NORTHAMPTON — As preschool students ran around the gym inside Sunnyside early child care center Tuesday afternoon, they were trailed by special visitors: board members of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care.

The group stopped by the center on their way to Springfield for their monthly meeting.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to see a strong program in action but most importantly to test ourselves to see if we’re focusing on the right issues,” said Commissioner Thomas Weber.

As the group toured the center’s classrooms and play areas, board members asked staff from Sunnyside Child Care at 557 Easthampton Road in Northampton about how they approach professional development, finances, maintaining a good student-to-teacher ratio and other facets of running a child care facility.

Mary Walachy, vice chairwoman of the board, said it tends to visit schools in more urban settings than Sunnyside’s. At those other schools, families may be poorer, she said, leading to different challenges for care providers than the challenges found at Sunnyside.

Sunnyside, for example, is funded almost exclusively by tuition, supplemented by grants and fundraising. Tuition is on a sliding scale based on family size and income. It ranges from $11,480 to $18,800 annually for five full days of preschool each week.

At other schools in more urban locales, families may not be able to afford tuition.

“Seeing a program where there are kids from a more middle class background — we’re excited they have this, but we need to strive to make sure all kids get this level of care,” Walachy said.

Alex Feinstei, interim director of Sunnyside, said having the board visit is useful for his team, because they can provide input to those who create policies that affect their school.

Sara Lasser Yau, president of the Sunnyside board, said it’s also useful to hear about what is going on in preschools statewide.

“We’re not at other centers every day,” she said. “It’s helpful to get their feedback.”

Board members were particularly impressed at Sunnyside by the education level of teachers — many of whom have a bachelor’s degree or more — and the high teacher retention rate.

Feinstein said the industry has a 30 to 40 percent annual turnover rate, but Sunnyside has only lost two teachers in the last five years.

Sunnyside administrators attributed its high retention rate in part to the school’s low teacher-to-student ratio.

Sunnyside’s preschool ratios are lower than the state mandated-rate of two teachers per 20 children. The school’s classrooms have a ratio of 2:12 for younger preschoolers and 2:16 for older preschoolers. About 75 children attend the school.

Administrators also said Sunnyside’s higher pay scale, compared to other local preschools, and good benefits help attract and keep teaching talent. Feinstein says his staff tells him that they feel they’re better paid at Sunnyside.

Lasser Yau said she hopes to make Sunnyside even more attractive to teachers.

“One of my goals is to make Sunnyside the best place to work in the Valley,” she said. “I want everyone to want to work here.”

Walachy said Sunnyside’s strides in teacher retention matter because talented, excited teachers are vital to early childhood education.

“We know that the quality of teachers in the classroom is a strong predictor of children’s success,” Walachy said.

The school has a relationship with Smith College, where it was housed until a few years ago. Now it is located off campus, but Smith College helped pay for the school’s new building and continues to have representatives on Sunnyside’s board.

The visitors were impressed by Sunnyside’s curriculum, which administrators described as emergent from children’s interests and based off a variety of different disciplines of childcare. Weber said the breadth of care at the center is also impressive.

“They’re taking a holistic approach to child development: academic, physical, sociological,” Weber said. “That’s our goal and responsibility for students statewide.”

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