Richard Cohen, M.A. has proudly been an early childhood professional for over twenty five years.  

For the past fifteen years, Richard has traveled the world as a motivational speaker/instructor, facilitating fun, innovative, thought-provoking, interactive adult learning experiences for communities of early childhood teachers, administrators, caregivers and parents.

Currently, Richard is the Director of Communications, Partnerships and New Initiatives at the Council for Professional Recognition in Washington, D.C, overseeing the transformation of the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential and supporting the tens of thousands of entry-level professionals who are courageously and tirelessly pursuing their CDAs each year.

Richard served as Senior Director of Professional Development at the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) where he co-authored the NAEYC Professional Development Glossary and served as the association's project design lead for Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Child Care resources. 

Prior to that, Richard was Vice President, Education of the second largest global child care corporation, Learning Care Group.  There Richard created the Reggio-inspired curriculum, The Empowered Child and the multiple intelligences-based curriculum, LifeSmart.  Most notably, he developed his most exciting project to date: the Learning Care System, a comprehensive online lesson-planning system that allows teachers to use authentic observations and assessments, correlated with their state's quality early learning standards, to provide truly intentional, emergent curriculum based on both children's interests and their unique developmental needs.

Richard served as Early Childhood Training Specialist for the California Institute on Human Services at Sonoma State University.  There he worked with the California Department of Education, Child Development Division developing the "Desired Results for Children and Families" QRIS Training and Technical Assistance Project.

As Manager of Play Programming at Brookfield Zoo in Illinois, Richard designed a revolutionary, new children's zoo experience, "Explore! A Child's Nature," which won the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's (AZA) 2001 Outstanding Exhibit Award.  

Richard served as the Associate Director of Education at  Kohl Children's Museum and as the Early Childhood Staff Trainer at Maryville Academy, a residential shelter for abused, neglected and abandoned children in Illinois.

In his first years as an early childhood professional, in the positions he describes as "the best jobs of my life,"  Richard was an infant classroom teacher, a toddler classroom teacher, a preschool classroom teacher and a kindergarten teacher!

Over the years, Richard has been an instructor for the Erikson Institute's professional development series as well as the Anti-Defamation League's " A World Of Difference" Institute.   He was a CDA advisor for Harold Washington College, an NAEYC accreditation facilitator for the Office of Catholic Schools and a teacher supervisor for National Louis University's "Teach For America" elementary education program.  Additionally, Richard was adjunct faculty at Triton College and St. Augustine College in Illinois, teaching "The Theory Of Play," "Creative Activities for the Young Child" and "Child, Family and Community".

Richard received his Masters Degree in Human Development from the world-renowned early childhood institution, Pacific Oaks College. He is an active member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the International Play Association (IPA).  

Richard is currently hard at work writing his first book which chronicles the inspirational ideas, insights and perspectives he has collected from the thousands of early childhood professionals with whom he has worked and played around the world. 

  Click here to view a history of Richard's work

email: richie11@mindspring.com