Ivy Tech Batesville To Add CDA Pathway This Fall

This pathway is a two-semester, 18-credit program in which students learn about child development and how to run a classroom.

Ivy Tech College's Batesville campus. Photo courtesy ivytech.edu. 

(Batesville, Ind.) - Ivy Tech Community College’s Batesville campus will begin a new child development associate (CDA) pathway this fall.

This pathway is a two-semester, 18-credit program in which students learn about child development and how to run a classroom. 

“It gives them an understanding of how kids develop, and it helps them to meet their requirements in working with small children,” said Amanda Purcell, assistant professor and program chair of education at Ivy Tech Lawrenceburg and Batesville. “So, they understand how kids develop and then how to plan for that so the practice in the classroom matches up with what they’re seeing with students.”

Purcell said the program is especially helpful for those looking to advance in the childcare field to become a head teacher, daycare administrator or another leadership position.

Cassie Hooten, a recent grad of the CDA program at the Ivy Tech Lawrenceburg campus, will be promoted to head teacher and receive a raise after she receives her certificate for the program.

Hooten said the program increased her confidence in her presentation skills.

“For lesson planning, the teacher had us make videos of ourselves presenting a lesson plan to a class,” Hooten said. “That showed me my strengths and weaknesses and what I needed to work on. It helped to understand how to teach and what to teach the kids.”

This pathway has been offered in an online format at certain sites, but it has never been offered in this capacity in the Batesville region. This revamped cohort-based program allows students to meet face-to-face with professors and complete the program in a shorter time span.

This new program was created in response to local need.

According to licensing regulations, childcare facilities must be led by a teacher who has obtained or is in the process of obtaining their CDA credential in early childhood education. This impacted the Southeastern Indiana YMCA locally who supported Ivy Tech bringing the pathway to the Batesville site because their staff has originally needed to travel two hours to either the Lawrenceburg or Madison campus to complete their degree.

Now, their staff can acquire their CDA locally in just two semesters for two nights a week.

The Southeastern Indiana YMCA is nationally accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children and is also rated highest Indiana Level 4 Paths to QUALITY™. Because of the new Batesville CDA program, the Southeastern Indiana YMCA will be able to more easily obtain trained staff members and retain their status. Paths to QUALITY™ is Indiana’s statewide rating system for early care and education programs and is a free resource to help families make informed decisions in choosing the right childcare.

“We are pleased to be able to partner with Ivy Tech and IAEYC because it offers our staff the opportunity to work full-time at the Y doing what they love, teaching and nurturing young children while on the pathway to earning their Early Childhood Education degree,” says Angie Harmeyer, Southeastern Indiana YMCA executive director.

For those interested in the CDA program, there is a scholarship available called the Teacher Education and Compensation Helps Early Childhood INDIANA scholarship. This scholarship offered by the Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children covers the majority of tuition and book fees, travel stipends and employer reimbursement covering the time needed for study or attending class.

“The T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood INDIANA Program serves as an umbrella for a variety of educational scholarship opportunities, including the CDA, for teachers working in a licensed, registered or certified child care center or home in Indiana,” said Hanan Osman, senior director of the Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children (IAEYC). 

To learn more about the CDA pathway or funding sources to support students, contact:

Amanda M. Purcell, Ivy Tech Assistant Professor and Program Chair of Education

812-537-4010 ext. 5235 | apurcell15@ivytech.edu

Rebecca L. Rahschulte, Ph.D., Director, Ivy Tech Batesville & High School Strategies

(812) 934-3954 ext. 8103 | rrahschulte@ivytech.edu