What Are the Requirements to Be a Daycare Teacher in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island child care centers are licensed by the Department of Human Services (DHS).

The rules a center and its classroom staff follow are the Child Care Center and School Age Program Regulations for Licensure, 218-RICR-70-00-1, whose latest version took effect July 7, 2026.

The regulation sets out three classroom roles — Teacher, Teacher Assistant and Teacher Aide — with different qualification bars for each.

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

Rhode Island's center rule calls the lead classroom role a Teacher.

The qualification routes in §1.12(C) include a high school diploma or GED plus 3 years of supervised experience; a CDA credential plus 1 year of supervised experience; 12 ECE credits plus 3 months of supervised experience; or an associate degree in an ECE-related field.

The CDA is awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition.

The licensing rule sets the state's minimum, not a center's hiring bar: an individual employer can require more, so read each job posting closely.

A Teacher Assistant must be at least 18 years old and hold a high school diploma or GED.

The rule also names a third classroom role, Teacher Aide, which is open at 16 — but an aide must always be with staff who are 18 or older.

Requirements that apply to every staff member who works with children, such as an active RISES registry account, apply whatever your classroom title.

New staff are oriented during their first week.

Within 90 days of hire, all new staff must complete DHS-approved health and safety pre-service training modules, alongside the pediatric CPR and first aid training covered below.

Our research did not confirm a single pre-service hour total in the Rhode Island rule; the requirement is completion of the DHS-approved modules, so confirm the current module list with DHS.

Year-round center leadership and classroom staff complete 24 hours of professional development per calendar year, with at least 4 of those hours in health and safety.

Staff who work fewer than 20 hours a week need 12 hours for the year.

Every Rhode Island center staff member must be trained in pediatric CPR and pediatric first aid under current AHA guidelines.

Online training is not accepted for the initial CPR certification, and new hires have 90 days to complete the training.

On physical health checks: our research did not confirm a staff immunization or physical exam requirement in the Rhode Island center rule, so ask DHS what documentation it currently requires.

Rhode Island requires comprehensive background checks before staff take on duties and again every 5 years.

The check draws on the Rhode Island child abuse and neglect registry, FBI fingerprints, a state BCI check, and state and national sex offender registries.

Anyone who lived outside Rhode Island in the past 5 years also goes through interstate checks.

On cost: the Rhode Island Attorney General's office waives the comprehensive fingerprint fee for child care staff with an employer affidavit, from May 5, 2021 through September 30, 2027.

Yes.

All Rhode Island center staff who work with children must have an active RISES workforce registry account, so the requirement reaches every classroom role on this page.

Setting up and keeping the account active is part of getting job-ready in a Rhode Island center.

Child Care WAGE$ Rhode Island, run by RIAEYC, pays education-based salary supplements to center educators and family child care providers.

It is funded by a time-limited federal Preschool Development Grant, and our research did not confirm the current supplement amounts, so check RIAEYC's program page for what it pays now.