How to Fill Out the Massachusetts EEC Work Experience Verification Form

The Massachusetts EEC work experience verification form is no longer a standalone PDF. The Department of Early Education and Care retired the downloadable version, and work experience is now entered and verified entirely inside the online certification application at childcare.mass.gov.¹ You fill in the details yourself, list your supervisor, and EEC emails that supervisor a link to confirm what you entered. Your application does not enter review until the supervisor completes that step.

To sign in, you need a MyMassGov account. Starting April 13, 2026, logging in also requires a profile in EEC’s new Professional Portal, which you’ll be prompted to set up the first time you access the system.²

What You Enter Yourself

When you reach the work experience section of the application, you provide the information that used to live on the paper form: the type of program where you worked, the age groups of the children you cared for, and your total hours.³ Be precise about age groups. The distinction between infant-toddler and preschool experience matters because certification levels require minimum hours with specific age ranges.

You also enter your supervisor’s name, email address, position title, and phone number so EEC can send the verification request. Gather this before you start. If the email address is wrong, the request goes nowhere and your application sits idle until you correct it.

What Your Supervisor Does

After you submit, EEC emails your supervisor a link to verify the experience online. They need their own MyMassGov account to log in. Once in, they review what you entered, confirm or correct it, and provide their position title, phone number, and EEC certification number if they hold one.¹

Not anyone can serve as the verifier. The supervisor you list must meet at least one of these qualifications:²

An EEC-certified Lead Teacher, Director I, or Director II.
Licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for a Pre-Kindergarten grade level.
Qualified from another U.S. state, with credentials that meet EEC standards.

If your direct supervisor doesn’t meet any of these, identify someone at the program who does, typically the program director or another senior staff member who can attest to your work there.

Two mismatches commonly slow applications down. If the person you list isn’t actually qualified, verification stalls. And if the details your supervisor confirms don’t match what you entered, EEC is likely to follow up with questions. Before you submit, compare your numbers against anything in writing your supervisor can share, so you’re both working from the same figures.

How EEC Counts Your Hours

EEC does not simply total your calendar months. Hours convert to months based on how many hours per week you actually worked:⁴

At 12 or more hours per week, four weeks of consistent work at one program equals one month of experience.
At fewer than 12 hours per week, you’ll need more weeks to earn the same credit.
Substitute teachers working under 50 hours in four weeks need additional hours to meet the threshold.

This catches part-time educators off guard. Ten hours a week for a calendar year does not translate into twelve months of credited experience. Before applying, tally your actual weekly hours at each position so the totals you enter hold up during review.

Age-group hours matter too. At the Teacher level, you need at least nine months (450 hours) of experience as an early childhood educator. For an infant-toddler certification, at least 150 of those hours must be with infants and toddlers; for a preschool certification, at least 150 must be with preschool-age children. Mixed toddler-and-preschool groups count toward either.⁴ Higher levels require more experience, with totals that drop as formal education rises; the full combinations appear in 606 CMR 7.09.⁵

Experience From Another State

Out-of-state experience can count, but only if the program was certified by that state’s early education and care department or an equivalent agency.⁴ Work at an unlicensed or unregulated program will not qualify, however substantive the experience was. Your supervisor from that program still has to complete the online verification, and they must hold credentials that meet EEC standards.²

Pull documentation of the program’s licensure status before you apply, so you can respond quickly if EEC asks for proof.

When a Former Employer Has Closed

EEC’s published guidance for the online application does not specifically address what to do when a prior employer is out of business and no qualified supervisor is reachable. If you’re in that situation, contact EEC through the Professional Portal or by phone before you submit. They may accept alternative documentation such as W-2 forms showing employment at the program, IRS wage transcripts, or letters from colleagues who can confirm your role. Old pay stubs, tax records, or a copy of the program’s EEC license showing it was operational during your employment all strengthen the case.

For tax records, IRS Form 4506-C lets you request Wage and Income transcripts, including W-2 data, that document earnings from a former employer. The form must reach the IRS within 120 days of the date you sign it. Those records prove you worked somewhere, but they don’t confirm the age groups you served or the duties you performed, so you’ll still want supplemental evidence for those details.

After You Submit

EEC reviews applications as they arrive and does not publish a specific processing timeline.⁶ Two things to watch while you wait. First, your application doesn’t enter the queue until your supervisor’s verification is submitted. If weeks pass with no movement, check that your supervisor received the email and actually completed the form. Second, keep your copy of the hours and age-group totals you entered; if the supervisor’s confirmation diverges from your entries, EEC will likely come back with questions.

If EEC approves the application, you’ll get an email notification and can download your certification from the Professional Portal. If it’s denied, EEC emails the decision and posts detailed notes in your portal account.⁶ Read the notes carefully. They’ll tell you whether the problem was a missing document, insufficient hours, or an unqualified verifier, which is what determines whether you can fix the issue quickly or need more experience before reapplying. EEC’s guidance is that an incomplete application requires a new submission rather than a partial fix.²

1
Mass.gov. Updates to the EEC Professional Certification Application
2
Mass.gov. Get an EEC Professional Certification
3
Mass.gov. EEC Professional Certification Application
4
Mass.gov. Eligibility for EEC Teacher Level Certifications
5
Cornell Law Institute. Massachusetts Code 606 CMR 7.09 – Educator Qualifications and Professional Development
6
Mass.gov. EEC Professional Certification Frequently Asked Questions