The Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) provides funding to states and territories to support infrastructure building for early childhood programs and services. In 2023, the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) was awarded a three-year PDG B-5 Renewal Grant. MEF and its partners at Tufts Interdisciplinary Evaluation Research will support Massachusetts in designing and executing a needs assessment that includes surveys, focus groups, and interviews with families and the early care and education workforce. MEF will also analyze data from the Early Childhood Information Data System. Throughout the study design and execution, the team is using participatory based approaches to ensure the people most impacted by B-5 policy and programs are a focal part of the needs assessment. This includes community members who are personally connected to the research topics becoming co-investigators on our team and convening a Needs Assessment and Evaluation Working (NEW) Group of workforce and family representatives to advise on all aspects of study design.
