Originally Posted by daycarediva:
imho, no. I have it and it is about to expire. I am not renewing it. My AA (now BA) in ECE has attracted more attention to my program than the CDA. Most parents don't even know what it is, and the ONE parent who did called it the "CNA of the child care field"
Can you take online courses towards your AA in ECE or EC development?
Right now, jobs in ECE in my area are either AA in a related field, or CDA/significant experience. They pay pretty low (imho) 10-12/hr.
BA in a related field + experience jobs locally are 15-17/hr+ and are mostly desk jobs. I know, I just applied for two. 
I had completely forgotten about this thread!
I am currently getting my CDA but only because it's being paid for by the union. I am going to take that, along with my AA in LA to SUNY's online college (where I also have a ton of extra credits hanging around
) and see if I can parlay that into an AA in ECE. That would at least get me a TA position. Right now my Liberal Arts degree qualifies me for nothing but maybe answering phones (and probably not even that as my computing skills are gone
) Ideally I would like to work at Head Start to start and then move on to a UPK once I get my BA (which I would use any financial aid from HS to get as our HS does that) But we will see. I like working with kids, and I like the idea of NOT being a lead teacher. I'm at the point that I want to go in, do what they tell me to, and leave.