When the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) set out to improve the educator certification process, the goal was simple: Make it easier for qualified educators to enter and stay in the field. To support that goal, EEC started redesigning professional development pathways for early childhood educators while replacing outdated technology with a stronger credentialing system.
EEC partnered with the Life Experiences (LX) team within Mass Digital to help guide the work. Together, the teams focused on improving both the current educator experience and the future system that would support it. The project was part of the Commonwealth Digital Roadmap, which calls for state organizations to collaborate on easy, seamless experiences for constituents
For many educators, the certification process had become hard to use. Instructions were unclear, technical issues were common, and communication was inconsistent. During the COVID-19 pandemic, temporary digital workarounds became permanent. This created even more barriers for educators. These challenges slowed application processing and made it harder for educators to complete the process successfully.
Together, the teams broke large challenges into smaller improvements. They focused on making policy and technology work together. To help, the LX team introduced a constituent-centered design approach. This approach relies on research, testing, and small improvements over time.
Understanding the challenges
The teams worked together to better understand the educator experience. They asked questions like:
- Why are applications taking so long to process?
- What makes the process confusing?
- What would help educators complete applications correctly the first time?
Their research showed several ways to improve the process.
Designing policies around real experiences
EEC is developing new policies to professionalize the early education workforce. It is replacing certification with a new credentialing system. The policies aim to define what educators needed to do. But they didn’t always account for how educators would experience those steps in practice. The LX team helped EEC examine how policy decisions affected educators at every step of the process. This helped EEC design requirements that were easier to understand and complete.
Using technology to support better services
At the same time, EEC was moving quickly to build a new online platform. Many stakeholders saw a new vendor-built platform as a solution to design and policy challenges. Over time, the teams stopped seeing technology as the full solution. Instead, they treated it as one part of a larger effort to improve the experience.
Helping teams work together
Different teams across EEC brought expertise, but they often worked separately. Program leaders defined requirements. Technology teams built solutions. Staff processing applications and supporting educators knew where people struggled most. The project helped teams work together through workshops, planning sessions, and shared feedback processes. This led to teams making decisions together instead of working in silos.
Using data to improve decisions
Before working with the LX team, data was fragmented. EEC did not have a complete picture of the biggest challenges educators faced in their certification journey. This made it harder to identify which fixes would have the greatest impact or how to measure success. The teams reviewed ServiceNow tickets and other educator feedback to identify common pain points. Understanding the starting point helped teams make better decisions and measure progress.
Building new skills and confidence
EEC staff were already experts in program delivery. But it was hard to try new approaches while keeping up with daily work. The partnership gave staff time to step back and review the process. Together, they found small changes they could make right away. These changes helped educators immediately and also informed the future credentialing system. Over time, EEC staff became more confident applying constituent-centered design principles. They found that testing ideas early helped them make better decisions and improve services faster.
Starting with people, not platforms
As the LX team introduced EEC to a constituent-centered design approach, the teams:
- Interviewed staff and educators
- Mapped the educator journey
- Reviewed support data and feedback
- Identified common pain points across the process
They found that improving educator qualifications and retention required more than a single “tech fix.” Educators needed clearer, simpler, and more supportive pathways throughout the experience. Instead of waiting for a new system, the team made immediate improvements, including:
- Clarifying instructions
- Refining online application forms and workflows
- Improving confirmation emails
- Fixing technical issues that made file uploads difficult
The results were immediate. Technical support tickets from educators applying for certificates dropped by 78 percent. Incomplete applications also decreased, and the backlog of manual follow-ups began to shrink. This work also helped EEC make data-informed decisions more consistently. Staff began using both data and direct feedback to guide priorities and evaluate results.
Building trust, shifting culture
The project improved more than the certification process. It also changed how teams worked together.
Teams began collaborating regularly and using shared data to guide decisions. Conversations shifted from building technology to improving experiences. Staff who had long felt disconnected from decision-making saw their feedback shape outcomes. One staff member said, “We’ve been waiting for this for years,” after seeing long-requested changes made.
EEC leaders embraced iterative design as a sustainable way to meet policy goals, while staying responsive to educator and family needs. Skeptics became supporters. One deputy commissioner first worried that research would slow timelines. They later described the collaboration as “transformational” for how the agency solves problems.
Most importantly, EEC staff began applying constituent-centered design best practices in their daily work. They didn’t just gain better tools. They learned a new way of working that will continue long after the project.
Expanding the work to Family Child Care
After the success of the first phase, EEC invited Mass Digital to continue the work through a second phase focused on Family Child Care programs.
This phase focuses on helping educators open Family Child Care programs in their homes. Family Child Care programs (FCCs) make up about 20% of the EEC-licensed child care capacity and often serve children with the highest needs. Many FCC providers are women caring for their own children while running a business. Many also come from Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking communities and may face language barriers during the licensing process. The team is working with community partners and providers to design changes that better support the people who need it most.
Creating a better model for government services
This project shows what’s possible when technology modernization starts with people. By focusing on user experience, data, and collaboration, EEC and Mass Digital improved the certification process for educators while creating a model other state organizations can follow.
The result is more than a simpler certification process. It’s a broader shift in how government designs and delivers services. EEC is applying the same approach across new initiatives, from credentialing to career advancement programs. The organization now understands that the best solutions are built working closely with the people who use the services.