The following report and

presentation on ECERS
was completed by:
Alyssa Healey

What is Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale?

Also know as ECERS, it is a classroom assessment tool designed to measure
the quality of group programs for infants and toddlers (birth to age 3) by collecting
data through classroom observations and a staff interview. The assessment is a 43item rating scale organized into seven environmental subscales. The items in the
first six subscales are referred to as child-related, and the items in the last subscale
are referred to as parent-/staff-related. Each item is ranked from 1 to 7. A ranking
of 1 describes care that does not meet custodial care needs while a ranking of 7
describes excellent, high-quality personalized care. The ECERS can be used by
caregiving staff for self-assessment of the quality of their classrooms, and to
determine the areas of high quality and areas that may need additional attention.
ECERS may also be used by directors and supervisors to determine action plans for
working with programs, or to examine the quality of programs over time.(Early
Childhood Environment Rating Scale, 2012)

Explanation of This Presentation

This presentation gives examples of classrooms that received high
scores and low scores in each of the fallowing centers: books and
pictures; fine motor; art; music/movement; blocks; sand/water;
dramatic play; nature/science; and math/number. Though this is just a
small portion of the ECERS review.

*substantial portion of the day is mentioned several times. This is

considered 1hr for this center.

A Good Example of 15. Books and Pictures

This center received a 7
because there are a diverse
selection of books for the
children to pick from for a
substantial portion of the day.
This selection also does not
include any kind of violence.

A Bad Example of 15. Books and Pictures

This center received a 2. This is
because even though there is a
diverse amount of books, during my
observation there was no teacher
initiated story and there was no
informal reading done in the
classroom. This center was also not
available for a substantial portion of
the day.

A good Example of 19. Fine Motor

This center received a 7 because there
are at leas 3 toys in each of categories
and was available for a substantial
portion of the day.

A Bad Example of 19. Fine Motor

This center received a 2. This is
because it did not have the
required two of each of the
categories. Nor was it available for
a substantial portion of the day.

A Good Example of 20. Art

This center received a 7. This is
because there is at leas three items in
at leas three of the categories and was
available for a substantial portion of
the day.

A Bad Example of 20. Art

This center earned a 4. This is
because even though it had at least
three materials in three of the
categories it did was not avaliable for
a substantial portion of the day.

A Good Example of 21. Music/movement

This center received a 7. This is because is
a diverse selection of instruments, music,
and dance props for the children to use
during both as a group and during free
time.

A Bad Example of 21. Music/movement

This center received a 2. This is because
there was not a diverse amount of
instruments or dance props for the
children to use. This center also
received such a low score because the
music tools were not available during
free time.

A Good example of 22. Blocks

This center received a 7. This is
because it had two different
types of blocks and was
avaliable for a substantial
portion of the day.

A Bad Example of 22. Blocks

This center received a 4. This is because
there is only one type of block present, no
organization, and the center was not
available for a substantial portion of the day.

A Good Example of 23. Sand/water

This center received a 6. The center
had 10 toys and a total of 12 tools to
be avaliable in the table, which is
acceptable. The reason that it
received a six is because the school
does not have the option of water play
outside.

A Bad Example of 23. Sand/water

This center received a 3. This is
because even though there were a
tools available there are only six total
and only two different types of tools.
There are also no toys available. This
center was also not available for a
substantial portion of the day.

A Good Example of 24. Dramatic Play

This center received a 7. This is because
there is plenty of gender specific clothes
for all the children to use, two different
themes, and the center is avaliable for a
substantial portion of the day.

A Bad Example of 24. Dramatic Play

This center received a 2. This is because it did
not have many gender specific clothing for
males, the center was not avaliable for a
substantial portion of the day, and only the
bare minimum was met for props and
themes.

A Good Example of 25. Nature/Science

This center received a 7. This is because is
has at leas three items in at least three of
the sections and was avaliable for a
substantial portion of the day.

A Bad Example of Nature/Science

This center received a 4. This is because the

math and science centers are combined.
After sorting out what is specific to the
science center there are only a total of four
learning materials. This means that there is
no way for it to meet the requirement of
three items in at least three categories.

A Bad Example of 26. Math/Number

This center received a 2. This is because
the center does not have at least two
items in at least four of the categories.

Sources
Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale. (2012). Retrieved December
3, 2014, from http://static.pdesas.org/content/documents/Early
Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-R).pdf
Sylva, K., & Siraj, I. (2010). ECERS-E: The early childhood environment
rating scale curricular extension to ECERS-R (3rd rev. ed.). Stokeon-Trent: Trentham Books.