7.2 Use of Quality Set-Aside Funds

Lead Agencies must use a portion of their CCDF expenditures for activities designed to improve the quality of child care services and to increase parental options for and access to high-quality child care. They must use the quality set-aside funds on at least one of 10 activities described in CCDF and the quality activities must be aligned with a Statewide or Territory-wide assessment of the State's or Territory’s need to carry out such services and care. 7.2.1 Quality improvement activities a. Describe how the Lead Agency will make its Quality Progress Report (ACF – 218) and expenditure reports, available to the public. Provide a link if available. Our ACF ￿ 218 will be added to the state plan page on the EEC website: https://www.mass.gov/lists/child- care-and-development-fund-ccdf-state-plans b. Identify Lead Agency plans, if any, to spend CCDF funds for each of the following quality improvement activities. If an activity is checked “yes”, describe the Lead Agency’s current and/or future plans for this activity. i. Supporting the training and professional development of the child care workforce, including birth to five and school-age providers. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. EEC contracts with six different entities, five regional Professional Development Centers (PDCs) and one state-wide academy, to provide universal access to free professional learning opportunities across the state. The PDCs coach program leaders on an array of topics and assist leaders in setting quality goals for their programs. Coaching topics often drive the PDCs’ development of regional trainings. The PDCs work closely with the regional licensors, Program Quality Specialists, and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Programs to provide seamless support for programs. EEC also maintains an online learning management system that makes self-paced asynchronous and instructor-led courses available to all educators. Additionally, EEC contracts with family child care systems (FCC Systems) to provide professional development and onsite support to affiliated FCC educators through the child care financial assistance contract. FCC Systems provide monthly onsite visits, professional development days, and other resources to support quality practices, curriculum planning and, in some cases, training on business practices. Targeted professional development initiatives are in place to build organizational capacity to engage in continuous quality improvement in key areas, including support for social emotional learning and educational leadership. EEC contracts with a vendor to expand access to support for implementation of the Pyramid Model, with attention to establishing models that meet the needs of different program types in the mixed-delivery system. EEC contracts with three Early Childhood Support Organizations to provide multi-year intensive coaching and training to educational leaders in center based early education and care programs, including support for enhanced approaches to selection and implementation of high-quality curriculum, child assessment, adult child interactions, and instruction. EEC also intends to develop more training focused on the needs of the out-of-school-time workforce. ii. Developing, maintaining, or implementing early learning and developmental guidelines. [x] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [ ] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. iii. Developing, implementing, or enhancing a quality improvement system. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. EEC is currently developing a process for supporting programs in engaging in continuous quality improvement, including guidance and training on the process, support in implementing standardized observations and other data collection, ongoing identification of professional learning opportunities, and other resources to support quality improvement plans. iv. Improving the supply and quality of child care services for infants and toddlers. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. The C3 grant program supports recruitment and retention of staff, quality investments, and funding is structured to match the increased costs of running infant and toddler classrooms, thereby supporting these classrooms and providing an incentive for expansion of such services. Additionally, the Professional Development Centers and Academy provide training that focuses on skills in working with infants and toddlers. EEC also provides a Support Services daily rate for EEC's Priority Population and claims the funding tied to infant and toddler children. The Support Service funds mental and behavioral health as well as social services for priority population infants and toddlers. The contract re-procurement for FY25 aims to secure more contracted slots for infants and toddlers, increasing the dedicated financial assistance for these population. Our infant and toddler rates experienced the largest increases in FY24 due to a recognition of higher costs for quality care of those age groups. v. Establishing or expanding a statewide system of CCR&R services. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. EEC re-procured the Child Care Resource and Referral services in FY23, for contract execution on 7/1/2023. Through this new contract, CCRRs are required to support existing providers who accept child care financial assistance as well as recruit new providers into the child care financial assistance system. CCRRs are also required to connect providers with trainings and technical assistance to start, maintain, and grow their businesses and improve their services. This includes areas related to early childhood mental health, professional learning supports, and continuous quality improvement planning. vi. Facilitating compliance with Lead Agency child care licensing, monitoring, inspection and health and safety standards. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x]Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. EEC uses CCDF funds to support licensor, audit, and background record check salaries at the agency. The licensors are tasked with ensuring child care programs are complying with health and safety standards outlined in CCDBG and included in EEC’s regulations and policies. Auditors are tasked with ensuring sub-recipients are complying with EEC’s approved State Plan when making eligibility determinations. Background Record Check staff are ensuring that the individuals who work in a child care program or child care home are suitable to have contact with children. EEC also funds multiple entities to support compliance, including the Strong Start Professional Development Centers, the Early Childhood Mental Health Grantees, the Strong Start Learning Management System, the Pyramid Model Consortium and the Early Childhood Support Organizations. Each of these grantees is required to collect information to allow EEC to track program participation and support received by providers. Support ranges from basic health and safety, to trainings, to in-depth coaching and consultation. In the future, we will develop the capacity to track the extent to which programs sustained targeted practices when direct support ends. vii. Evaluating and assessing the quality and effectiveness of child care services within the State/Territory. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. EEC currently funds EEC Program Quality Specialists and external vendors in achieving reliable rater certification from Teachstone to conduct classroom observations using the CLASS tool. These investments are designed to build an infrastructure to gather classroom quality data across various program investments, including ECSO participants, CPPI grantees, and contracted providers. viii. Accreditation support. [x] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [ ] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. ix. Supporting State/Territory or local efforts to develop high-quality program standards relating to health, mental health, nutrition, physical activity, and physical development. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. EEC continues to invest in resources to support programs in understanding and working towards the state’s quality domains and goals. These include continuous quality improvement training and resources, training and professional learning supports aligned with the specific expectations of each domain, and the alignment of the credential development with these standards. Much of this work is conducted by the statewide professional learning Academy and other contracts funded with CCDF funds. We have also hired Behavioral Health Specialists who will support and manage the Early Childhood Mental Health grantees, work with Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative Grantees who engage in expansion of special education services to community partners and engage with licensors and regional office staff around programs that have children who exhibit challenging behaviors in an effort to prevent suspensions and expulsions x. Other activities determined by the Lead Agency to improve the quality of child care services and the measurement of outcomes related to improved provider preparedness, child safety, child well-being, or kindergarten entry. [x] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [ ] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. 8 Lead Agency Coordination and Partnerships to Support Service Delivery Coordination and partnerships help ensure that the Lead Agency’s efforts accomplish CCDF goals effectively, leverage other resources, and avoid duplication of effort. Such coordination and partnerships can help families better access child care, can assist in providing consumer education to parents, and can be used to improve child care quality and the stability of child care providers. Such coordination can also be particularly helpful in the aftermath of disasters when the provision of emergency child care services and the rebuilding and restoring of child care infrastructure are an essential part of ensuring the well-being of children and families in recovering communities. This section identifies who the Lead Agency collaborates with to implement services, how match and maintenance-of-effort (MOE) funds are used, coordination with child care resource and referral (CCR&R) systems, and efforts for disaster preparedness and response plans to support continuity of operations in response to emergencies.