Debra Pierce is an educator and advocate for young children and the Early Childhood profession.She has taught kindergarten, first and second grade, and was a preschool teacher in an NAEYC accredited program for 15 years. She has also served as a parent educator in the national Parents as Teachers program. She spent several years teaching dual-credit Early Childhood CDA courses to juniors and seniors in a large, metropolitan high school in Indianapolis. Debra is recently retired as professor of Early Childhood Education at Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, the largest statewide singly accredited community college system in the nation, serving over 200,000 students annually.One of her interests includes early literacy and she serves on the Board of Directors for the Indianapolis chapter of First Book. She received a certificate of commendation from the Southern Poverty Law Center for her creative use of the Starting Small : Teaching Children Tolerance curriculum in her College classes. She is also a member of the Indianapolis chapter of Every Child Matters advocacy group and serves as a mentor to young college women starting out in education, through the Pass the Torch for Women Foundation.Debra has spent the past 18 years dedicated to the success of CDA candidates and hosts a website, offering help and support and distributes a digital monthly newsletter to subscribers nationwide. She is a certified CDA Professional Development Specialist for the Council for Professional Recognition. She serves as a certified, CDA Council Gold Standard Specialist, assessing CDA training organizations nationwide and is a CDA Ambassador for the Midwest states.Debra is a frequent presenter at national and state early childhood conferences and also conducts workshops for early childhood instructors and child care providers across the country. and a course writer/trainer for Child Care Aware and the state of South Dakota. She was also awarded the NISOD Teaching Excellence Award by the University of Texas and was designated a Master Teacher by her College.Debra is a contributing author for Hamilton County Family Magazine and Indy's Child. She is featured blogger on the BAM Radio EdWords and is author of The CDA Prep Guide: The Complete Review Manual for the Child Development Associate Credential, now in its 4th edition, (Redleaf Press), the only publication of its kind. She was recently nominated by the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences for a Bammy Award for Professor of the Year and named "Educator to Watch" by the same organization.