NHSA Improves Access to Early Childhood Education Credentials With Articulate Localization and Rise

The Challenge

The NHSA wanted to improve educators’ access to a key professional credential

Training is integral to the NHSA’s mission to strengthen early childhood education. To support educators and other staff members, the Academy offers development and skill-building opportunities in four main categories.

First, onboarding and pre-service courses provide foundational knowledge and compliance training for anyone entering a Head Start program. Second, NHSA provides asynchronous, role-specific basics courses for a variety of positions in health services, finance, family service, and more. Third, certifications allow Head Start participants to prove their skills in key areas. Fourth, credentials allow experienced individuals to go deeper in their roles through a combination of content modules and live support sessions.

For all four paths, the NHSA leans on Articulate to create training that is accessible, captivating, and flexible for its learning audience. “Our learning audiences are not typically early adopters of new technology,” says Rachel Hutchison, Senior Manager of Online Instructional Design at the Academy. “Articulate makes it easy for us to create online courses that are thoughtful, engaging, and provide multiple ways to connect with content.”

The Council for Professional Recognition’s Child Development Associate (CDA) credential certifies educators to work in the classroom for three years. The CDA allows early childhood educators to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities in the field. Access to this key credential was a significant pain point for Head Start programs.

With this in mind, the NHSA set out to create training that would allow educators to complete the CDA Credential in an efficient, engaging way. They needed to make this opportunity accessible to all learners, regardless of disability, device used, or preferred language.

The Answer

With Rise, the NHSA created a 120-hour CDA credential course with built-in portfolio exercises

Zuly Vazquez, Senior Manager of Online Professional Development at the Academy, created a CDA credential preparation course in Rise. The 120-hour course is one of the Council’s requirements to obtain the credential, covering six competency standards and thirteen functional areas that educators must demonstrate to prove their skills in early childhood education.

Vazquez created eight content modules for the course to cover required competency standards and functional areas. Each module contained different lessons, complete with embedded multimedia elements like videos, audio clips, knowledge checks, and interactive activities.

“We built this course in Articulate to ensure that learners aren’t just scrolling through content, but are actually comprehending the information and engaging with it,” says Vazquez. “Articulate allows us to create training that engages our audience and prepares them for the next step in their learning journey.”

The credential requires a professional portfolio with written reflections on each of the six competency standards. The portfolio, Vazquez has found, is typically one of the biggest barriers to completing the CDA credential. She designed the course to support learners through the portfolio-building process. Each module ends with a reflection on that specific competency standard so participants can build their portfolios as they go. Along the way, they have access to individualized coaching for additional support. This approach makes obtaining the CDA credential far more accessible—and less overwhelming—for participants.

“We’re always looking to make our courses more accessible for all learners, even if they don’t have a diagnosed learning disability,” says Hutchison. “Maybe they’re working on a mobile device, or don’t have access to sound, or have forgotten their glasses. Articulate makes it easy for us to offer learners multiple modalities to complete training.”

Flexibility, adds Vazquez, is a key piece of accessibility for educators. “Teachers are in the classroom all day,” she says. “Thanks to Articulate, they can complete a 120-hour course as it works for their schedule—20 minutes here, 10 minutes there, always progressing towards the finish line.” And because many Head Start programs are located in rural areas, access to on-demand virtual training from any location is key to improving program access.

Unlocking Human Potential

With Articulate Localization, the NHSA can significantly improve translation speed and training accessibility

Since implementing the CDA credential, the NHSA has achieved high completion rates, often exceeding 89%, for both live and on-demand sessions. Feedback among Head Start programs around the country has also been overwhelmingly positive, particularly about how quickly participants can complete the credential and enter the classroom with high-quality training and preparation.

Even with these rave reviews, the NHSA constantly looks for ways to make the program even more accessible. Lately, one key area of focus has been offering the course in additional languages, which they are looking to tackle with the help of Articulate Localization.

“Spanish is the largest secondary language that is represented in Head Start programs,” says Hutchison. “With Articulate Localization, now we can take courses and immediately translate them into Spanish.” 

Not only does Localization have the potential to improve the accessibility of its training, it could also save the organization significant time and money. “Previously, we spent quite a bit to translate the CDA credential,” says Vazquez. They spent months finding a grant that would allow them to access the funds necessary for translation before even beginning the localization process. 

“Articulate Localization is so fast,” says Vazquez. “In minutes, we can translate modules, and the quality is very good.”

Looking ahead, the NHSA plans to use Articulate Localization for additional translation work, tapping into their Head Start network for validation expertise. “We’ll be able to use Articulate Localization to translate a variety of courses, then find native speakers in our Head Start programs to validate the content for us,” says Hutchison. “They can easily leave feedback so we can make changes without hassle. It’s going to be huge for us.” 

With Articulate Localization and Rise, the NHSA improves educators’ access to the CDA credential, empowering teachers with more accessible career development opportunities that improve early childhood education across the country.