Massachusetts Early Care and Education Study


Comprehensive professional development system needed for Massachusetts early education and care work

November 9, 2005


Is Child Care Bad for Kids?

by Nancy L. Marshall, Ed.D.
From the Fall/Winter 2003 Research & Action Report

Recent headlines have once again raised the question of whether child care is bad for children. After decades of research, advocacy, program development, and policy, what do we really know about child care? Before addressing this question, it is important to talk about the larger question: what do we really know about women’s (and men’s) lives? The question of child care can only be answered as part of a discussion about how women and men meet the two challenges of both raising the next generation and providing economically for themselves and their families.
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Massachusetts Early Care and Education Studies
Assessment of Early Care and Education in Massachusetts

This group of inter-related research projects seeks to understand the state of early care and education in Massachusetts and make recommendations for quality outcomes.


Op-Ed: Workforce development & compensation critical to quality early childhood education
Op-Ed Workforce development & compensation critical to quality early childhood education

Op-Ed submission to the Boston Globe (unpublished)
by Nancy Marshall, Ed.D. and Steve Barnett, Ed.D.
March 30, 2005

The creation of the Department of Early Education and Care, developed to administer the Massachusetts’ early education care system, puts the state at a critical juncture in advancing its historic commitment to young children. On July 1st, the new department becomes active, and its Board and Commissioner will have the tough task of deciding how to proceed. Well-trained, qualified teachers and providers are necessary for programs to promote children’s school readiness. The recently released Massachusetts Capacity Study Research Brief: Characteristics of the Current Early Education and Care Workforce provides research-based evidence of the magnitude of the task of workforce development.
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Student Teachers

Boston Globe
February 6, 2006