Child Care Administration, Short-Term Certificate

The Child Care Administration short-term certificate program will provide courses in leadership/advocacy, early childhood education organization and administration, and small business management to prepare students to assume leadership and management positions in the field of early childhood education in settings such as: Head Start, cooperative preschools, child care centers, and child care programs serving children from birth through 12 years of age. Upon program completion, students will meet the education requirements of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Child Care Licensing Rules for center administrator and be eligible for the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association Administrator Credential.

Students who complete the short-term certificate in child care administration must contact the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association (OCCRRA) for Administrator Credential.

This program is available to be completed 100% online.

Program contact: Learn more

This certificate will be automatically awarded when the certificate requirements are completed. If you do not want to receive the certificate, please notify the Office of the Registrar at RegistrarOffice@tri-c.edu.

Learn more about how certificate credits apply to the related degree.

Program Admission Requirements

• Program Application is required. Contact your campus Liberal Arts/Social Sciences office to request an application.
  West: 216-987-5508
  East: 216-987-2263
  Metro: 216-987-4028
• High School Diploma/GED.
• Complete ENG-1010 College Composition I or ENG-101H Honors College Composition I with grade of "C" or higher.
• Complete ECED-1010 Introduction to Early Childhood Education: Children's Development and Programs with grade of "C" or higher.

Program Learning Outcomes

This program is designed to prepare students to demonstrate the following learning outcomes:

1. Use research-based and best practices to include and value children, families and communities; create collaborative respectful reciprocal relationships; support and involve families in advocating for their children’s development and learning.
2. Ensure staff is educated and supported to design, implement, assess, and improve curriculum that is developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant, anti-biased, research-based, and aligned to the state standards and the center’s mission, vision, and philosophy in order to meet the needs of critical stakeholders (students, families, staff, community, board members, etc.).
3. Develop, implement, evaluate, and revise the organization’s strategic plan, short and long term goals, program structure, mission, vision, and philosophy to meet its goals and fulfill its mission involving staff, families, and other stakeholders when appropriate.
4. Advocate and collaborate with policy makers and the public; set staff expectations and provide professional development opportunities and feedback; communicate, motivate, involve, and delegate in a respectful, positive, and meaningful way in order to provide the community with high quality programs.
5. Plan, analyze, interpret, manage, and evaluate markets, communication, budgetary and accounting practices, resources, information, facilities, and disaster emergency preparedness in order to maintain long-term organizational sustainability and provide quality programs and services to families and children.
6. Meet the educational requirements of the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association (OCCRRA) for the Ohio Administrator Credential.

Suggested Semester Sequence

MATH-1140, MATH-1141, MATH-1200, MATH-1270, and MATH-1280 can no longer count towards fulfilling the college-level mathematics requirement.  These courses were re-classified as developmental mathematics by the state of Ohio in 2016.  Tri-C established a 5-year transitioning window for students who had completed these courses prior to 2016 to apply them towards meeting graduation requirements, which expired in Summer 2021. It is highly recommended to see a counselor to determine the appropriate math required for your current major.