run through a signed health statement dated no more than six months before or within 30 days after hire, and staff must be current on all immunizations their employer requires, unless a medical condition prevents immunization.

Colorado requires two checks.

Fingerprints: each applicant must have fingerprints taken and processed at a vendor approved by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the criminal record checks cover both CBI and FBI records — the individual pays the fingerprinting cost.

Records: a separate child abuse and neglect check is also required.

Ask the hiring director which forms to complete and when, and confirm the current steps with CDEC.

Colorado's age floors differ by role.

Staff aides can start at 16, working directly under the supervision of the director or an early childhood teacher, while infant staff aides and early childhood teachers must be at least 18.

A 16- or 17-year-old therefore meets the staff aide age floor in a center but cannot qualify as the early childhood teacher of a group until 18.

Yes for several roles.

Colorado's licensing rule requires directors, assistant directors, small-center directors, early childhood teachers and infant program staff to register in the Colorado Shines Professional Development Information System (PDIS), and it applies to prospective staff as well as current employees.

The federal CCDF rule leaves registry membership up to each state, so this requirement is Colorado's own.

PDIS is also where the state's early childhood professional credential (Levels I to III) is issued, and those credentials count toward Colorado's teacher and director qualification routes.