Environment Rating Scales - Star-Quality Program

FACT SHEET: Environment Rating Scales
Using the
Environment
Rating
Scales to
Measure
Child Care
Quality
T en nessee has chosen to use the Environment Rating Scales to assess
the quality of child care programs in our state. According to Dr. Thelma
Harms, one of the authors of the Environment Rating Scales, all children
have three basic needs:
1. Protection of health and safety
2. Building relationships with children, parents, extended family, and
community
3. Opportunities for stimulation and learning from experience
We must consider all three of these basic needs when developing child
care programs, when evaluating the quality of such programs, and when
designing initiatives to improve them. These needs are constant across childhood—regardless of
race, ethnicity, culture, or socio-economic background. The Environment Rating Scales are tools
that can be used to assess a child care provider’s ability to address these three basic needs. The
rating scales measure staffing patterns, schedule, policies, curriculum, supervision, parent
involvement, and overall environment.
While children of all ages and backgrounds have the same three basic needs, the expression of
those needs—and thus the environment that best nurtures them—changes as children grow.
Consequently, four different scales, each carefully designed to address a different segment of the
early childhood field, are used to assess the environment in which providers care for children:
ITERS-R for children from birth through 2½ years of age; ECERS-R for children in their preschool
years (2½–5 years); SACERS for elementary school ages (K–5 th grade); and FCCERS-R for family
home and group care.
All four scales have been tested extensively, used widely, and are well respected in both
academia and the field. For example, the ECERS and ITERS were used as the comprehensive
quality measures in the National Child Care Staffing Study (Whitebook, Howes, & Phillips, 1989)
and in the Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes Study (1995)—both major studies of their time.
Similarly, FDCRS was used in the Study of Children in Family Child Care and Relative Care
(Galinsky, Howes, Kontos, & Shinn, 1994). In all of these studies, a relationship was found
between higher scores on the scales and more positive child development outcomes in areas that
are considered important for later school success. In fact, the effects of higher quality
experiences during early childhood have been shown to last at least through the second grade of
elementary school (Peisner-Feinberg, Burchinal, Clifford, Culkin, Howes, Kagan, Yazejian, Byler,
Rustici, & Zelazo, 1999). Research is continuing to evaluate longer-lasting effects.
Avoiding
Cultural
Bias
Avoiding cultural bias in any assessment tool is absolutely essential. The
Environment Rating Scales have been proven unbiased in a variety of
studies in culturally diverse settings. For example, the ECERS-R (1998,
revised edition of the original 1980 ECERS), is currently being used in
several major studies, including the Early Head Start Study (Mathematica
Corporation) and Welfare, Children and Families: A Three City Study
(Columbia University, University of Chicago, and Harvard University). The original ECERS was
used in the Head Start FACES study, which included over 400 classrooms nationwide. The
preliminary results from all these studies show that the ECERS and the ECERS-R are performing
very well as unbiased assessment tools. Moreover, the ECERS scale has been used as a
program improvement tool in many different settings, including those serving culturally diverse
populations and in inclusive programs.
It is also interesting to note that the scales have been used in research studies and program
improvement efforts in many other countries including Canada, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Russia,
Iceland, Portugal, England, Spain, Austria, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Hungary, and Greece.
They have been proven reliable and valid in each country with relatively minor adaptations. While
there are some differences between various countries, each adheres to a core set of child
Tennessee Child Care Report Card
Prepared for Tennessee Department of Human Services
and Star Quality Program
by UT Social Work Office of Research & Public Service
Environment Rating Scales Fact Sheet Revised 2011

FACT SHEET: Environment Rating Scales
development goals and early childhood practices common to most modern, industrialized
countries (Tietze, et al, 1996). In England, Greece, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and Austria, it has
been shown that higher scores on the scales are related to more positive child development
outcomes (Petrogannis & Melhuish, 1996; European Child Care and Education Study Group,
1997). This provides further evidence that children from many backgrounds require similar
practices for success in the developmental areas that western industrialized countries value.
R el iability means measuring the same thing, the same way, every
time. Each of the four Environment Rating Scales has undergone
Reliability and
Validity of the
Scales
extensive field testing to insure inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability,
and internal consistency. The scales have been revised as necessary to
achieve reliability at both the micro level (each item that is assessed)
and macro level (the combined scores of all items). Inter-rater reliability,
the degree of agreement between two different assessors’ independent ratings, is achieved in the
field through proper training of assessors and ongoing monitoring to be sure assessors are all
using the scales consistently.
As with reliability, there are a number of different approaches to determining validity. For
example, validity can be checked by outcomes, by comparison to other tools, and by the use of
that tool in reputable studies. The Environment Rating Scales meet all these criteria. During
testing, the scales were found to correlate positively with both observed behaviors and regulated
aspects of a child care environment. Criterion validity of the scales has been demonstrated in
comparisons with other well-known tools for assessing quality, environment, and opportunities
within a program. A panel of child development experts established content validity by
determining that scale items are important to child care and relevant to the scales themselves.
And finally, the reliability and validity of the Environment Rating Scales has been reinforced by
the number of studies that support using them as tools for assessing levels of quality in child care
environments.
B ey ond the academic questions of validity and reliability, we all want to
Consistent be sure that, when a provider’s program is assessed, that assessment
Application is accurate and fair. With that goal in mind, Tennessee’s Department of
of the
Human Services has hired professional, highly qualified assessors who
are knowledgeable in the field of child development. The rigorous training
Scales
program for these assessors begins with classroom and field
training in which assessors learn about using the scales
to measure the quality of child care programs. Training continues with multiple practice
observations, in which assessors use the scales in real child care facilities under the direction of
trained and reliable assessment specialists and training staff from the University of Tennessee
(UT) College of Social Work. Once this initial training is over, assessors continue to have their
individual reliability checked by an assessment specialist every sixth time they use a particular
scale. This check-and-recheck strategy will insure that each scale is used consistently and fairly
throughout the state regardless of the particular assessor assigned. Furthermore, the assessment
program staff will continue to seek guidance from the rating scales’ authors and
other scales experts at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This strategy will help us
ensure that the assessment program staff are well trained and the assessment program is
unbiased and fair.
Providers, parents—all of us—can be confident of the results of an assessment. The demanding
and ongoing training and support that assessors receive will serve to guarantee that the scores a
center or home receives are based on that facility and not on its location, program type, or
assessor. The carefully designed scoring process and continued support and training leave little
room for personal biases to intrude upon the overall scoring process.
Copies of the Environment Rating Scales can be purchased from the following web site:
www.fpq.unc.edu/products/
Tennessee Child Care Report Card
Prepared for Tennessee Department of Human Services
and Star Quality Program
by UT Social Work Office of Research & Public Service
Environment Rating Scales Fact Sheet Revised 2011