The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) provides services for children in Massachusetts through a mixed delivery system which includes child care centers, out-of-school time programs, family child care homes, public preschool programs, private school preschools and kindergartens, and Head Start programs. EEC is responsible for licensing early education and care and out-of-school time programs throughout Massachusetts and for providing child care financial assistance to low-income families with children birth to 12 years of age. In addition, EEC provides support for information and referral services, inclusive programming for children with disabilities, parenting and family support, and professional development opportunities for educators in the early education and care and out-of-school time fields. These efforts affect thousands of early education and care and out-of-school time providers, who serve more than 275,000 children each day. In its broadest role, EEC also serves as a source of information to more than one million families in Massachusetts.
Research shows that a highly skilled and well-qualified workforce is a critical factor in the quality of an early education or out-of-school time program, and that quality programming is linked to positive outcomes for children. Currently, EEC administers professional development through a variety of formats and agencies including, but not limited to, the following:
Contracted services with regional Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies;
Grants to Community Partnerships for Children (CPC) local councils;
Early Childhood Educator (ECE) Scholarships;
Child Development Associate (CDA) Scholarships;
Quality Improvement Grants;
Building Careers Grants to Institutions of Higher Education; and
Special Education Allocation Grants.
In the future, EEC envisions a comprehensive and integrated Professional Development System that is aligned with statewide goals for educator training and support, ensures service to all geographic areas, functions at the local and regional levels, and encourages broad-based collaboration across public and private agencies in order to identify and leverage resources. EEC has described its vision for a Professional Development System in its Workforce Development Report, which was issued in January 2006, and in the subsequent update issued in June 2007. All Workforce Development reports are available on EEC’s website at: http://www.eec.state.ma.us/kr_research.aspx .
Through this application, EEC seeks to provide renewal funding for
Building Careers in Early Education and Care (Building Careers); and
Now accepting new applications! Application deadline: November 16, 2009 Applicants will be notified of grant status by December 1, 2009 Building Careers Grant Application
Advising: Building Careers students should contact your advisor to review your plan of study.
Kappa Delta Pi: You may be eligible to become a member of the International Honor Society in Education. Visit the KDP web site at http://www.kdp.org/ to learn about the benefits of membership! Contact Laurie DeRosa for our chapter information.
