Striving for Quality Programming in Massachusetts; The Department of Early Education and Care

The Department of Early Education and Care is rounding out its first year, and we wanted to talk to Commissioner Ann Reale about the new department. Commissioner Reale shared her time to talk with MSAC about the department, transition challenges, EEC's workforce development plan, and how afterschool providers and EEC can work together to ensure quality programs for Massachusetts' school-age children.

Formed July 1, 2005, The Department of Early Education and Care has combined the functions of the Office of Child Care Services (OCCS) and the Early Learning Services Division at the Department of Education. Ann Reale now serves as Early Education and Care's first Commissioner. The Commissioner has strong ties to Massachusetts, as she was born in Hanover, and earned her bachelor's degree at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She also holds a master's in public administration from Syracuse University, and prior to her current position, Ann Reale served as education adviser to Governor Mitt Romney. The EEC's mission statement is to provide for the families of Massachusetts through the accessibility, affordability and quality of the services they provide.

Commissioner Reale pointed out that there are a number of significant challenges present in building a comprehensive system of Early Education and Care. It is very important to Commissioner Reale that all people working hard on behalf of children are moving forward together. Getting good information out to as many people as possible is a challenge and is critical to the department's success. The Department's goal is to provide accessible, affordable, quality programs to all children in Massachusetts through the implementation of a comprehensive and coordinated plan. The Commissioner is aware that many programs are facing similar issues in these areas and therefore sees the need to work together to address them while developing this comprehensive plan. In developing such a plan, the EEC and the Commissioner are striving to emphasize the inclusion of all children ages 0-14, and in doing so, hope to avoid compartmentalizing according to program type, in order to fulfill their goals.

Afterschool providers are especially interested in the EEC's Workforce Development plan. The plan contain five major parts- collection of uniform data, articulation of core competencies, creation of an evaluation system, development of a credential and career path system, and alignment of all partners in support of the system. When discussing the initial plan, Commissioner Reale noted that it is intentionally not specific so to extend its reach to all types of programs in Massachusetts. She stressed that the collection of good data is especially important with school age programs because of their diversity. Therefore, the key to the Workforce Development plan is that all components are interrelated as an ongoing professional development program that will help to bring about improvements in recruitment and retention. All programs that have contact with children can use these components as opportunities for building skills and providing the best child care possible to the children of Massachusetts.

The Commissioner pointed out that anyone involved in doing good things for children has a role to play in building this system, and that we cannot build a comprehensive, coordinated system without involvement from the provider community in the building process. Therefore, their participation and input are welcomed and valued. To that end, Commissioner Reale has held regional meetings, addressed conferences, and has included providers in the Transition Team, the Transition Team task forces, and continues to support the School-Age working group that meets monthly at EEC.

To learn more about The Department of Early Education and Care, please visit their website at http://www.eec.state.ma.us/.