News  EEC February Newsletter

Hello EEC Community,

As 2026 begins, we decided to create space for us to share any announcements, opportunities, upcoming events, and celebrate all of you. The EEC Newsletter will be released every other month, and we will share what has happened this past month, as well as anything upcoming. You can always find it on our front page, on the first Wednesday of that month. Please share throughout the community!

Last month, we had our final public comment session on Residential Regulations. Public comment on the new regulations ended on January 12. Thank you to everyone who provided comments as we start making decisions around their rollout and continue working on residential policies! You can find recently updated policies on our Policy Transmittal page.

We’re also moving to a new version of our StrongStart Learning Management System (LMS). StrongStart will still be home to all self-paced and instructor-led courses. If you haven’t already, please update your profile with your email address, cell phone number, and PQR number to ensure your course history transfers over to this new LMS. Please check LEAD for more details.

If you are looking to apply for professional certification, we are also releasing an updated application. Based on educator feedback, we’ve made the application easier to navigate, more personalized, and faster for supervisors to verify work experience. Thanks to all who participated in this process!

Last month, we opened applications for our new Family Advisory Council, a monthly commitment where we hope to engage families in EEC policies, practices, and programs. The application cycle will close on February 13. For access to the application and more information, please check out our Family Advisory Council page.

The EEOST Small Grants application closes February 13 at 11:59 p.m. For more information on what these grants cover as well as application links and timelines, please visit our Capital Grants page.

Please complete your C3 Recertification in LEAD! Recertifications for January - March are due on March 31st.

If you can't make these events, all public sessions will be recorded and posted on EEC's YouTube.

February 11 at 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

• Board of Early Education and Care Meeting

February 24 at 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

• Data Advisory Commission

February 26 at 6 p.m.

• Know Your Rights Info Session

If you’re looking for opportunities to share feedback with EEC, please visit our feedback page! We have various opportunities to engage in current projects. Feel free to fill out a form, and we will reach out if it’s a good fit.

You can also get updates from our board meetings, where we discuss and decide on EEC policies and regulations. These meetings happen on the second Wednesday of each month throughout the Commonwealth. If you are looking to share public comment at one of these meetings, our feedback page has more information on how to submit.

EEC is committed to building research and data capacity to inform policy decisions and improve programs and services.

• EEC’s Research Agenda and Key Performance Indicators guide its research and data priorities.
• the agency’s KPI Dashboard is updated monthly and features agency data about Family Access, Program Stability, and Workforce Supports.
• EEC also regularly publishes research reports and data briefs on the agency website’s research page.
• The Massachusetts E2C Hub, a cross-agency initiative aimed at increasing data access, also publicizes important data about education in the Commonwealth.

We’d like to share a space for you all to be involved in the newsletter too! If you have any educators or staff that you’d like to celebrate for their amazing work or milestones, please fill out this form, which is available to fill out in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Simplified Chinese.