“Stephen Zrike says he is entering the job with “a lot to learn,” and a belief that Massachusetts has changed how it views early childhood education.

“Weeks into his new role overseeing the systems from early education through higher education, Zrike used an appearance on a call with early care providers to talk up his longtime support for early education and frame himself as a former K-12 leader still learning the complexities of other aspects of the education landscape.

” “I feel very comfortable in the K-12 space, so I’m going to push myself in the places I feel less comfortable, which would be higher education, and then to a certain extent, in early education,’ he said on Strategies for Children’s ‘9:30 Call.’

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“Zrike, whom Gov. Maura Healey selected this spring to succeed former Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler, previously worked as superintendent in Salem, Holyoke and Wakefield. Healey credited him with improving outcomes across districts, including expanding full-day prekindergarten and early college programs in Salem.”

—“New Education Secretary focused on his own learning curve,” State House News Service, May 13, 2026