I provide a webinar monthly for child care centers that provide information for teachers on the scales. I share with the teachers and family child care home providers the importance of ensure effective learning experiences are happening for young children. I provide the webinar monthly because in our state the environment rating scales are utilized as a part of the quality rating and improvement system (QRIS). Our assessors have been trained to reliability meaning that the assessors can go into a classroom observe and score independently and score it the same or within one point on each indicator.
The scales have become a primary measure used in research to assess quality and to inform policy and programmatic decisions (LaParo, K.M., et al, 2012). Because states are using this scales as a measure of quality they are having a great impact on the practice of teachers and family child care homes provides across the nation. My personal experiences have to do with the state of Oklahoma. I am including the slides on much of the day used in the webinars for both ITERS-R and FCCERS-R as examples of how we share information with teachers.
I think helping teachers think about how the non-mobile infants are interacting with materials is often over looked and not considered and due to the fact that so many states are utilizing the scales there are many more infant teachers being intentional with their teaching in the infant classroom. It seems simple of course if the infants are non-mobile they are not going to have access to materials unless the teacher either brings the baby to the toys or the toys to the baby.
This example has influenced my thinking about how infants learn. It makes perfect sense that the infant that learns through sensory motor if they cannot get to the materials will not explore them and experience them because they need to be able to touch and mouth to explore in this stage of development. Figuring out ways to help teachers and family child care home providers to make sense of "much of the day" stretched me to understand the basis of this and the real value in learning for the children then it made sense to me.
When you think about how infants learn where do you think this happens? If the baby is having tummy time, but they have no materials are the having the same experience as a toddler that can get to the toys they want to play with? When teachers do not move the baby or the toys are they intentionally preventing them from using materials?
The Environment Rating Scales Institute (ERSI) provides online training options about the scales that are very beneficial we use them as a part of our initial training plan for new assessors.
I am also including some links to information about the scales.
ChildCare Education Institute is an online child care training provider and they have sevearl trainings that support teachers understanding of the scales and how to improve practice. https://www.cceionline.com/courseCatalog.cfm?&viewCourseDesc=0&language=1&subCat=27
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. (n.d.b). Environment rating scales. Retrieved from http://ers.fpg.unc.edu
Environment Rating Scales Institute (ERSI). (n.d.). Home. Retrieved from http://www.ersi.info/index.html
La Paro, K. M., Thomason, A. C., Lower, J. K., Kintner-Duffy, V. L., & Cassidy, D. J. (2012). Examining the definition and measurement of quality in early childhood education: A review of studies using the ECERS-R from 2003 to 2010. ECRP: Early Childhood Research & Practice, 14(1). Retrieved from http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v14n1/laparo.html
