[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 242 (Wednesday, December 17, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66111-66112]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-32954]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Head Start Program; Notice of Award

AGENCY: Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration 
for Children and Families, HHS.

ACTION: Notice of Sole Source Award to Administer the Head Start Child 
Development Credentialing Program.

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SUMMARY: The Head Start Bureau announces its intention to enter into a 
noncompetitively awarded cooperative agreement with The Council for 
Early Childhood Professional Recognition to administer the Child 
Development Associate (CDA) Credentialing Program. The CDA Program is a 
national project to credential qualified caregivers who work with 
children birth to age five in a variety of public and private agency 
settings, and in a variety of roles, including as center-based 
caregivers of infants and toddlers or preschool age children, as home 
visitors, or as family child care providers.
    If there are organizations interested in competing for this grant 
to administer the Head Start Child Development Credentialing Program, 
they are requested to express their interest by contacting either E. 
Dollie Wolverton or Lynda Perez by January 16, 1998.

DATES: Effective on January 16, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: E. Dollie Wolverton, Head Start 
Bureau, ACYF, P.O. Box 1182, Washington, D.C. 20013, (202) 205-8418 
(Not a toll free call); or Lynda Perez, Grants Officer, Head Start 
Bureau, ACYF, P.O. Box 1182, Washington, D.C. 20013, (202) 205-7359 
(Not a toll free call).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The project period for this cooperative agreement will be four 
years. The award is approximately $1,000,000 annually. The authority 
for this credentialing program is section 648(e) of the Head Start Act 
(42 U.S.C. 9843).
    The Head Start Program is committed to staff development for all 
individuals employed in local programs to increase the understanding 
and skills necessary to carry out their jobs, as well as professional 
development leading to credentials and degrees. In addition to ongoing 
staff development, section 648A of the Head Start Act directs the 
Secretary to ensure that each of the 55,000 Head Start classrooms for 
preschool-age children has a qualified teacher, with a minimum of a CDA 
credential.
    Those who are credentialed include prekindergarten staff from the 
various military sectors, child care, church-affiliated preschools, 
Title I school-based programs, and Head Start. Also, the revised Head 
Start Program Performance Standards, which become effective January 1, 
1998, include new standards for infant and toddler programs and the 
requirement that infant and toddler teachers also be qualified by 
January 1, 1999, and thereafter within one year of hire, holding a CDA 
credential at a minimum.
    Beginning in 1972, ACYF has supported various organizations to 
administer the CDA National Credentialing Program. These organizations 
included a Consortium of several child development and early childhood 
education associations and the Bank Street College of Education. The 
first decade of this credential award program was unstable and 
problematic due, in large measure, to the fact that the grant was 
recompeted frequently, leading to several changes in administering 
organizations and resulting breaks in services. The general instability 
and under-use of the CDA credential system caused concern to the 
Department and the Congress. The Department requested that the National 
Association for the Education of Young Children create a non-profit 
subsidiary to become a free standing organization that would 
permanently administer the CDA credentialing program. Accordingly, the 
Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition was established to 
administer the national CDA Credentialing Program through a cooperative 
agreement. The intent of maintaining a permanent home for the national 
Child Development Associate credentialing program was reinforced in 
1992, when Section 7 of the 1992 Juvenile Justice Act, entitled, ``Head 
Start Training Improvement,'' amended the Head Start Act, requiring the 
funding of an organization to administer a centralized child 
development credential and national assessment program.

II. Reason for Sole Source Award

    The Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition has 
effectively restored public confidence in the CDA Credential and 
increased the number of credentials awarded. The number of candidates 
credentialed each year has steadily grown from about 2,000 credentialed 
candidates annually to nearly 8,000 per year. As of June 1997, nearly 
83,000 teachers, home visitors and family child care providers have 
been credentialed. The Council has also increased the recognition and 
credibility of the CDA Credential among the States, and now 47 States, 
the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico recognize the Child 
Development Associate credential as the requirement for the licensing 
of a child care center. This provides those certified with the CDA 
credential with the mobility to move from State-to-State with State 
recognition of their credential and qualifications.
    The Council is efficiently and cost-effectively administering the 
National CDA Credentialing Program at a time when the demand for the 
credential has greatly increased. This allows the Council to maintain 
the assessment and credentialing fee to the candidate (the majority are 
low-income) at $325.
    Because of the mandate for qualified teachers of infants and 
toddlers and preschool age children, welfare reform, and the 
President's intended expansion of the Head Start Program to serve one 
million eligible children by the year 2002, the need for qualified, 
credentialed staff is an urgent matter, particularly given the annual 
turnover rate of 17 percent among Head Start staff. To address the 
expansion of the

[[Page 66112]]

Head Start Program and the expansion of services by other agencies 
providing child care and early childhood education, it is estimated 
that approximately 8,000 CDA candidates will require assessment and a 
credential award during each of the next four years.
    In the face of these challenges, the Department seeks to ensure the 
continuity of the administration of this unique national credentialing 
program, which provides affordable credentialing award services which 
are nationally recognized, cost effective, represent quality standards 
for staff working with children ages birth to five years, and enjoy the 
confidence of the States, institutions of higher learning, and the 
field of early childhood.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Number 93.600, 
Project Head Start)

    Dated: December 11, 1997.
James A. Harrell,
Deputy Commissioner, Administration on Children, Youth and Families.
[FR Doc. 97-32954 Filed 12-16-97; 8:45 am]
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