Early Education Leaders, an Institute at UMass Boston

09/10/2026

Congratulations to Karima Rehmani, Professional Development Center Coordinator for Early Education Leaders' Metro Boston Professional Development Center, named to the Department of Early Education and Care's first Family Advisory Council. 👏🏾

Governor Maura Healey has announced the 20 parents and caregivers selected to serve on the Council — a standing role for families in shaping the policies, programs, and resources that serve children across the Commonwealth. Karima represents Metro Boston, one of five EEC regions on the Council.

Members bring a wide range of lived experience with early education and care, out-of-school time programs, residential care services, and other systems that support children and families. The Council will meet quarterly to advise the Department on family access and support, child care financial assistance, workforce development, and family engagement statewide.

"The Family Advisory Council will help us better understand the experiences of children and caregivers, strengthen our programs and services, and build a more equitable and responsive early education and care system," said Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw.

Learn more ➡️ https://bit.ly/4xVacxK

09/09/2026

Recommended reading:

In The Hechinger Report, Michael H. Levine makes the case that early childhood policy has a preparation problem. The people making policy decisions work in governors' offices and state legislatures and staff congressional offices and county health agencies. They care deeply about children, but very few of them were trained in early childhood.

The consequences show up in the systems families actually navigate: programs that don't talk to each other, investments that don't reach the families who need them most, and reforms that look good on paper but collapse when the programs are designed and put in place.

He notes that "Infrastructure like power grids and transportation networks is built by experts because we have collectively decided these things are too important to leave to chance.”

The same should be true for early childhood education — the systems young children and families depend on are too complex and too consequential to be led by anyone who isn't an expert in the field. He points to graduate programs building that expertise deliberately, preparing leaders who come from the front lines: Head Start, child care centers, social work, health care, home visiting and family support, and calls for more investment in such programs.

“We need to build national support for an early childhood policy preparation strategy; millions more children and families can benefit from leaders who combine deep expertise and passion,” he writes.

Read the full piece ➡️ https://bit.ly/4x1P3At

09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day 🇺🇸

Labor Day is a day to honor the people whose work makes everything else possible. Early educators belong at the center of that story.

They teach and care for children during the years when the brain develops fastest, building the language, curiosity and confidence that children carry into school and beyond. It is skilled work that takes deep knowledge of how young children learn.

It is also the work that makes every other sector possible. Hospitals, schools, small businesses, factories and offices all run because early educators are caring for and teaching the children of the people who staff them.

Early Education Leaders is grateful to the early educators across Massachusetts and beyond, and to the leaders among them who mentor colleagues, build strong programs and advocate for the children and families they serve.

Happy Labor Day!

09/03/2026

Recommended reading:

In The Hechinger Report, Michael H. Levine makes the case that early childhood policy has a preparation problem. The people making policy decisions work in governors' offices and state legislatures and staff congressional offices and county health agencies. They care deeply about children, but very few of them were trained in early childhood.

The consequences show up in the systems families actually navigate: programs that don't talk to each other, investments that don't reach the families who need them most, and reforms that look good on paper but collapse when the programs are designed and put in place.

He notes that "Infrastructure like power grids and transportation networks is built by experts because we have collectively decided these things are too important to leave to chance.”

The same should be true for early childhood education — the systems young children and families depend on are too complex and too consequential to be led by anyone who isn’t an expert in the field. He points to graduate programs building that expertise deliberately, preparing leaders who come from the front lines: Head Start, child care centers, social work, health care, home visiting and family support, and calls for more investment in such programs.

“We need to build national support for an early childhood policy preparation strategy; millions more children and families can benefit from leaders who combine deep expertise and passion,” he writes.

Read the full piece ➡️ https://bit.ly/4x1P3At

09/01/2026

📣 In a letter published by Boston Globe Opinion, Early Education Leaders Executive Director Anne Douglass makes the case that higher pay is the foundation of a strong early childhood workforce — but more is required for educators to thrive professionally.

Better pay will bring people into the field. Affordable degree, career, and leadership pathways will keep them there — and strengthen what children experience every day.

"Educators do not necessarily leave because they stop loving the work," she writes. "They leave because the work cannot sustain them."

Read the full letter ➡️ https://bit.ly/4ijf9eP

08/28/2026

📣 In a letter published by Boston Globe Opinion, Early Education Leaders Executive Director Anne Douglass makes the case that higher pay is the foundation of a strong early childhood workforce — but more is required for educators to thrive professionally.

Better pay will bring people into the field. Affordable degree, career, and leadership pathways will keep them there — and strengthen what children experience every day.

"Educators do not necessarily leave because they stop loving the work," she writes. "They leave because the work cannot sustain them."

Read the full letter ➡️ https://bit.ly/4ijf9eP

08/28/2026

Early educators see what's working in the state's early education system — and what isn't — long before it shows up in a report. The Department of Early Education and Care keeps several channels open year-round for that firsthand perspective.

Educators and families can:

Share their experience through EEC's family feedback and educator research interest forms
Offer subject matter expertise for future policy work
Speak during public comment at EEC board meetings, held the second Wednesday of the month from September through June
Send written comment any time to [email protected]

Learn more ➡️

EEC wants to share more opportunities to provide feedback. Beta testing participation and upcoming events are some examples you can find here. Check back regularly, as we’re looking to create more spaces to engage!

08/26/2026

"Skilled early educators often earn poverty-level wages. Many don't have health insurance or retirement benefits."

That's Anne Douglass, founding executive director of Early Education Leaders, in a new story from UMass Boston Newsroom.

To help address these inequities and support early educators in their careers, Early Education Leaders makes leadership development more accessible by offering programs in five languages and building multiple pathways for educators to advance — Leading for Change in Early Care and Education, now offered in multiple states; Fellowship programs at the bachelor's degree and Post-Master's Certificate levels; and coaching programs.

Original research by Early Education Leaders examines how leadership shapes outcomes for children, families, and educators, and reaches well beyond Massachusetts.

One of the accomplishments Douglass is proudest of is where those research findings end up.

"It's a really big deal to have research that doesn't sit on a shelf somewhere but is actually being used to shape the conditions that affect the lives of early educators, children, and families," she said.

Learn more ➡️ https://bit.ly/4y6ccmu

08/25/2026

How adults talk to infants and toddlers during play shapes what those children come to expect from language — and from the people using it.

Early Childhood Webinars is hosting a free session tomorrow, Wednesday, August 26, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. ET with Cara Tyrrell, M.Ed., on the language that builds connection, confidence, and creativity in the youngest learners. The session covers receptive versus expressive language before children are talking, three types of play and what each one offers, and sentence starters that invite curiosity. Certificates are available for those who attend the full live session.

Learn more ➡️ https://bit.ly/4qzoVLT

Free, expert-led early childhood education webinars offering practical strategies and inspiring insights. Serving over 3 million early education professionals, join to learn and receive certificates.

08/18/2026

The Early Education Leaders Undergraduate Fellowship gives UMass Boston students preparing to enter the early childhood field the support to get there — and the community to keep going once they do.

Fellows receive a semester stipend with no repayment, a program mentor and designated academic advisor, a writing tutor dedicated to Fellowship students, job placement assistance, and access to a growing alumni network.

The early childhood field needs leaders like you.

Now recruiting UMass Boston undergraduates enrolled in the early education program with 75+ credits for the fall cohort.

Learn more ➡️ https://bit.ly/4yJPJN2