Texas requires licensed childcare staff to complete 24 hours per year for teachers and 30 hours per year for directors of continuing education as a condition of state licensing. Families training counts toward these requirements — topics such as family engagement, cultural competence, and community partnerships are recognized qualifying categories under the Texas HHSC (Chapter 746) continuing education requirements. brightwheel Professional Development is accepted in Texas and offers IACET‑accredited Families courses that staff can complete on demand, with all completions tracked automatically in brightwheel. brightwheel courses auto‑post completed hours directly to the TECPDS Registry.
| Annual CE hours (teachers) | 24 hours per training year |
| Annual CE hours (directors) | 30 hours per training year |
| Training period | Annual |
| Families maps to | family engagement, cultural competence, and community partnerships |
| Regulatory authority | Texas HHSC (Chapter 746) |
| brightwheel approved in Texas | ✓ Yes — accepted for Texas CE requirements |
| Auto‑posts to TECPDS Registry | ✓ Yes — completed course hours post automatically to staff registry accounts |
| Families courses in Texas | View brightwheel courses |
About Families (CDA IV)
Families — CDA Competency Area IV — covers the knowledge and skills educators need to build positive, respectful, and collaborative relationships with the families they serve, honoring diversity in culture, language, and family structure.
Family engagement is one of the strongest predictors of children’s school readiness and long‑term outcomes. Early childhood educators who build genuine partnerships with families bridge the home‑school divide and give children a foundation of consistency and trust that extends well beyond the classroom.
Texas Families training requirements
Texas childcare teachers must complete 24 hours of annual continuing education, and directors must complete 30 hours, as a condition of maintaining a license from the Texas HHSC (Chapter 746). Families training counts toward these hours — family engagement, cultural competence, and community partnerships are recognized qualifying CE topics. brightwheel Professional Development is accepted in Texas and offers IACET‑accredited courses aligned with the Families competency area.
Both teachers and directors can complete brightwheel’s Families courses on demand — each course is 1 hour, self‑paced, and includes an assessment with a certificate of completion. All completions are recorded automatically in the brightwheel administrator dashboard, making compliance documentation straightforward for Texas licensing audits.
What Families training covers
brightwheel’s Families courses cover the knowledge and skills early childhood educators need to support children in this competency area. Topics include:
Texas Rising Star and Families
TRS programs are rated Level 1 through Level 4. Staff training hours documented in TECPDS contribute to TRS’s Caregiver Qualifications criteria — one of four TRS domains. brightwheel courses auto‑post to TECPDS and cover skills directly relevant to TRS’s highest‑weighted domain: Caregiver‑Child Interactions.
Texas Rising Star program →How brightwheel connects to the TECPDS Registry
Frequently asked questions
Other competency areas available in Texas
Meet Texas Families training requirements with brightwheel
Brightwheel offers IACET‑accredited Families courses accepted in Texas — with automatic tracking and TECPDS 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.