High-Quality Learning for Every Child

Strengthening Quality in Early Education, Family Child Care, and Out-of-School Time Settings

High-quality early education and care programs work with families to support children’s unique needs, provide safe opportunities for children to learn, grow, and explore, and develop the foundation for lifelong learning and curiosity. At the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC), three primary levers support and drive program quality: 1) licensing regulations around health and safety, 2) investments in workforce development, training, and support, and 3) support for program leaders around ongoing continuous quality improvement and professional learning.

Child Care Licensing Regulations

For years, Massachusetts’s strong licensing requirements have helped create an ecosystem that expects all programs meet robust quality standards — in fact, they are held to the quality standards of the U.S. military child care program, which is widely acknowledged to have some of the highest quality standards in the nation. EEC's licensing team works with programs to ensure they have support in meeting licensing standards and have access to tools to assist with program quality.

Workforce Development Training and Support

Educators’ professional skills drive their ability to create high-quality learning and care environments. EEC staff provide a significant amount of technical assistance to child care, out-of-school time, and residential program staff and leadership. There are also external partners that provide resources to support the professional advancement of educators.

EEC is developing an educator credential to set standards for educator skills to support program quality and be aligned with new professional learning opportunities.

Program Supports

Regional teams at EEC support program growth, including regional quality teams and behavioral health specialists. There are also external partners, including regional Professional Development Centers (PDCs), the Statewide Professional Development Academy (the Academy), Early Childhood Support Organizations (ECSOs), Early Childhood Mental Health Grantees (ECMH), and Family Child Care (FCC) Systems that provide additional support for programs.

Program Quality and Behavioral Health Specialists at EEC provide expert technical assistance and support to Family Child Care, Center-Based, and  Out-of-School Time programs across Massachusetts. These teams takes a collaborative, relationship-based approach — partnering with programs to understand their unique contexts.

The Program Quality Team focuses on program-identified goals to drive continuous quality improvement. For programs looking for support or assistance navigating continuous quality improvement, the quality tools and frameworks, or available program supports, reaching out to the quality team is a great first step. 

Program Quality Team:

• Jamee Beaudry, Director of Program Quality Improvement [e-mail]
• Chewlee Lim, Program Quality Specialist, Metro and Southeast Regions [e-mail]
• Eric Litt, Program Quality Specialist, Central and Western Regions [e-mail]
• Jody Dominquez, Program Quality Specialist Northeast Region and Statewide Bilingual Program Quality Support, [e-mail]  

The Behavioral Health Team supports early education and care programs in strengthening social-emotional learning, promoting positive behavioral and mental health practices, and connecting programs with available resources and services. For programs seeking support in addressing behaviors that challenge and implementing foundational social-emotional learning strategies, the Behavioral Health Team serves as a valuable starting point for guidance, consultation, and connection to additional supports. 

Behavioral Health Team:

• Aimee Smith-Zeoli, Behavioral Health Supervisor [e-mail]
• Christopher Lloyd, Behavioral Health Specialist, Metro and Northeast Regions [e-mail]
• Stacey Ware, Behavioral Health Specialist, Southeast and Northeast Regions, [e-mail]
• Alexis Thibodeau, Behavioral Health Specialist, Central and Western Regions, [e-mail]

Quality Tools and Frameworks

To help programs better understand and recognize quality practices in early education and care and out-of-school time settings, EEC offers the Program Quality Frameworks as a tool to gather information to inform improvement planning.

The Program Quality Frameworks identifies six categories that contribute to overall program quality:

• Responsive & Supportive Interactions 
• Curriculum & Assessment 
• Family & Community Engagement 
• Environment 
• Leadership & Professional Learning, and 
• Business Practices 

You can explore the Program Quality Frameworks, along with related tools and resources, by requesting technical assistance from EEC’s Program Quality team.