Beyond the Buzzword: Defining High Quality in Early Education and Care
September 18, 2026
At the Boston Foundation’s webinar, Beyond the Buzzword: Defining High Quality in Early Education and Care, part of the Coffee & Conversation series, speakers explored what "high quality" really means for young children, families, and educators. While quality is often discussed in terms of curriculum or classroom instruction, the conversation made clear that it depends on much more: strong relationships, a supported workforce, family and community connections, thoughtful public policy, and safe environments.
Orlando Watkins, Vice President and Chief Program Officer at the Boston Foundation, welcomed attendees and challenged the audience to look beyond the term “quality,” saying it is “not one lever” but instead “policy, it is workforce, it is community, and as you will hear today, it’s even the climate our children learn in.”
Dr. Stephanie Jones, Faculty Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, presented on the science of child development and why the earliest years matter so much. She explained that “one of the most consequential environments for young children is early care and education” because these settings influence brain development, health, and lifelong well-being. According to Dr. Jones, young children learn and grow through everyday interactions with caring adults. These “serve and return” exchanges help build the brain architecture that supports future learning, communication, and emotional development.
Dr. Jones also noted that “the educator, the caregiver, is the environment,” meaning that educators cannot provide the warm, responsive interactions children need if they are overwhelmed by stress or financial insecurity. She argued that “supporting the workforce through adequate compensation, manageable staffing ratios, and reflective supervision is a workforce policy certainly, but it's also a child development policy.”
The panel discussion, moderated by Danubia Camargos Silva, Senior Program Officer of Child Well-Being at the Boston Foundation, examined quality from several perspectives:
Melissa Boteach, Chief Policy Officer at ZERO TO THREE, connected the conversation back to the science presented by Dr. Jones. She said children are “shaped by their caregivers, their environment, and by systems,” emphasizing that quality depends on strong supports around families as well as around children.
Jeff Liebman, Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at the Harvard Kennedy School, focused on the role of investment and the early childhood workforce. He shared findings from his survey of Massachusetts parents, noting that “89% said they wanted to be using formal childcare compared to the 53% who are doing it today.” This gap, he argued, shows that families want more access to formal early education than the current system can provide. Professor Liebman emphasized that low wages are one of the biggest challenges facing the field. Referring to the difficulty of retaining talented educators, he remarked, “You just can't have a stable system if your early educators are leaving to go work at Best Buy.”
Katie White, Director of Every Child Shines at East Boston Social Centers, described the program as a community effort to ensure that children enter kindergarten “joyful, thriving, and ready to learn.” White emphasized that supporting children requires strong networks among families, schools, healthcare providers, and community organizations. As she explained, “no one person and no one agency can meet all those needs.”
Paula Gaviria Villarreal, Director of the Mayor's Office of Early Childhood for the City of Boston, expanded the conversation by discussing climate and environmental conditions. She explained that “the natural environment has an impact not only on the well-being and the overall health of children, but on their capacity to learn and their cognitive function.”
In her closing remarks, Danubia Camargos Silva reflected on what the audience had heard throughout the morning. Rather than treating workforce development, policy, community supports, and environmental conditions as separate issues, she argued that they must be addressed together. Camargos Silva reminded attendees that lasting change depends on action, concluding that “systems are made out of people, and we are the people responsible to change it.”
Orlando Watkins, Vice President and Chief Program Officer at the Boston Foundation, welcomed attendees and challenged the audience to look beyond the term “quality,” saying it is “not one lever” but instead “policy, it is workforce, it is community, and as you will hear today, it’s even the climate our children learn in.”
Dr. Stephanie Jones, Faculty Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, presented on the science of child development and why the earliest years matter so much. She explained that “one of the most consequential environments for young children is early care and education” because these settings influence brain development, health, and lifelong well-being. According to Dr. Jones, young children learn and grow through everyday interactions with caring adults. These “serve and return” exchanges help build the brain architecture that supports future learning, communication, and emotional development.
Dr. Jones also noted that “the educator, the caregiver, is the environment,” meaning that educators cannot provide the warm, responsive interactions children need if they are overwhelmed by stress or financial insecurity. She argued that “supporting the workforce through adequate compensation, manageable staffing ratios, and reflective supervision is a workforce policy certainly, but it's also a child development policy.”
The panel discussion, moderated by Danubia Camargos Silva, Senior Program Officer of Child Well-Being at the Boston Foundation, examined quality from several perspectives:
Melissa Boteach, Chief Policy Officer at ZERO TO THREE, connected the conversation back to the science presented by Dr. Jones. She said children are “shaped by their caregivers, their environment, and by systems,” emphasizing that quality depends on strong supports around families as well as around children.
Jeff Liebman, Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at the Harvard Kennedy School, focused on the role of investment and the early childhood workforce. He shared findings from his survey of Massachusetts parents, noting that “89% said they wanted to be using formal childcare compared to the 53% who are doing it today.” This gap, he argued, shows that families want more access to formal early education than the current system can provide. Professor Liebman emphasized that low wages are one of the biggest challenges facing the field. Referring to the difficulty of retaining talented educators, he remarked, “You just can't have a stable system if your early educators are leaving to go work at Best Buy.”
Katie White, Director of Every Child Shines at East Boston Social Centers, described the program as a community effort to ensure that children enter kindergarten “joyful, thriving, and ready to learn.” White emphasized that supporting children requires strong networks among families, schools, healthcare providers, and community organizations. As she explained, “no one person and no one agency can meet all those needs.”
Paula Gaviria Villarreal, Director of the Mayor's Office of Early Childhood for the City of Boston, expanded the conversation by discussing climate and environmental conditions. She explained that “the natural environment has an impact not only on the well-being and the overall health of children, but on their capacity to learn and their cognitive function.”
In her closing remarks, Danubia Camargos Silva reflected on what the audience had heard throughout the morning. Rather than treating workforce development, policy, community supports, and environmental conditions as separate issues, she argued that they must be addressed together. Camargos Silva reminded attendees that lasting change depends on action, concluding that “systems are made out of people, and we are the people responsible to change it.”
Agenda
Opening Remarks
Orlando Watkins, Vice President and Chief Program Officer, The Boston Foundation
Why Early Matters: Setting the foundation for lifelong health and well-being
Stephanie Jones, PhD, Faculty Director, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
Panel Discussion and Audience Q&A
Melissa Boteach, Chief Policy Officer, ZERO TO THREE
Jeff Liebman, PhD, Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, Harvard Kennedy School
Paula Gaviria Villarreal, Director, Mayor's Office of Early Childhood, City of Boston
Katie White, Director of Every Child Shines, East Boston Social Centers
Moderator: Danubia Camargos Silva, Senior Program Officer, Child Well-Being, The Boston Foundation