The ECERS-R Assessment

The ECERS-R assessment is an environmental rating scale that is designed to assess group programs that serve children ages two through five. The assessment is constructed into seven categories that focus on the various interactions that take place within a classroom setting. They include interactions with environment, teachers, parents, and other children. For this assessment the chosen facility is the Cornerstone Center for Early Learning. This facility serves children six weeks old to five years old, but for this assessment, the designated classroom included children ages three to five. The funding for this facility includes a mixture of parent contribution and three government programs that include USDA, Head Start, and State Tuition Assistance.
Within this section, there were many strengths and weaknesses. Areas of strength included fine motor, art, blocks, and sand/water. During the observation, the teacher prepared different types of art activities that related to the weekly theme. For this week, the children drew or painted different types of lines because their weekly theme focused on Renaissance painters. Another area of strength included blocks. Their collection of blocks included different sizes, shapes, and colors. The blocks were readily available for play, both indoors and outdoors. Another area of strength is sand/water. During their designated outdoor time, the children are able to play inside of a sandbox that includes various material such as buckets, shovels, and trucks. While playing indoors, the teacher sets up buckets of water beads for the children to play with during activity time. Areas of weakness included music, dramatic play, nature/science, and math/numbers. During the observations, the children did sing songs and dance; however, there was not a designated music space or musical materials for the children to use. Similar to music, the children were provided with some materials for dramatic play such as a toy kitchen and dolls, but they did not have dress up clothes readily available. Another observed area of weakness was in nature/science. The classroom did have a designated science table, but the children were not encouraged to bring
One strength of the assessment is the inclusion of many different categories. The ECERS-R includes a breakdown of seven major categories that explain different interactions within the chosen space. I believe that these categories thoroughly explain the interactions and provide details as to why the interactions receive a high or low score. Another strength of the assessment is the format. The ECERS-R is easy to administer because it only requires the score sheets and evaluation booklet. Finally, the questions are straightforward and easy to understand. Weaknesses include the interpretation and length. When filling out the assessment, the evaluator’s interpretation impacts the scores. Although one person may provide a seven in one category, another evaluator may provide a lower score. Another weakness of the assessment is the length. It is a long assessment to administer. My assessment included over five hours of observations. The ECERS-R booklet states that the assessment is reliable, and that it scored an 86.1 on percentage of agreement. Also, the booklet states that the ECERS-R received high levels of internal consistency across all of the