The goal of this project was to support the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care in its efforts to improve access to high quality, stable care for subsidy-eligible families. To achieve this goal, the study team conducted a statewide survey of center leaders and family child care owners who accept subsidies. The purpose of this survey was to learn more about how these programs approach professional development, curriculum, staffing, and program operations. As a subcontractor to Boston University, MEF administered the survey. This included pilot testing, programming the survey in multiple languages, recruiting center leaders and family child care owners, monitoring response rates, and creating a dataset and codebook. To achieve high response rates, MEF incorporated a comprehensive set of strategies that includes distributing gift cards and raffles, sending postcards, creating a project website, and more. This work was funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families as part of their 2019 Child Care Policy Research Partnership Grants.
