Early Education and Care in Massachusetts: A Comprehensive Overview

Early education and care play a crucial role in the development of young children, and Massachusetts has established a comprehensive system to support these services. This article provides an overview of early education and care in Massachusetts, covering various aspects such as training, licensing, financial assistance, and different types of care programs.

Training and Professional Development

Early Education and Care students learn and practice the principles of high-quality early childhood programming. Training includes the fundamentals of child development, theories of early childhood education, teaching methods, and professional standards defined by the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Some schools offer State-Approved (Chapter-74) programs in [program name]. These programs provide all of the training required to begin entry-level work in the field. Other schools may offer a more condensed version of this training, which has been designed at the local level. This is known as Non-Chapter 74 or "Perkins-Only."

The early childhood education workforce refers to professionals who work directly with young children, including infants, toddlers, and school-age children, as teachers and caregivers. These professionals work with children during the period of the most rapid developmental growth in a child’s life. Throughout the school year, there are also teacher trainings available where professionals can earn early education credits or professional development hours.

The Department of Early Education and Care (EEC)

The Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) is a crucial part of the Executive Office of Education, which operates under the guidance of the Governor. The Education Secretary oversees the Executive Office of Education and serves as the Governor's primary advisor on education matters.

An eleven-member Board of Early Education and Care establishes policies and regulations pertaining to early education and care programs and services within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Responsibilities and Functions

The Department of Early Education and Care (EEC), established July 1, 2005, is responsible for licensing childcare providers and providing financial assistance for childcare services for low-income families, parenting support for families, and professional development opportunities for employees in the field of early education and care. EEC licenses approximately 9,000 childcare-related programs. It supports an average of 55,000 children daily. EEC’s licensees include foster care and adoption placement agencies, informal and formal programs for children, and residential programs.

EEC licenses approximately 9,000 child care programs, residential facilities, and foster care/adoption placement agencies that have the capacity to serve an estimated 257,000 children.

Regional Offices

EEC has five regional offices across Massachusetts, located at 1441 Main Street in Springfield (western region), 324-R Clark Street in Worcester (central region), 360 Merrimack Street in Lawrence (northeast region), One Washington Street in Taunton (southeast region), and 1250 Hancock Street in Quincy (Boston metropolitan region). The regional offices are overseen by EEC’s main office, located at 51 Sleeper Street in Boston.

Staff and Funding

As of June 30, 2018, EEC had a total of 174 employees. It had state appropriations of $556 million in fiscal year 2017 and $576.8 million in fiscal year 2018, as well as federal grant appropriations of $23.1 million in fiscal year 2017 and $16.3 million in fiscal year 2018.

Residential Programs

EEC licenses two types of residential programs-group care programs and temporary shelters-which are privately owned and not operated or funded by EEC. Group care programs provide care for adolescents and young adults (residents) on a 24-hour residential basis for periods longer than 45 days. Temporary shelters provide care for residents under the age of 18 for periods of no more than 45 days or no more than 90 days in Department of Youth Services facilities. During the audit period, there were 428 licensed residential programs (354 group care programs and 74 temporary shelters). The standards and requirements for residential program licensure are defined in Section 1 of Title 102, and Section 3 of Title 606, of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations.

EEC’s team of 11 licensors is responsible for, among other things, the licensing of all residential programs and placement agencies throughout the Commonwealth. These programs and agencies are operated or funded by the Department of Youth Services, the Department of Children and Families (DCF), and the Department of Mental Health.

Licensure Process

To gain licensure for a residential program, a prospective licensee must submit an application and fee to EEC. EEC determines whether the care to be given in the program will protect the health and safety of the residents and conducts a background record check (BRC) to ensure that the applicant is suitable to provide such care.

EEC requires BRCs of all candidates for licensure, employment, internships, or regular volunteer positions who might have unsupervised access to the children in their care, including a Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information check, a check of the Registry of Alleged Perpetrators and the DCF Central Registry, a Sex Offender Registry Information check, and fingerprint-based checks of state and national criminal history databases.

Before issuing an initial group care program license, or as part of the license renewal process, an EEC licensor visits the program’s facility to evaluate the program’s compliance with various licensing requirements.

Differential Licensing Model

On September 27, 2017, EEC implemented a new licensing model, referred to as differential licensing, which replaced its outgoing model, referred to as residential and placement licensing. According to EEC management, the outgoing model required licensing site visits at license issuance and renewal. According to EEC management, the differential licensing model was developed to more efficiently ensure the health and safety of the residents in programs licensed by EEC. The primary change that the model implemented was the addition of a requirement for annual monitoring visits to be conducted within 10 to 14 months after a program’s last licensing site visit. The content of these monitoring visits is based on factors such as program compliance history and associated risk level. Although this model was introduced during the audit period, the requirements for the outgoing model still applied for our testing purposes because of the timing of the implementation. Group care programs were not subject to the differential licensing model until after the first licensing renewal that occurred after September 27, 2017.

Program Compliance and Investigations

Section 9 of Chapter 15D of the Massachusetts General Laws grants EEC the authority to inspect programs it licenses to determine whether they comply with associated laws and regulations. When program noncompliance is identified, EEC documents its observations and indicates which regulation/s the program violated. When regulations have been violated, EEC requires programs to submit corrective action plans within 14 days, detailing how, when, and by whom corrective action has been or will be taken.

Whenever a mandated reporter has reasonable cause to believe that a child is suffering physical or emotional injury resulting from abuse or neglect, s/he is required by Section 51A(a) of Chapter 119 of the General Laws to notify DCF immediately. DCF, in turn, completes a report of child abuse/neglect (known as a 51A report) and is required to share information with certain institutions. If a report is considered to have merit, DCF conducts a 51B investigation, which is an investigation conducted pursuant to Section 51B of Chapter 119 of the General Laws. If an allegation of abuse or neglect of a child placed at an EEC licensed program or during program activities is substantiated or supported by DCF following an investigation conducted pursuant to M.G.L. c. 119, § 51B, DCF provides the investigation report, commonly referred to as a “51B Report” to EEC to further assist in the investigation of the incident related to the EEC licensed program.

Upon receipt of any 51A Report or 51B Report from DCF, EEC must first determine if allegations contained in the reports impact children participating in EEC licensed programs. EEC’s authority to investigate alleged incidents of abuse or neglect of children in the Commonwealth is limited to the domain of the licensed program, ensuring full compliance with all relevant state and federal laws and regulation. EEC is not responsible for the investigation of individuals reported in a “51A” or “51B” Report.

Licensing Education Analytical Database (LEAD)

The Licensing Education Analytical Database (LEAD) is a platform that EEC’s staff and licensed programs use to conduct licensing transactions. LEAD contains a comprehensive history of data about residential programs, including site visits, noncompliance, corrective action reports, incidents and complaints, BRCs, and records pertaining to investigations. LEAD replaced EEC’s legacy licensing system, Licensing Manager 2010, and its legacy incident and complaint tracking system, Early Education and Care Resolution System.

Implementation took place in three phases. Phase 1 was implemented on June 27, 2016 and enabled licensors to access LEAD on mobile devices during site visits, receive and review reported incidents, and document investigation activities. It also enabled them to view information about their programs, such as license expiration, and access and respond to statements of noncompliance. Phase 2 was implemented on September 27, 2017 and consisted of a combination of improvements to previous functions and changes in support of various differential licensing business rules. Phase 3 was implemented on June 25, 2018 and enabled programs to apply for licenses and complete licensing transactions.

Types of Early Education and Care Programs

Families in Massachusetts have access to various types of early education and care programs, each with its own characteristics and benefits.

Family Child Care (FCC)

Family Child Care (FCC) providers are child care programs where a caregiver/educator cares for children within their own home. Formal FCC programs are licensed by the Department of Early Education & Care. Some FCC programs take state subsidies. As of 2022, there were 4,782 licensed Family Child Care programs in Massachusetts.

Center-Based Child Care

Center-based child care is care that takes place outside of the child's or caregiver's home. These child care providers are programs and educators licensed by the Department of Early Education & Care. Some center-based programs take state subsidies. As of 2022, there were 2,789 licensed center-based programs in Massachusetts.

Public Preschool

In some cases, public school districts have preschool classrooms embedded within elementary school buildings or housed in standalone early childhood centers. Other examples of public preschool are federally funded programs, Head Start and Early Head Start.

Informal Care

Informal care is care that typically does not engage with the state except occasionally through subsidy provision. This type of care often happens through family members (such as siblings or grandparents), neighbors, friends, babysitters, nannies, or au pairs to support parents with child care needs. Family, Friend, and Neighbor care is often unpaid and can be full- or part-time care. Babysitters, nannies, and au pairs are typically paid on an hourly or daily basis and can be full- or part-time positions.

Head Start and Early Head Start

Head Start is a free early childhood program funded by the federal government to support low-income families and young children. Head Start offers Center-Based Child Care, Family Child Care, and home visiting options on a part-day, part-year, or full-time basis. Head Start and Early Head Start offer comprehensive services that support children and families with a wide range of services to address their holistic needs. Early Head Start also offers services to pregnant women. Some Early Head Start programs only provide home visiting services and do not have center-based care.

Challenges and Initiatives

Families have many decisions to make for their child in the first five years of life, and where to send their child for early education and care is one major decision. However, many parents don’t have a choice, due to a lack of affordability and access to child care programs across the Commonwealth. Massachusetts is one of the least affordable states for child care, and most families spend 20-40% of their annual income on these programs. Access is another issue due to a lack of sufficient seats for children in need of care, particularly in child care deserts (areas with limited access to child care services).

The early childhood education workforce as a whole is underpaid with many early childhood educators earning less than a living wage. The median wage for child care workers was only $14.98. In recent years, early educators have been leaving the field in high numbers in search of living wages and benefits, greater work-life balance, and career growth opportunities. This is not just an issue in MA but nationwide. According to nationwide data, about 108,000 child-care workers have left the field since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, researchers from Northeastern University and Wellesley College completed a research project to understand "post-pandemic" family child care providers, providing findings from providers who have recently entered the field, as well as those who have recently exited.

Recent Investments and Grants

In December 2022, Massachusetts was awarded a 3-year, $36 million ($12 million per year) federal Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5). In addition to the federal funding, the Commonwealth will provide $3 million each year in matching funds. The additional funding will support new and ongoing work to improve families’ ability to access high-quality programs and services, establish clear career growth pathways for the workforce serving young children, and support high-quality programming. One key focus of the grant will be increasing supports for early education and care programs to deliver to high-quality programming and implement evidence-based curricula appropriate for young children.

The Healey-Driscoll administration and state legislature made a commitment to continue providing stabilization grants to providers using state funds when federal ARPA funds sunset, allocating $475 million for the state’s Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) Operational Grants for early education and care providers in FY24. Additional funds were also included in the budget to support increased access to mental health supports with a focus on trauma-informed care for both children and families.

Preschool Initiatives

In 2005, Massachusetts established the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and since then has supported access to high-quality preschool through multiple grant programs. These include a Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) grant to support quality, affordability, and accessibility available to licensed programs serving 3- and 4-year-olds until 2019. The Inclusive Preschool Learning Environments (IPLE) Grant was also available to programs until 2019 and was designed to support access for preschool-age children with and without disabilities to high quality, inclusive early education and care settings.

In 2019, EEC launched its Commonwealth Preschool Partnerships Initiative (CPPI), which supports high-quality preschool access for children from age 2 years and 9 months until they reach the locally determined kindergarten eligibility age. State funding is awarded directly to public school districts that serve as the fiscal and programmatic managers of the grant. Funded school districts are required to subcontract with community-based early education and care programs from their communities to implement the grant requirements, providing preschool access across public and private classrooms.

Massachusetts also supports preschool enrollment through the Chapter 70 funding stream, which is the state’s funding formula for K-12 public schools. For the 2022-2023 school year, $105.6 million in combined state and local funding supported preschool-age children. All children in the state are eligible for the program and are served in public school settings, but local districts can set their own eligibility priorities. Lead teachers are required to have at least a bachelor’s degree and a Preschool through Grade 2 license. Massachusetts preschool programs enrolled 33,064 children in 2022-2023, an increase of 4,509 children from the prior year. State spending totaled $64,121,030, up $2,347,793 (4%), adjusted for inflation, since last year. State spending per child equaled $1,939 in 2022-2023, down $224 from 2021-2022, adjusted for inflation.

Resources and Support

Massachusetts provides various resources and support systems for families and early childhood professionals.

Early Childhood Resource Centers

The program started in 1991 as the Early Education Department, who still runs and funds this grant today. The purpose of these centers is to facilitate the availability and accessibility of early childhood materials and resources statewide. These Resource Centers provide education materials that range from professional resource books, parenting books, videos & DVDs, teaching curriculum kits, themed picture books, big books, and many other items that are available for borrowing at no charge.

Online Resources

Massachusetts offers a searchable directory of licensed and license-exempt child care programs and an interactive dashboard of key performance indicators, including family access, program stability, and workforce support.

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