Massachusetts Early Education and Care Professional Development Package

Challenge

The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care supports children and families through a mixed delivery system that includes childcare centers, public and private preschools, family childcare homes, and Head Start programs. The early childhood educators in the system play a vital role in promoting child development, school readiness, family engagement, and the economy. Yet there is an urgent need to strengthen and support the workforce.

With support from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, EDC is developing a package of high-quality professional learning materials for early childhood educators. EDC’s work is part of a new statewide credentialing system designed to improve retention and deliver outstanding job-embedded learning for the workforce.

Key Activities

The project team is carrying out the following activities:

• Develop a comprehensive road map of certification pathway courses based on the specifications of the new credentialing program
• Design a complete package of professional learning opportunities that includes courses and supporting materials
• Translate the courses into four languages
• Design a robust training program to prepare certification pathway facilitators and scale the program statewide

Impact

The project will:

• Enhance the skills of over 45,000 Massachusetts early childhood educators and advance their careers within the new credentialing system.
• Make credentialing pathways accessible to the 30% of early childhood educators in Massachusetts who speak a language other than English at home.
• Develop standardized training templates, observation tools, and train-the-trainer materials. These will provide the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care and the state’s Professional Development Centers with fully developed, ready-to-implement learning packages, facilitating a seamless pilot launch of the credentialing system.
• Improve educator training effectiveness, leading to enhanced classroom practices and better developmental outcomes for the over 275,000 children enrolled in early education programs across Massachusetts.
• Establish structured credentialing pathways aligned with competency-based standards. This will provide early childhood educators with clearer career advancement opportunities, support workforce retention, and promote professionalization in the early childhood sector.