EEC outlines family and educator portal plans to replace legacy systems; user testing and iterative releases planned

EEC staff and Executive Office of Education IT officials briefed the board on a multi‑year IT modernization effort that will deliver two public portals — a family portal for intake, waitlist and case management, and an educator portal for credentials and professional records.

The modernization uses an agile development approach with iterative, prioritized two‑week sprints and human‑centered design sessions with families, providers and CCR&Rs, officials said. Jesse Murray, EEC chief product officer, said the team will prioritize core scenarios in a minimum viable product (MVP) to get early feedback and then iterate. Ken Clow of the Executive Office of Education summarized the development process: teams will deliver tangible, testable features every two weeks and rely on stakeholder feedback to refine design and priorities.

Planned initial features for the family portal include mobile‑friendly waitlist enrollment with a soft eligibility check, an online application with document uploads and a case management view for family‑access administrators. EEC staff said later releases could add features such as prospective provider payments, document re‑upload prompts, streamlined reauthorization and API connections to other state systems.

The educator portal’s MVP will enable current and aspiring educators to apply for credentials online and allow existing certifications to be converted to credentials, staff said. EEC plans to align the educator portal with a new credentialing system and a learning management system in later phases. Staff estimated an initial timeline with the educator portal in late summer and the family portal coming in the fall, subject to refinement.

Officials said the family portal work is capital‑funded under the governor’s capital plan; the educator portal has grant funding through Preschool Development Grant funds. EEC stressed that user research will include compensated participation for families and outreach to representative populations, including non‑English speakers and families served by DTA or DCF.