Early Head Start teacher qualifications grantees must require

Start with the federal floor.

Under 45 CFR 1302.91(e)(1) and Head Start Act section 645A(h), Early Head Start center-based teachers of infants and toddlers must "have a minimum of a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or comparable credential, and have been trained or have equivalent coursework in early childhood development with a focus on infant and toddler development." That is two requirements, and a complete screen checks both: the credential, and the infant-toddler focus behind it.

The CDA is the Child Development Associate credential awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition, with initial applications filed online through the Council's YourCouncil system.

As of October 2026 the Council offers the CDA in five settings — center-based Infant-Toddler (birth to 36 months), center-based Preschool (ages 3 to 5), center-based Birth to Five (birth to 5 in a center), Family Child Care (birth to 5 in a home) and Home Visitor.

The four center and family child care settings name the age range they cover; Home Visitor is its own setting for home-based staff.

Ask for the credential record rather than the title line, and ask separately how the infant-toddler training or coursework is documented, because the rule names it as its own requirement.

The phrase "comparable credential" is where screens get uncertain.

Our research carries no federal list of the credentials that count as comparable, so treat comparability as a determination to settle before an offer rather than a resume judgment — confirm how your grantee documents it with the Office of Head Start.

Keep the seats separate while you screen.

The Head Start Preschool center-based teacher seat carries a degree floor — all Head Start Preschool center-based teachers must have at least an associate or bachelor's degree in child development or early childhood education, or equivalent coursework — and Head Start teacher qualifications are that page's subject.

Here the floor is the credential plus the infant-toddler focus; the rule text names no degree route for this seat.

The floor is also the stable part of the map.

The EHS teacher requirement is statutory, and ACF's August 7, 2026 proposal to rescind and replace the entire Head Start Program Performance Standards (comments close October 6, 2026) would keep only the statutory qualifications — a list that names Early Head Start teachers.

No final rule had been published as of October 5, 2026, so read this page as the rule as of October 2026.

Your state's licensing rule is a separate layer: a teacher who clears the federal floor can still fall short of what your state requires of an infant-toddler teacher in the same room.

Confirm the current qualification requirements with the Office of Head Start and your state child care licensing agency before you post, screen or offer.

The sequence around this screen — sourcing, pay, checks, the start date — is our guide to hiring EHS teachers.

The center-teacher rule states the credential as something the hire already holds: the rule text in our research says Early Head Start center-based teachers must have the CDA or comparable credential plus the infant-toddler training, and it describes no enrollment window and no finish-by date for that seat.

Treat that absence carefully — our research finding no in-progress route is not permission to run one.

Resolve how an in-progress credential would be documented for this seat with the Office of Head Start before you plan a start date around one.

What the credential takes explains why the bar sits at hire.

Infant-Toddler CDA candidates need 480 hours of center-based experience with children birth to 36 months, spread across all three sub-age groups — young infants (birth-8 months), mobile infants (9-17 months) and toddlers (18-36 months).

The Council's center-based Birth to Five setting spans birth to 5; its 480 experience hours must include at least 160 hours in each of infants (birth-17 months), toddlers (18-36 months) and preschoolers (3-5 years).

If you are growing a current assistant or floater toward a future EHS opening, those sub-age-group hours are the slow part to schedule — build coverage that lets them accrue hours in all three bands, and verify the finished credential with the Council for Professional Recognition rather than a certificate copy.

The timelines the current rules do set belong to other seats, so keep them scoped.

Head Start Preschool assistant teachers can qualify through enrollment, with a CDA credential program completed within two years of the time of hire.

Family child care providers have an explicit enrollment route of their own, covered in the next section.

Neither timeline transfers to the Early Head Start center-based teacher seat.

Candidates see the credential bar too — see what they see on the Early Head Start teacher jobs page before you write the posting.

Family child care is one of the service options the Head Start rules name — center-based, home-based, family child care, or an approved locally designed variation.

When your program partners with local homes, the qualification rule the standards set for Head Start family child care providers is the one to screen against.

On the grant side, EHS-Child Care Partnership grants are open to public, nonprofit and for-profit entities, including faith-based organizations.

Under the current standards, Head Start family child care providers must have prior child care experience and be enrolled in a Family Child Care CDA program (or a state equivalent) or an early childhood education degree program before they begin serving children, and must earn the credential within 18 months of beginning to provide services.

Two features distinguish this seat from the center-teacher seat: the enrollment route is explicit, and the deadline runs from the start of service.

The credential itself is the Council's Family Child Care setting, covering birth to age 5 in a home.

This is a regulatory requirement, not a statutory one, and it is on the proposal's removal list.

ACF's August 2026 NPRM proposes removing the family child care qualification, and the Council for Professional Recognition said on October 5, 2026 that the proposed rule could eliminate CDA-related qualification requirements for several Head Start positions, including family child care providers and home visitors.

As of October 2026 the current rule still governs — no final rule had been published as of October 5, 2026 — so screen partner providers to the current rule and confirm with the Office of Head Start before you change a partnership agreement's qualification terms.

Home visitors carry the third seat.

Under 45 CFR 1302.91(e)(6), a Head Start home visitor must, at minimum, hold a home-based CDA credential or a comparable credential, or have equivalent coursework as part of an associate's or bachelor's degree — three routes, each one documentable.

The home-based credential is a distinct CDA setting: as of October 2026 the Council lists Home Visitor among its five settings, and its process differs from center-based settings in ways that show up in the paperwork — the subject areas differ, and the professional portfolio is reviewed onsite by a PD Specialist rather than uploaded.

Screen all three routes deliberately.

A home-based CDA is a Council credential like any other — confirm it with the Council for Professional Recognition.

A comparable credential runs into the same question as the center-teacher seat — our research carries no federal list of what counts, so settle it with the Office of Head Start.

And an equivalent-coursework route is what the rule says: coursework completed as part of an associate's or bachelor's degree — ask for the documentation that shows the coursework sat inside the degree.

The seat is also exposed to the rulemaking.

The home-visitor requirement is regulatory, and ACF's August 2026 proposal would remove it alongside the family child care rule.

No final rule had been published as of October 5, 2026 — keep screening to the current rule and confirm with the Office of Head Start before you change what you require of home-visitor candidates.

The qualification is one layer of the seat; the visit schedule and program structure a home visitor works within are in our guide to hiring EHS teachers.

This page is employer information, not licensing or legal advice. The Head Start Program Performance Standards are administered by the Office of Head Start; confirm Early Head Start qualification requirements with the Office of Head Start, and the requirements your state sets for the same classrooms with your state child care licensing agency.