1. Teaching and Learning
1C. Interactions
Specific Tools
Environment Rating Scales Tip Sheets
Preparing for Assessments
Environment Rating Scales
www.ersi.info
The Environment Rating Scales (ERS) are designed to assess process quality in an early childhood care group. Process quality consists of the various interactions that go on in a classroom between staff and children, staff, parents, and other adults, among the children themselves, and the interactions children have with the many materials and activities in the environment, as well as those features, such as space, schedule and materials that support these interactions.
There are four environment rating scales, each designed for a different segment of the early childhood field.
The Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale-Revised(FCCERS-R)
A thorough revision of the original FDCRS, designed to assess family child care programs conducted in a provider's home for children from infancy through school-age.
Scale consists of 38 items organized into 7 subscales:
- Space and Furnishings
- Personal Care Routines
- Listening and Talking
- Activities
- Interaction
- Program Structure
- Parents and Provider
New for the Revised Edition:
- Accommodates the wider age range often found in family child care programs.
- A deeper focus on sensitivity to cultural and socioeconomic diversity.
- The special needs of exceptional children have been added to the main scale items and indicators.
- An additional subscale called "Program Structure."
- An expanded score sheet that includes space and forms to collect specific information needed for accurate scoring.
- A new layout, with each item on a separate page along with the Notes for Clarification and Questions.
Resources 