Head Start preschool center-based teachers — the lead-teacher role — need at least an associate or bachelor's degree in child development or early childhood education, or equivalent coursework, or the alternative route in section 648A(a)(3)(B) of the Head Start Act.
Assistant teachers can be hired with a CDA, a state certificate that meets or exceeds it, or enrollment in a degree or CDA program — the CDA program to be finished within two years of hire.
Early Head Start teachers need at least a CDA or comparable credential, plus infant-toddler coursework.
These federal rules were current as of October 2026.
Lead teacher education rules
Under the current Head Start Program Performance Standards, every Head Start preschool center-based teacher must have at least an associate or bachelor's degree in child development or early childhood education.
The rule sits at 45 CFR 1302.91(e)(2), and it opens two other doors: equivalent coursework, or otherwise meeting section 648A(a)(3)(B) of the Head Start Act.
Because the requirement comes from the statute itself, it is one of the qualifications the pending rewrite would keep.
The bachelor's figure you may have seen is not an individual requirement.
The standards direct that at least 50% of Head Start preschool teachers nationwide hold a bachelor's — a requirement on the national workforce, not a rule about your own credential.
BLS describes the same baseline for the occupation: Head Start preschool teachers in center-based programs must have at least an associate degree.
BLS words that 50% figure as a bachelor's in early childhood education or a related field, and adds that those with a degree in a related field, such as psychology, must have experience teaching preschool-age children.
These rules were current as of October 2026 — a rewrite is proposed
Assistant teacher rules
Assistant teachers have a lower and deliberately flexible floor.
The standards require each Head Start preschool assistant teacher, at minimum, to hold one of three things: a CDA — or a state certificate that meets or exceeds it — enrollment in an associate or bachelor's program, or enrollment in a CDA program that will be finished within two years of hire.
Two practical notes.
The CDA — like a state certificate that meets or exceeds it — is the route that is a completed credential on day one; the two enrollment routes are the ones with work left to finish after hire.
And "at minimum" marks the federal floor rather than a job description: grantees write their own postings on top of the rule, so read the one you are answering for anything extra it asks for.
Early Head Start teacher rules
Early Head Start is the program's infant-and-toddler side, and its center-based teachers follow a separate track: at least a CDA or comparable credential, plus training or coursework in infant-toddler development.
Whichever credential you hold, the rule adds that infant-toddler focus on top of it — the coursework is part of the qualification, not an optional extra.
Two adjacent Head Start roles carry education rules of their own.
Home visitors need at least a home-based CDA or comparable credential, and Head Start family child care providers must be enrolled in a Family Child Care CDA program (or state equivalent) or an ECE degree program before serving, then earn the credential within 18 months.
Both of those are regulatory rather than statutory, which puts them among the requirements the August 2026 proposal would remove.
For what the job itself looks like day to day, see our Early Head Start teacher career guide.
Getting hired while enrolled in school
The assistant-teacher rule is built for exactly this situation.
Enrollment in an associate or bachelor's program qualifies you on its own, and enrollment in a CDA program qualifies you as long as the credential is finished within two years of hire.
The lead-teacher routes, by contrast, name a completed degree, equivalent coursework, or the statutory alternative — enrollment alone is not one of them for that role.
The coursework itself can be free to start.
Early Education Pathways (EEP), the federal learning platform funded jointly by the Office of Head Start and the Office of Child Care, launched in July 2026, and its free iCDA Course Preparation Series counts toward the CDA's 120 training hours.
Whether a state licensing agency counts EEP courses toward its own training rules is a state decision.
For the degree routes, the money question has several answers.
The T.E.A.C.H.
Early Childhood scholarship has run since 1990 as a cost-shared model that pays most of the cost of tuition, books and travel and awards a raise or bonus once the required credits are done, in exchange for a commitment to stay in your child care setting for a period each state program sets.
The T.E.A.C.H.
Early Childhood National Center lists programs in 21 states as of October 2026 — not every state; California, Texas and Maryland, among others, are not in its directory.
The maximum Federal Pell Grant is $7,395 for the 2026-27 award year.
And if your employer is a U.S. government organization or a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Public Service Loan Forgiveness forgives remaining Direct Loan balances after 120 qualifying monthly payments — for-profit organizations do not qualify, and full-time for PSLF means at least 30 hours a week on average.
One caveat before you plan around it: PSLF employer rules were in litigation in 2026, so check studentaid.gov's current rules.
Head Start lead teacher qualifications
Pulling the lead-teacher picture together: the qualification is the degree rule — at least an associate or bachelor's degree in child development or early childhood education, equivalent coursework, or the section 648A(a)(3)(B) alternative in the Head Start Act (45 CFR 1302.91(e)(2)).
The 50% bachelor's figure is a requirement on the national workforce, not a second requirement aimed at you.
Because the rule is federal, it reads the same in Louisiana as in any other state.
What changes from state to state is the licensing layer underneath the Head Start standards, covered further below.
The ladder also continues above the classroom, and that rule comes from the Head Start Act too: education managers and coordinators — including curriculum specialists — need a baccalaureate or advanced degree in early childhood education, or a baccalaureate or advanced degree plus equivalent ECE coursework and early education teaching experience.
- Transcripts or a diploma for your associate or bachelor's degree in child development or early childhood education
- Course documentation, if you are qualifying through equivalent coursework
- Whatever the statutory alternative in section 648A(a)(3)(B) requires, if that is your route
Assistant teacher qualifications
Each assistant route means something different in practice:
- CDA in hand. A completed credential on day one, with nothing left to finish after hire.
- State certificate. A state-issued certificate that meets or exceeds the CDA satisfies the rule the same way.
- Enrolled in a degree. Enrollment in an associate or bachelor's program qualifies you while you study — the same two degrees the lead-teacher rule names.
- Enrolled in a CDA program. You can be hired while still working toward the credential, with a two-year window from your hire date to finish it.
If the lead-teacher job is the goal, the degree rule above is the bar — that is where an associate degree in early childhood education fits, and a bachelor's degree in early childhood education is the credential behind the national 50% workforce requirement.
Can you start with a CDA?
Yes for two of the three roles.
Early Head Start center-based teachers can qualify on a CDA — it is the stated minimum, paired with infant-toddler development coursework.
Preschool assistant teachers can qualify with a CDA, with a state certificate that meets or exceeds it, or through the enrollment routes that include a CDA program.
No for the preschool lead-teacher role.
The qualification routes at 45 CFR 1302.91(e)(2) name a degree in child development or early childhood education, equivalent coursework, or the statutory alternative — the CDA is not one of them, so a CDA by itself does not meet the lead-teacher requirement.
CDA coursework can still move you toward the degree.
The free federal iCDA series covers 80 of the 120 training hours the CDA needs, and one provider's CDA certificate — CCEI's Online College Credit Eligible CDA Certificate — carries a credit recommendation of 10 lower-division semester hours in human/child development or early childhood education from NCCRS, the National College Credit Recommendation Service; each college decides whether to accept recommendations like that.
How state licensing rules apply on top
Head Start qualifications come from the Office of Head Start, and they are not the whole picture for the adult in the room.
State child care licensing agencies set their own staff qualification and training rules for centers in their state, and those rules vary more than the federal ones do.
BLS's overview of the wider occupation shows the spread: preschool teachers' requirements vary by setting and state rules, some states set no education requirement at all for entry-level childcare positions, and some states and employers ask for a nationally recognized credential — most often the CDA.
Whether your state counts a particular course, including the federal EEP platform's offerings, toward its licensing training is a state decision.
Two agencies can touch the same classroom
Ongoing training requirements
The degree is the entry gate; the training clock keeps running after hire.
Under the current standards, all Head Start staff complete at least 15 clock hours of professional development per year, plus annual training on mandatory child abuse reporting and annual training on positive strategies for social-emotional development.
For teachers specifically, that 15-clock-hour minimum sits in the Head Start Act itself — section 648A(a)(5) — which is why it is one of the requirements that would survive even the proposed rewrite of the rest of the standards.
Those hours do not have to cost money.
The federal EEP platform hosts free professional development courses, including the CDA-prep series.
Before you bank on a course counting, check with your grantee that it satisfies the requirement — and with your state licensing agency for anything your state's rules expect as well.
Finding Head Start jobs
Head Start openings are posted by the programs and grantees that operate them, and because the qualification rule applies to every preschool center-based teacher, expect each application to ask for degree or coursework documentation.
Candidates on the assistant-teacher track show a CDA, a state certificate, or proof of enrollment instead.
Background checks run alongside the education rules.
Under the current standards, programs must complete, before hire, an interview, reference checks, a sex offender registry check, and either a state or tribal fingerprint check or an FBI fingerprint check; the remaining check and the child abuse and neglect registry check must be completed within 90 days, with no unsupervised access to children until they are done, and a full re-check every five years.
The August 2026 proposal would drop the standards' own background-check procedures, leaving the statutory requirements and state CCDBG-aligned checks to apply.
For the role as a whole — duties, pay structure and the classroom standards — see our Head Start teacher career guide, or browse head start teacher jobs on ChildcareHires.
Career information, not licensing or legal advice. Head Start qualification standards come from the Office of Head Start (45 CFR 1302); state training and qualification rules come from your state child care licensing agency. Confirm current requirements with both before you apply or hire.