Like children themselves, the CDA has evolved over time,” Edward Zigler wrote in 1981 when he looked back on the early years of the Child Development Associate® credential. As director of the U.S. Office of Child Development, Zigler led a task force of 40 early childhood leaders who came together in 1971 to raise the quality of early childhood care and education. The new credential was a response to the advancement of Head Start, the comprehensive system set up by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 to meet the needs of low-income children and their families. The ensuing growth of child care programs led the task force to pose a pressing question: who is going to staff all these centers?