Arizona requires licensed childcare staff to complete annual continuing education as a condition of maintaining their childcare facility license. The Arizona ADHS sets the training requirement at 18 hours per year for all licensed childcare staff. brightwheel Professional Development courses are accepted toward Arizona’s continuing education requirements, and staff completion is tracked automatically within brightwheel. brightwheel courses auto‑post completed hours to the AZECWR Registry.
| Annual CE hours (teachers) | 18 hours per training year |
| Training period | Annual |
| Regulatory authority | Arizona ADHS |
| Notes | Increasing to 24 hrs by Aug 2026 |
| brightwheel approved in Arizona | ✓ Yes — accepted for Arizona CE requirements |
| Auto‑posts to AZECWR Registry | ✓ Yes — completed course hours post automatically to staff registry accounts |
| Courses available in Arizona | View courses across 8 CDA competency areas |
Browse courses by competency area in Arizona
Each competency area maps to CDA standards and satisfies Arizona’s continuing education requirements. Select a competency area to explore available courses.
Safe and Healthy Environment
Health and safety, nutrition, emergency preparedness, classroom setup
Physical and Intellectual Development
Child growth, developmental milestones, motor skills, cognition
Social and Emotional Development
Social-emotional learning, behavior guidance, relationships, inclusion
Families
Family communication, partnerships, cultural responsiveness
Program Management
Administrative operations, staff management, licensing compliance
Professionalism
Professional standards, ethics, advocacy, career development
Observation and Documentation
Observational methods, documentation, assessment tools, portfolios
Child Development
Cross-cutting child development principles across all domains
Quality First and brightwheel
Quality First is Arizona’s Quality Rating and Improvement System. Staff professional development in CDA‑aligned competency areas is a core component of Quality First quality ratings — programs that demonstrate ongoing staff training earn higher ratings. brightwheel’s IACET‑accredited courses align with the professional development requirements recognized by Quality First, and the automatic tracking dashboard makes it straightforward to demonstrate staff training during program quality evaluations.
Quality First →Frequently asked questions — Arizona
State‑accepted professional development courses in brightwheel
Brightwheel offers expert‑led, IACET‑accredited PD courses accepted in Arizona — with automatic tracking and AZECWR Registry auto‑posting built in.
View full course roster