Childcare Quality and Early LearningGail E. Joseph, Ph.D.Early Childhood and Family Studies, andEducational Psychologygjoseph@u.washington.edu

*Review common assessments used to measure the quality of early care and education programs

*Highlight a few professional development resources focused on improving quality and early learning

Today’s Objectives

Environmental Assessments

Environmental assessments help to assess the quality or climate of the classroom/program

Look for the presence of indicators that are predictive of positive child outcomes

A few to consider

CLASS: Classroom Assessment Scoring System ELLCO: Early Language and Literacy Classroom

ObservationECERS-R: Early Childhood Environmental Rating

Scale – Revised

ECERS - REarly Childhood Environmental Rating Scale – Revised (Harms, Clifford &

Cryer, 2005) Assesses “process quality” (inadequate, minimal, good, excellent)Process quality

assessed primarily through observation 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).

                                           

                      

                                           

                      

                 

                                           

                      

ECERS - R43 Items organized into 7 Subscales

Space and FurnishingsPersonal Care RoutinesLanguage-reasoningActivitiesInteractionProgram StructureParents and Staff……………………pg 1

Other ERS

Also available for infants/toddlers, family home childcare, and school age care

Administration of the ECERS-RScale is designed to be used with one

room or one group at a time, for children 2.5 through 5 years

A block of at least 3 hours is set aside for observation and rating

ECERS-RScoring System1. Read the entire scale carefully2. The scale should be kept readily available and consulted

frequently during the entire observation3. Examples that differ from those given in the indicators but seem

comparable may be used as a basis for giving credit for an indicator

4. Scores should be based on the current situation that is observed or reported by staff, not on future plans

ECERS-RScoring System

5. When scoring an item, always start reading from 1 (inadequate) and progress upward till the correct score is reached

…………….pg. 2

ECERS-RScoring System

Ratings are to be assigned in the following way:A rating of 1 must be given if any indicator under 1 is

scored YesA 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

………………pg. 3

A rating of 4 is given when all indicators under 3 are met and at least half of the indicators under 5 are scored Yes

A rating of 5 is given when all indicators under 5 are scored Yes

A rating of 6 is given when all indicators under 5 are met and at least half of the indicators under 7 are scored Yes

A rating of 7 is given when all indicators under 7 are scored Yes

A score of NA may only be given for indicators or for entire items when NA permitted is shown on the scale and on the score sheet

ECERS-RScoring System

To calculate average subscale scores, sum the scores for each item in the subscale and divide by the number of items scored.

The total mean scale score is the sum of all item scores for the entire scale divided by the number of items scored

Average subscale score (2009) n=42

Percentage of classrooms meeting min., good or excellent quality(2009) n=42

What’s missing?

CLASS (Pianta, LaParo & Hamre, 2008)

The CLASS dimensions are based on developmental theory suggesting that interactions between children and adults are the primary mechanism of student development and learning

It does not evaluate the presence of materials, the physical environment or safety, or the adoption of a specific curriculum.

Classroom Quality

Emotional support Classroom Organization Instructional support

•Positive climate•Negative climate•Teacher Sensitivity•Regard for Student Perspectives

•Behavior management•Productivity•Instructional learning

formats

•Concept development•Quality of feedback•Language modeling

1. Emotional Support: Social and emotional functioning in the classroom is an indicator of school readiness. CLASS evaluates the dimensions of positive climate, negative climate, teacher sensitivity, and regard for student perspectives.

2. Classroom Organization: Classrooms provide the most opportunities for learning when students are well behaved, active and engaged.

3. Instructional Support: Are teachers making the most of opportunities to effectively support cognitive and language development through the curriculum? CLASS focuses on the roles of concept development, quality of feedback, and language modeling.

CLASS

Involves observing the interactions of teachers and children for cycles of up to 20 minutes and then rating (10 minutes) what was observed on a number of dimensions codified in seven-point rating scales.

Scoring:

Low range 1-2

Middle range 3-4-5

High range 6-7……..pg 4

CLASSEvidence from several studies indicates that

higher ratings on the dimensions assessed by the CLASS predict higher performance by children on standardized assessments of academic achievement and better social adjustment in the early grades of school.

Average preschooler scoreAverage preschooler score

PPVT-4 Standard Score Distribution (2009) n=714

Research on Early Language and Literacy Development• Language and literacy development begin at birth and

develop through interaction• Oral language skills are related to literacy skills• Opportunities to use higher-level language skills are

especially critical to subsequent school success• Vocabulary development is strongly and consistently

related to school performance and long-term literacy development

Implications of Research for classroom quality

Classroom structure matters

Physical layout, contents, time use, staffingCurriculum matters

Content, choice, integration of language and literacyLanguage matters

Frequency, content, vocabulary, integration with curriculum

Implications of Research for classroom quality

Books and reading matter

Presence, access, content, usePrint and writing matter

Presence, access, content, use

ELLCO PreK(Smith, Brady & Anastasopoulos, 2008)

Structure of the ELLCO Pre-KGeneral Classroom Environment

Section I: Classroom StructureSection II: Curriculum

Language and Literacy

Section III: The Language EnvironmentSection IV: Books and Book ReadingSection V: Print and Early Writing

19 items organized into sections5 point rating scale

(5) Exemplary(4) Strong(3) Basic(2) Inadequate(1)Deficient

……..Pg. 5

Rating Level & Anchor Statement Key Word

(5) Exemplary Compelling(4) Strong Sufficient(3) Basic Some(2) Inadequate Limited(1)Deficient Minimal

…….pg 6-7

ELLCO

The complete assessment takes 1-1.5 hours and uses these three tools in sequential steps.

•The Literacy Environment Checklist 15–20 minutes, trained observers examine the classroom’s layout and contents through 25 items that measure availability, content, and diversity of reading, writing, and listening materials.

•The Classroom Observation and Teacher Interview 20–45 minutes, observe teachers interacting with children and the classroom environment, have a brief conversation with the teacher, and rate the quality of classroom supports for literacy through 14 age-specific observation elements.

•The Literacy Activities Rating Scale records how many times and for how long nine literacy behaviors occurred in two categories, Book Reading and Writing.

Complete Oversimplification

What does it look like? ECERS-RWhat does it sound like? ELLCOHow does it feel? CLASS

What’s missing?

Creating Supportive Creating Supportive EnvironmentsEnvironments

Positive Relationships Positive Relationships with/between children, families with/between children, families and colleaguesand colleagues

Social emotional Social emotional curricula and curricula and teaching teaching strategiesstrategies

IndividualizeIndividualized d InterventionInterventionss

Program-wide Positive Behavior Support

Adapted from Fox, Dunlap, Hemmeter, Joseph, & Strain, 2003

Center for Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning Inventory of Practices for Promoting Social and Emotional Competence

www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel

…..pg 8-10

Looking at quality…Childcare quality & early learning center….contact me: gjoseph@u.washington.edu

Looking at inclusion…

www.headstartinclusion.org