ECERS Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale By Megan

ECERS (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale) By: Megan Randolph ECERS Presentation EDU 261

• Assesses quality of a childcare center. • Star rating system • Through observation • 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. What is ECERS ?

Environmentally appropriate classroom: • Are important because it the children home away from home. • You want them to feel safe and combatable • Want to make sure you have the right toys/material for the age group

What does a high quality childcare program mean? Must provide three basic needs all children have which are: • Protection of health and safety • Building positive relationship • Opportunities for stimulation and learning from experience

Protection of Health and Safety • Cleanliness, hand washing, sanitizing, safe equipment, and a safe environment. Prevention is the key! • Think is my classroom/center clean? • Is the floor vacuumed/ washed daily? Is there visible things. • When was the last playground safety analysis done? • Nutrition • Precautions to avoid injury from mishaps (ex. ground cover) • Supervision

Building Positive Relationship: • With Children • • • With Parents • Opportunities for Separation from parents communication – formal and informal Continuity of care; • Building trust over time primary caregiver • Parent support and Positive approaches to education guidance and discipline • Anti-bias approach Development of social • Tuned-in to child’s skills community

Opportunities for stimulation and learning from experience: • Variety of hands-on activities • Appropriate for group and individual needs • Many open-ended materials • Schedule that handles routines gracefully and leaves ample time for activities • Language related to activities • Concepts brought out in play

Quality Childcare in the program’s: • • • Environment Curriculum Schedule Supervision Interaction

43 Items Organized into 7 Subscales: • • Space and Furnishings Personal Care Routines Language-Reasoning Activities Interactions Program Structure Parents and Staff

Process for Rating Assessment • The rating scales, each item is scored independently based on whether requirements of the various indicators are met and then the overall score is based on the average of all item scores. • It is this overall average score that is associated with positive child outcomes, rather than the score on any one item by itself. • All programs should expect to have both higher scores and some lower scores; as long as many items earn high scores an overall average score of 5. 0 can still be earned.

Staff Role in ECERS Assessment • Training • Shadowing other centers • Individual Research • Making sure they have everything they need in their classroom to meet all the standards

Ratings are assigned in the following manner: • A rating of 1 must be given if any indicator under 1 is scored “yes”. • A rating of 2 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and at least half of the indicators under 3 are scored “yes”. • A rating of 3 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and all indicators under 3 are scored “yes”. • A rating of 4 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and all indicators under 3 are scored “yes” and at least half of the indicators under 5 are scored “yes”. • A rating of 5 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and all indicators under 3 and 5 are scored “yes”. • A rating of 6 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and all indicators under 3 and 5 are scored “yes”, and at least half of the indicators under 7 are scored “yes”. • A rating of 7 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and all indicators under 3, 5 and 7 are scored “yes”.

ECERS • Children thrive when their health and safety needs are met and healthful habits are established for a lifetime. • The role of the program assessment is to help programs continuously evaluate and identify potential opportunities to improve quality and provide the best possible learning experience for children.

Work Cited: • “ECERS. ” ECERS-R Assessment Process. N. p. , n. d. Web. http: //www. ncrlap. org/. • Sciarra, D. J. , Dorsey, A. G. , & Lynch, E. (2010). Developing and administering a child care and education program. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. • “Environment Rating Scale. ” “Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, N. p. , n. d. Web http: //www. ers. fpg. unc. edu/early-childhoodenviornment-rating-scale-ecers-r.