EEC’s Proposed Regulations: Overview and Update A New Approach to Group, School-Age and Family Child Care Regulations

The Regulation Review Journey Board approves alignment approach Dec.2005-Jan. 2006 EEC develops draft regulations Jan. 2006-March 2007 Intensive informal external review process May-August 2007 Revisions to draft August - October 2007 Board votes to send out for informal public comment November 2007 Public Hearings February 2008 Revisions to draft March-August 2008 Provide resources for the field Fall 2008 to Fall 2009 Board votes to promulgate in January March-April 2009 Technical assistance/training Spring 2009 and ongoing New regulations are promulgated (take effect) January 2010 Licensors evaluate compliance and offer resources Ongoing

EEC’s Proposed Regulations Background: EEC Board was updated on the proposed regulations at its March 10, 2009 meeting. The Board had questions in three specific areas: oral health, fall zones in family child care, and amount of required professional development that should address diverse learners. Small workgroups from the Regulation Review Team revisited each of these issues with the Board’s questions in mind. Their work was presented to the Board’s Programs and Policy Committee on March 30th. The Committee’s recommendations for the Board were presented to the EEC Advisory on April 3rd. The EEC Advisory’s comments were discussed with the Programs and Policy Committee on April 6th. The Committee presents its final recommendations to the Board on April 14, 2009.

7.11 Health and Safety Oral Health Including Tooth Brushing Background: Original draft: children >1 year old who get 2 meals/day must have opportunity to brush. Informal comment: 54% liked idea but many raised implementation and sanitation concerns. EEC’s Board stressed importance for overall good health and that many programs already brush. Considerations: 1 in 4 MA kindergartners have dental decay; 50% of which goes untreated. Low income children are disproportionately affected (almost 2X). Early tooth loss is linked to failure to thrive, impaired speech development, poor concentration, and reduced self-esteem. CDC is unaware of adverse health effects directly related to tooth brushing. Training materials to help programs implement tooth brushing are readily available. Storage may be an issue for some programs. Some school age programs serve large numbers of children and have limited program time. Materials and training costs.

7.11 Health and Safety Oral Health Including Tooth Brushing Options discussed: Don’t require; address with technical assistance and resources. Require for children who get snacks or meals in all programs. Require for children in family child care homes and group child care centers. Programs that are only school age must give children an opportunity to brush. Recommendations by the Committee for the Board: Revise the regulations to require tooth brushing in all programs that children attend for more than 4 hours or include a meal. School age child care programs that only meet these criteria during school vacation weeks and do not operate in the summer need not comply. Make technical assistance and resources available to all programs whether or not they are required to brush teeth.

7.07 Physical Facility Requirements Fall Zones (Use Zones) for Outdoor Play Inches of Loose-fill material Protects to fall height 9 Shredded/ recycled rubber 10 feet Sand 4 feet Pea gravel 5 feet Wood mulch 7 feet Wood chips Swing set: top view Use Zone -The surface under and around a piece of equipment onto which a child falling from or exiting from the equipment would be expected to land. These areas are also designated for unrestricted circulation around the equipment. (CPSC definition)

7.07 Physical Facility Requirements Fall Zones (Use Zones) for Outdoor Play Background: Fall zones under swings, slides, and structures have been required since 1998 in group child care programs. Proposed regulations also required fall zones in family child care and school age programs. In response to much testimony about cost and installation concerns, this was deleted for FCC. EEC’s Board discussed this as an important safety issue. Considerations: Playground injuries(CPSC): 83% occur to children between ages 2 and 9; 79% are caused by falls; 76% occur on public playgrounds; 23% occur on home or residential playgrounds but result in 70% of related deaths. EEC data indicate few serious injuries in licensed FCC homes. Fall zones can be costly to install and require frequent maintenance. Technical assistance is available: CPSC Playground Safety Handbook http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/playpubs.html

7.07 Physical Facility Requirements Fall Zones (Use Zones) for Outdoor Play Options discussed: Don’t require; address with technical assistance. Immediately require fall zones in all settings including family child care. Prohibit the use of playground equipment without fall zones and provide alternatives for large muscle development. Require fall zones at future date (2012); to provide family child care programs with time to comply. Use QRIS standards as an incentive (points for fall zones). Advocate for resources to offset the installation cost. Convene study group to research before requiring in regulations.

7.07 Physical Facility Requirements Fall Zones (Use Zones) for Outdoor Play Recommendations by the Committee for the Board: Require fall zones by 2012 to give FCC programs time to retrofit existing equipment. Revise the regulations to require fall zones for all new equipment installed after the effective date of the regulations. Provide FCC programs considering the purchase of new equipment in the intervening months with information on safe installation and the risks addressed by fall zones. Provide technical assistance on large muscle activities/gross motor play that do not require playground equipment. Explore options for offsetting the installation costs of fall zones.

7.09 Staff Qualifications and Development Diverse Learners “Children who have special physical, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, or linguistic needs or whose primary learning modality is visual, auditory, tactile or kinesthetic, who may require an adaptation in the environment, interaction or curriculum in order to succeed in their program.” (definition in proposed regulations) Background: Current center-based regulations require that 25% professional development hours address special needs Proposed regulations broaden this 25% to include diverse learners and to apply to family child care Public comment: concerns about availability of training EEC Board questioned if 25% was sufficient to address this broader category Considerations: All licensed programs are required to accept application from families whose children have special needs Anecdotally, programs report more children enrolling with diverse learning needs Limited data available on current offerings/needs July-Dec. 2008, EEC’s PD Calendar listed 48 professional development offerings related to special needs (based on review of titles and descriptions) 648 staff attended these offerings (not an unduplicated count). 183 identified themselves as family child care PD Calendar updated to identify which courses address special needs Trainings are also available from other sources

7.09 Staff Qualifications and Development Diverse Learners Options discussed: Increase the proposed percentage to 33%? 50%? Require that diverse learners be addressed in all professional development counted towards the required in-service hours (no specific %). Require that 25% of professional development address diverse learners in its entirety and that all professional development must include them. Convene study group and/or research current offerings and needs before changing regulations

7.09 Staff Qualifications and Development Diverse Learners Recommendations by the Committee for the Board: Revise the regulations to increase the percentage of required professional development that must address diverse learners from 25% to 33%. Develop a policy, for consideration by the Board, stating that all required professional development must include diverse learners. Research what existing professional development meets this requirement and what additional resources are needed. Address this issue in EEC’s Workforce Development Plan. Care Setting Total Hrs/Yr 33% Diverse Learners FCC/Small Group School Age: 10 3.3 Large Group School Age: 20 6.7

Summary and Implementation Plan What is Not Changing: Won’t require programs to make big changes. Clarify existing requirements and offer more flexibility in several areas. Most requirements remain the same. For example: What is Changing: Family child care and center-based regulations in one comprehensive set. New regulations in several key areas: Staff to child ratios Most groupings Activity space Materials and equipment Staff qualifications Program types Definitions Family child care locations Administration Interactions Groupings Curriculum / progress reports Professional development’ Health and safety Proposed regulations will be revised to require that: Children brush their teeth in programs that they attend for >4 hours and/or that offer a meal, except where exempted through policy. New playground equipment installed in Family Child Care programs after the effective date have fall (use) zones. One-third of the required professional development hours must address diverse learners.

Summary and Implementation Plan Final regulations posted/communicated to field April 2009 Develop, translate, and post resources Ongoing Training for EEC staff* June-Oct. 2009 At all provider renewal meetings offer: Start June 2009 Overview of regulatory changes/timeline Focus on new requirements* Additional meetings for other providers Nov.-Dec. 2009 In each region for FCC & GCC/SA Large group overview Small workgroups on specific requirements.* Regulations go into effect January 2010 Technical assistance provided on site visits Ongoing Topic specific training on new requirements * Ongoing *Interactions, Curriculum, Progress Reports, Medication Administration, Developmental Placement, Multi-Age Grouping, EEC Provider Orientation, etc.