HEADWAY Act

This bill lets Early Head Start centers keep at least one fully qualified teacher in every classroom, while allowing other teachers to teach as they work toward a child development associate (CDA) credential and required early childhood training. While those teachers are completing their credentials, the program must provide a mentor to guide and track their progress. It replaces older “everyone by a past deadline” rules with a steady classroom-by-classroom standard.

In short, it aims to help centers hire and keep staff, without lowering quality for infants and toddlers, by pairing learning-on-the-job with mentoring and ensuring each classroom has a fully trained teacher.

• Who is affected: Early Head Start centers, their teachers, and the infants and toddlers they serve.
• What changes: At least one teacher per classroom must already meet the training/credential standard; additional teachers can teach while working toward a CDA and coursework; agencies must assign a mentor during that period.
• When: Applies after the law takes effect; it replaces older fixed deadlines with ongoing classroom requirements.