About Environment Rating Scales
There are four environment rating scales, each designed for a different segment of the early childhood field.
(ECERS-R) The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised: A thorough revision of the ECERS, designed to assess group programs for preschool-kindergarten aged children, from 2 through 5 years of age. Total scale consists of 43 items. (Also available in Spanish).
(ITERS-R) The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised: A thorough revision of the ITERS, designed to assess group programs for children from birth to 2 ½ years of age. Total scale consists of 39 items. (Also available in Spanish).
(FCCERS-R) The Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale-Revised: A thorough revision of the FDCRS, designed to assess family child care programs conducted in a provider’s home. Total scale consists of 38 items. (Also available in Spanish).
(SACERS) The School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale: Designed to assess before and after school group care programs for school-age children, 5 to 12 years of age. The total scale consists of 49 items, including 6 supplementary items for programs enrolling children with disabilities.
· Each one of the scales has items to evaluate: Physical Environment; Basic Care; Curriculum; Interaction; Schedule and Program Structure; and Parent and Staff Education.
· The scales are suitable for use in evaluating inclusive and culturally diverse programs.
· The scales have proven reliability and validity.
Our scales are designed to assess process quality in an early childhood or school age care group. Process quality consists of the various interactions that go on in a classroom between staff and children, staff, parents, and other adults, among the children themselves, and the interactions children have with the many materials and activities in the environment, as well as those features, such as space, schedule and materials that support these interactions. Process quality is assessed primarily through observation and has been found to be more predictive of child outcomes than structural indicators such as staff to child ratio, group size, cost of care, and even type of care, for example child care center or family child care home (Whitebook, Howes & Phillips, 1995).
In order to provide care and education that will permit children to experience a high quality of life while helping them develop their abilities, a quality program must provide for the three basic needs all children have:
· Protection of their health and safety
· Building positive relationships
· Opportunities for stimulation and learning from experience
No one component is more or less important than the others, nor can one substitute for another. It takes all three to create quality care. Each of the three basic components of quality care manifests itself in tangible forms in the program's environment, curriculum, schedule, supervision and interaction, and can be observed. These are the key aspects of process quality that are included in our environmental rating scales.
Our scales define environment in a broad sense and guide the observer to assess the arrangement of space both indoors and outdoors, the materials and activities offered to the children, the supervision and interactions (including language) that occur in the classroom, and the schedule of the day, including routines and activities. The support offered to parents and staff is also included.
All of our scales have been developed in close collaboration with realistic field-based sites. They have good interrater reliability and validity, thus making them suitable for research and program evaluation, as well as program improvement efforts. (Click here for more information on reliability and valididty of the ECERS-R)
Each scale has a complete training program. The ECERS-R, ITERS-R and FCCERS-R training programs include an interactive videotape/DVD.
Related Work
The development of instruments to measure the quality of early childhood programs has been a major part of the work of the authors of these scales. In addition to our own scales, we have developed, in close collaboration with the sponsoring agencies, the following instruments for the field: the NAEYC Center accreditation classroom observation and the accreditation questionnaires; the CDA Classroom Observation; the Wellsley College ASQ school age care scale and director's questionnaire, which is now being used in the National School Age Care Alliance accreditation program; the Quality Criteria for Family Child Care; and the Military Family Child Care accreditation procedures and instruments.
The ERS project is a program of the FPG Child Development Institute of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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C. Overview of the Subscales and Items of the FCCERS-R
38 Items organized into 7 Subscales
Space and Furnishings
1. Indoor space used for child care
2. Furniture for routine care, play, and learning
3. Provision for relaxation and comfort
4. Arrangement of indoor space for child care
5. Display for children
6. Sapce for Privacy
Personal Care Routines
7. Greeting/departing
8. Nap/rest
9. Meals/snacks
10. Diapering/toileting
11. Health practices
12. Safety practices
Listening and Talking
13. Helping children understand language
14. Helping children use language
15. Using books
Activities
16. Fine motor
17. Art
18. Music and movement
19. Blocks
20. Dramatic play
21. Math/number
22. Nature/science
23. Sand and water play
24. Promoting acceptance of diversity
25. Use of TV, video, and/or computer
26. Active physical play
Interaction
27. Supervision of play and learning
28. Provider-child interaction
29. Discipline
30. Interactions among children
Program Structure
31. Schedule
32. Free play
33. Group time
34. Provisions for children with disabilities
Parents and Provider
35. Provisions for parents
36. Balancing personal and caregiving responsibilities
37. Opportunities for professional growth
38. Provisions for professional needs