About EEC professional certifications
EEC professional certifications show your skills, knowledge, and experience in early childhood education and care. They also qualify you to handle specific responsibilities.
Our professional certifications may also help you advance in your current role or strengthen your application for future job opportunities.
These are the position levels and the certifications:
- Teacher level. This includes an infant-toddler certification and preschool certification.
- Lead teacher level. This includes an infant-toddler certification and preschool certification.
- Director I level. This includes a director I certification.
- Director II level. This includes a director II certification.
Learn more about how to apply for an EEC certification
Each certification level has certain requirements that allow you to handle specific responsibilities.
You don’t need a certification from the previous level to apply for the next level, but you must meet the eligibility requirements for the level you’re applying for.
For example: To meet the certification eligibility requirements for the lead teacher certification, you must meet the teacher eligibility plus any additional requirements for lead teacher. But you don't need a teacher certification to apply for a lead teacher certification.
Learn more about the lead teacher level positions and certifications
Learn more about the director level positions and certifications
Age requirements
You must be at least 15 years old to apply for an EEC professional certification. This is because we require background checks when we hire educators.
If you’re younger than 21 years old, you must have a high school diploma or GED. You’ll need to submit a copy with your certification application.
Education requirements
There are 3 options to meet the education requirements for the teacher level certification.
You can have college or university level credits from certain classes, a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, or high school vocational training.
Keep reading to learn more.
Option 1: College or university level credits
You must have earned 3 credits from an accredited college or university in a course about Child Growth and Development (also called Category of Study 1).
Learn more about the types of information courses are required to teach you (categories of study)
Documents you'll need
You’ll need to submit a copy of the front and back of an official transcript with all of this information:
- The college or university name and logo, and
- The registrar’s signature, and
- The course names and credits received, and
- Degree earned (if you have a degree)
Option 2: Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential
You must have earned a valid Child Development Associate (CDA) credential from the Council for Professional Recognition.
Documents you'll need
You’ll need to submit a copy of your CDA credential that shows approval by the Council for Professional Recognition.
Your credential must include all of these details:
- The CDA logo, and
- A signature from the Chief Executive Officer, and
- The credential number (this starts with the letter “C” and has 9 digits)
Option 3: High school training
You must have graduated after 1989 and earned a diploma from an EEC-approved Chapter 74 Massachusetts high school vocational program in child care.
Learn more about our Chapter 74 approved vocational technical high schools (PDF)
Documents you'll need
You’ll need to submit copies of these documents:
- A recommendation letter from the high school program director on the school's letterhead, including total hours of classroom experience and age group, and
- A copy of your high school diploma, and
- A copy of the front and back of your official transcript
Your high school official transcript must include these details:
- The high school’s name and logo, and
- Principal’s or registrar’s signature, and
- The course names and credits received
Work or volunteer experience requirements
You need at least 9 months (450 hours) of work, volunteer, or equivalent experience as an early childhood educator.
Your work experience must also meet certain program and supervisor requirements to count towards your certification.
Note: This includes substitute teaching that’s 50 hours or more within a 4-week time period (also called permanent substitute teaching).
Certain education experiences, certificates, and practicums also count towards work experience hours. If you have these experiences, we’ll reduce the amount of work experience hours you need to qualify for a certification. Learn more about what other experiences count towards work hours
Keep reading to learn more.
How we count hours
If you work 12 hours or more each week, 4 weeks of consistent work at one program equals 1 month of work.
If you work less than 12 hours each week, 50 hours of consistent work at one program equals 1 month of work.
If you work less than 50 hours in 4 weeks as a substitute teacher, you’ll need to work more hours to meet the work experience requirements
Hour requirements for infant-toddler and preschool positions
If you’re applying for an infant-toddler certification, at least 150 hours of your work or volunteer experience must include working with infant-toddlers. This can be work with infant-toddlers only or a mixed toddler and preschool group.
If you’re applying for a preschool certification, at least 150 hours of your work or volunteer experience must include working with preschool age children. This can be work with preschool age children only or a mixed toddler and preschool group.
Program and supervisor requirements
Your work program and supervisor need to meet certain requirements.
Program requirements
These are the eligible types of child care programs:
- A group child care center
- A family child care home
- An equivalent state-licensed program accepted by EEC
Note: If your work experience is outside of Massachusetts, it must be a program that’s certified by that state’s Early Education and Care department or an equivalent department.
We also count experience with children with disabilities from birth to 16 years old.
These are the types of experiences that don’t count for our certifications:
- Work experience outside of the U.S.
- StrongStart classes
Supervisor requirements
our supervisor needs to meet certain requirements in order to verify your work experience.
Be sure your supervisor meets one of these requirements:
- They must be EEC-certified Teacher, Lead Teacher, Director 1, or Director 2, or
- They must be Licensed by the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for a Pre-Kindergarten grade level, or
- They must be qualified from another state in the U.S. that meets EEC-standards
Information and documents you’ll need
You’ll need to complete a Verification of Work Experience or Practicum form and have your supervisor provide some details. We'll use this form to confirm your work history.
Download Verification of Work Experience or Practicum form (PDF)
Then you’ll need to upload and submit the form with your application.
Other experiences that count toward work experience
You can also count certain education, certifications, and practicums toward work experience hours. If you have these experiences, we’ll reduce the amount of work experience hours you need to qualify for a certification.
Keep reading to learn more about the equivalent work hours.
Education, certifications, and practicums equivalent to work experience
| Type of experience | What to know | Equivalent work hours |
|---|---|---|
| If you have 1 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) in an Infant Toddler and Development, Care, and Program planning course (Category of Study 7) | You can only count CEUs towards work experience if you’re applying for an infant-toddler teacher certification | 150 work hours (3 months) |
| If you have a bachelor’s degree in an unrelated field Learn more about unrelated fields | You can count this experience if you’re applying for the infant-toddler and preschool teacher certifications. | 150 work hours (3 months) |
| If you have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in Early Education or a related field Learn more about related fields | You can count this experience if you’re applying for the infant-toddler and preschool teacher certifications. | 300 work hours (6 months) |
| If you have 1 practicum supervised by an institution of higher learning or an alternative early childhood training program. Practicum hours must be with an approved Massachusetts high school child care program or a college or university. | If you're applying for the infant-toddler certification, the practicum must have been with infant-toddlers. If you're applying for the preschooler certification, the practicum must have been with preschoolers. | 450 work hours (9 months) |
Documents you’ll need
You’ll need to upload these documents depending on the type of experiences you have. We’ll use this information to confirm that amount of work experience we’ll reduce.
CEUs
If you have CEUs, you’ll need to provide a copy of your course or training certificate.
Note: We accept training CEUs from CCEI, MAEYC, or NAEYC only. If your training is from CCEI, we only accept the infant-toddler and childcare administration trainings. Professional Development Points or workshop attendance verification are not substitutes for CEUs and we don’t accept them.
Make sure your certificate includes all of these details:
- Your name and date, and
- The number of units, and
- A signature from the Chief Executive Officer
Degrees in related on unrelated fields
If you have a degree, you’ll need to provide a copy of the front and back of your official transcript.
Make sure your transcript includes all of these details:
- The college or university name and logo, and
- The registrar’s signature, and
- The course names and credits received, and
- Degree earned
Practicum hours
You’ll need to submit a copy of the front and back of your official transcript.
Be sure that your transcript includes these details:
- The high school, college, or university name and logo
- The registrar’s signature
- Course names and credits received
- The practicum name
- Threshold program details and explanation (if you were in this program)
- Degree earned (if you have a degree)
You’ll also need to submit a letter with these details about your practicum:
- A signature from school’s registrar or director on the school’s letterhead, and
- The total hours of classroom experience, and
- The age group of the children you worked with
If your experience was with a high school program, you’ll also need to submit a letter of recommendation.
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| Last updated: | December 5, 2023 |
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