Child care licensing minimally requires that directors of programs have a CDA, two years of teaching experience in an early childhood setting, and two years of experience supervising staff in a child care setting. The competency-based administrator credential minimally requires an associate degree (or 60 credits towards a bachelor’s degree), with a minimum of 18 semester hours in early childhood education and 18 semester hours in children’s program administration. The administrator credential is listed as an option to meet training and education requirements for child care licensing and is embedded in the state QRIS. Elementary principal licensure requires a master’s degree and three years of teaching experience, and offers pre-K certification. The statewide QRIS awards the highest amount of points for director qualifications if the director holds a director credential, a master’s degree, college credit in early childhood education, and college credit in business or administration. There are three early childhood leadership degree programs.
