Dear Colleagues,
The Council shined brightly in the course of 2023. The stars were aligned to put a spotlight on our work as child care continues to recover from COVID. Child care closures during the pandemic made it clear that the economy depends on having enough of the qualified early childhood teachers America’s working families need to be productive. Recent polls have shown that most voters and business leaders feel access to quality, cost-effective child care is essential, and that’s giving politicians the impetus to build up the early childhood workforce. During the past year, there’s been a surge in funding for the CDA® as state and federal lawmakers seek to ease the ongoing child care crunch.
Growing support for our credential has led the Council to assume more of a starring role in the policy arena, as Dr. Moore tells us in his latest blog. This year we issued our first independent policy agenda, where we endorse ways to boost access to CDA training and recognition for the credential in state regulations—guidance that is gaining traction. The Council is also partnering with the Maryland State Department of Education to provide $1 million in funding for educators to earn or renew their CDA. And Council COO Andrew Davis recently testified at the Massachusetts State House in support of a bill to set up apprenticeships that allow high schoolers and working educators to earn their CDA.
Andrew was also among the speakers at our 2023 Early Educators Leadership Conference in Houston, where we boasted a record turnout. The conference offered a wide array of options for meeting the needs of young children and the educators who serve them as we work to drive change in our profession. With the pandemic in the past, the conference served as a venue to innovate, inspire and impact the early childhood community nationwide. ECE leaders learned how in the Lone Star State as they heard from stars of the early childhood profession.
Now the Council has a new star since this year we awarded our millionth CDA to Jada Vargas, a recent high school grad and member of the Apache Tribe. Newly minted CDAs like Jada can look forward to bright careers, according to the CDA Credential Holders Survey that came out this fall. The survey showed that owners and directors are more likely to hire someone with a CDA than someone without it since educators who succeed in earning their CDA are more prepared for the classroom. CDA holders are also likely to earn more and gain promotions than their non-credentialed colleagues. So, increasing access to the CDA can make ECE a more attractive career at a time when educators are in such short supply.
Expanding access to the CDA also promotes the Council’s enduring goal to increase equity in early learning. And we’ve made our mission even more clear in the third edition of our CDA textbook, Essentials for Working with Young Children, which came out in 2023. In the new, updated Essentials, we’ve put our previous content through an equity lens and honed our focus on how to use the microcosm of the classroom to make a macro impact by giving children a sense of social justice when they are young.
This was also the mission of Shinichi Suzuki, as you’ll learn when you read our review of Suzuki: The Man & His Dream to Teach the Children of the World. The original goal of the Suzuki Method of music instruction was not to produce little prodigies on the violin, a common misconception nowadays. Instead, Suzuki wanted to spark a revolution in education, based on the idea that talent is not an innate trait. Practicing and repetition are the keys to mastering any skill, he proposed. And environment, not genetics, is the key to unlocking all children’s potential. Every child’s talent could be nurtured, Suzuki maintained, so that “all the children around the world shine like little stars”—a belief we at the Council also embrace. In the coming year, we’ll continue to shoot for the stars as we advance our valued credential. There’s a growing belief that CDA holders know how to bring out the promise in every child.
With high hopes for 2024,
The Council for Professional Recognition
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Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Elisa Shepherd is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at the Council, where she leads initiatives to advance the Council’s mission and strategic plan through designing, managing, and executing a comprehensive stakeholder relationship strategy.
With over 25 years of experience in early childhood education (ECE), Elisa has dedicated her career to developing impactful programs, professional development opportunities, and public policies that support working families, young children, and ECE staff. Before joining the Council, Elisa held numerous roles within the childcare industry. Most recently, she served as Associate Vice President at The Learning Experience and as Senior Manager at KinderCare Education, where she influenced government affairs and public policies across 40 states.
Elisa’s commitment to leadership is reflected in her external roles on the Early Care and Education Consortium Board of Directors, the Florida Chamber Foundation Board of Trustees, and as the DEI Caucus Leader for KinderCare Education. She has been recognized as an Emerging Leader in Early Childhood by Childcare Exchange’s Leadership Initiative.
Elisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on child development from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
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