About the Building Careers in Early Childhood Education Grant Program

About the Building Careers in ECE Grant Program

The purpose of this grant is to improve educational and developmental outcomes for children by improving the quality of early education and out-of-school time services through professional development of the workforce.   The department of Early Education and Care of Massachusetts is committed to creating a professional development system for the early education and care and out-of-school time workforce that meets the needs of all educators, including English language learners or those who are from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.  EEC strives to provide increased professional development opportunities and pathways to degree attainment by maximizing resources and requiring entities providing professional development with EEC funding to function collaboratively and effectively at the local, regional, and statewide levels.

EEC envisions a professional development continuum for individuals working in EEC-licensed and license-exempt early education and out of school time settings; related initiatives such as the Parent-Child-Home-Program (PCHP), Joint Family Support Programming (JFSP), or the Massachusetts Family Network (MFN); as well as the leaders in the field responsible for its professional development.  This continuum would link high schools, certificate programs, community colleges, and four-year institutions of higher education with Community Partnership Councils (CPCs), Child Care Resource and Referral agencies (CCR&Rs), family child care systems and other partners to create pathways that lead to certificate and degree attainment as well as   to on–going professional development for our workforce.

The Building Careers in Early Education and Care grant is a key component in helping EEC achieve its priority strategic directions for workforce development: “to create and implement a system to improve and support quality statewide” and to “create a workforce system that maintains worker diversity and provides resources, support, expectations, and core competencies that lead to the outcomes we want for children.” (http://www.eec.state.ma.us/docs/StrategicPlanFormatted.pdf). The Building Careers grant program contributes to the following indicators of success from the Strategic Plan: 

• Clearly defined education and professional development standards that are understood and embraced by the field.
• Access to affordable education and professional development resources that support core competencies.
• Respect for early education and care professionals, enabling them to complete their professional responsibilities with confidence and competence. Support for the broad diversity of the early education and care workforce that allows families and children to feel welcomed and comfortable.
• Effective collaboration among all aspects of the early education and care system.

Purpose of the Building Careers in ECE Grant

Higher education institutions awarded with the grant help EEC achieve these goals by:

• Providing coursework and a support system that enables early education and care and out-of-school time educators to access, afford, and succeed at higher education.

• Promoting the EEC’s Early Childhood Program Standards and the Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences, Core Competencies, and licensing regulations by imbedding them in related coursework. To request of copy of the Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences or the Early Childhood Program Standards for Three and Four Year Olds please contact Kevin Roach at John.Kevin.Roach@state.ma.us or 617-988-7836.

• Collaborating with CPCs, CCR&Rs, family child care systems, and other partners to provide professional development to the field, to meet educators at their academic level with needed supports, and to help adult learners including English language learners and those from diverse cultural backgrounds succeed academically and professionally.  

• Working with others in the field to recruit and retain educators that reflect the diversity of children and families in the community. 

• Participating in the on-going development of EEC initiatives that further education and professional development such as core competencies, a career lattice, an orientation for the field, professional development calendar, Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), or the Professional Development Registry.