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

EEC’s Proposed Regulations:
Overview and Update
A New Approach to Group, School-Age
and Family Child Care Regulations
1
The Regulation Review Journey
2

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.
3
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.
4
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:
1. Revise the regulations to require tooth brushing in all programs that children
attend for more than 4 hours or include a meal.
2. School age child care programs that only meet these criteria during school
vacation weeks and do not operate in the summer need not comply.
3. Make technical assistance and resources available to all programs whether or
not they are required to brush teeth.
5
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
9
Sand
4 feet
9
Pea gravel
5 feet
9
Wood mulch
7 feet
9
Wood chips
10 feet
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)
6
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
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.
8
7.07 Physical Facility Requirements
Fall Zones (Use Zones) for Outdoor Play
Recommendations by the Committee for the Board:
1. Require fall zones by 2012 to give FCC programs time to retrofit existing
equipment.
2. Revise the regulations to require fall zones for all new equipment installed after
the effective date of the regulations.
3. 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.
4. Provide technical assistance on large muscle activities/gross motor play that do
not require playground equipment.
5. Explore options for offsetting the installation costs of fall zones.
9
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
10
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
11
7.09 Staff Qualifications and Development
Diverse Learners
Recommendations by the Committee for the Board:
1. Revise the regulations to increase the percentage of required
professional development that must address diverse learners
from 25% to 33%.
Care Setting
FCC/Small Group School Age:
Large Group School Age:
Total Hrs/Yr
10
20
33% Diverse Learners
3.3
6.7
2. Develop a policy, for consideration by the Board, stating that
all required professional development must include diverse
learners.
3. Research what existing professional development meets this
requirement and what additional resources are needed.
4.
12
Address this issue in EEC’s Workforce Development Plan.
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:
•
•
•
Staff to child ratios
Most groupings
Activity space
•
•
Materials and equipment
Staff qualifications
What is Changing:
Family child care and center-based regulations in one comprehensive set.
New regulations in several key areas:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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:
1. Children brush their teeth in programs that they attend for >4 hours and/or that offer a
meal, except where exempted through policy.
2. New playground equipment installed in Family Child Care programs after the
effective date have fall (use) zones.
3. One-third of the required professional development hours must address diverse
learners.
13
Summary and Implementation Plan
1.
2.
3.
4.
Final regulations posted/communicated to field
Develop, translate, and post resources
Training for EEC staff*
At all provider renewal meetings offer:


5.
6.
7.
8.
Overview of regulatory changes/timeline
Focus on new requirements*
Additional meetings for other providers

April 2009
Ongoing
June-Oct. 2009
Start June 2009

In each region for FCC & GCC/SA
Large group overview

Small workgroups on specific requirements.*
Regulations go into effect
Technical assistance provided on site visits
Topic specific training on new requirements *
Nov.-Dec. 2009
January 2010
Ongoing
Ongoing
*Interactions, Curriculum, Progress Reports, Medication Administration,
Developmental Placement, Multi-Age Grouping, EEC Provider Orientation, etc.
14