Illinois requires licensed childcare staff to complete annual continuing education as a condition of maintaining their childcare facility license. The Illinois DCFS (Rule 407) sets the training requirement at 15 hours per year for all licensed childcare staff. brightwheel Professional Development courses are accepted toward Illinois’s continuing education requirements, and staff completion is tracked automatically within brightwheel. brightwheel courses auto‑post completed hours to the Illinois Gateways Registry.
| Annual CE hours (teachers) | 15 hours per training year |
| Training period | Annual |
| Regulatory authority | Illinois DCFS (Rule 407) |
| brightwheel approved in Illinois | ✓ Yes — accepted for Illinois CE requirements |
| Auto‑posts to Illinois Gateways Registry | ✓ Yes — completed course hours post automatically to staff registry accounts |
| Courses available in Illinois | View courses across 8 CDA competency areas |
Browse courses by competency area in Illinois
Each competency area maps to CDA standards and satisfies Illinois’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
ExceleRate Illinois and brightwheel
ExceleRate Illinois is Illinois’s Quality Rating and Improvement System. Staff professional development in CDA‑aligned competency areas is a core component of ExceleRate Illinois quality ratings — programs that demonstrate ongoing staff training earn higher ratings. brightwheel’s IACET‑accredited courses align with the professional development requirements recognized by ExceleRate Illinois, and the automatic tracking dashboard makes it straightforward to demonstrate staff training during program quality evaluations.
ExceleRate Illinois →Frequently asked questions — Illinois
State‑accepted professional development courses in brightwheel
Brightwheel offers expert‑led, IACET‑accredited PD courses accepted in Illinois — with automatic tracking and Illinois Gateways Registry auto‑posting built in.
View full course roster
Accreditation: Brightwheel is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard. IACET is recognized internationally as a standard development organization and accrediting body that promotes quality of continuing education and training.