Rating Scale

ECERS-R Rating Measures

Anecdotal 1. There are a variety of materials for the children to use in play and talk about.

CLASS Rating Measures

Anecdotal 1. Frequent conservations - The teacher talks and stops to hear the children's response, she talks with all three

children around that table.

2. Open-Ended Questions

- When Dulce shows the teacher something she asks, “Oh! Is that for your dog? And, what’s going on with your dog? Dulce answers, “We should, we should put him cream. (2:23)

3. Repetition and extension - The teacher asks the child if the baby has a fever or not. The child answers, “no fever.”

She repeats “no fever” and records it on the paper. (0:22)

4. Self and parallel talk - When Dolce gives a dog to Aubra but she says it in her language means will you take

care of it, Aubra, for a while. the teacher noticed that and she says, “Oh, maybe she wants you to take care of her dog instead? (1:20)

5. Advanced Language - The teacher uses simple language for the whole video, it is easy for the children to

understand and respond to her.

TPOT Rating Measures

Indicator Yes No Notes

SC1 Teacher acknowledges children’s communication to him or her.

yes She responds to Myah when she says we need to watch the carrot before cooking. (1:34)

SC2 Teachers greet/call most children by name during the observation

Yes The teacher starts calling Myah and Christelle and asks them to pick the carrots if they want to. (0:12)

SC3 Teacher has brief conversations with children.

Yes The teacher talks about cricket with the children. (3:40)

SC4 Teacher joins in children’s play AND engages in brief conversations about their play.

No

SC5 Teacher’s tone in conversations with children is generally positive, calm, AND supportive.

Yes The teacher makes sure that the children pick the big carrot, and let the children look at it, and ask them if the carrot is big or not before picking. (0:37)

SC6 Teacher responds to children’s comments AND ideas by asking

Yes When Myah shakes her head and says, “That one is not big enough.” The teacher recommends she go

questions AND making comments

to see the carrot where Christelle stands. (0:45)

SC7 Teachers often use positive descriptive feedback for children’s skills, behaviors, and activities.

Yes The teacher shows excitement when the children get the big carrot and says they can take it home for dinner. (1:23)

SC8 Teachers join in children’s play to expand their interactions and ideas with other children.

No

SC9 Teacher has extended comfortable AND positive conversations with children during activities and routines about their interests and ideas.

yes When Christelle mentions Marigold, the teacher asks what the marigold does. (3:20)

SC10 Teacher uses alternative strategies when communicating with children who are nonverbal, language delayed, or dual-language learners. (Score N/O only if no children requiring these supports are in attendance.)

N/O

4. Complete a written summary with the guided questions below. • Your summary should be in APA format with a title and reference page. • You may include scanned pdf copies of your handwritten score sheets or digital copies of your score sheets, as long as it is clear what you chose to score the video. • You include your scanned pdf copies of your anecdotal notes or digital copies of your anecdotal notes.

Your summary should answer the following questions. Each answer should be clearly labeled with the question that is being addressed. Your answer should explicitly refer to the observation data, use course vocabulary and concepts, and respond fully to all aspects of the question. A. Based on this observation, how would you describe the teacher, classroom, and

i. curriculum to a colleague? Make sure to support your answers with specific ii. example/evidence from your anecdotal notes. If you include evaluative or

subjective

iii. terms, make sure that you explain the logic by which you reached that iv. evaluation/opinion. In my opinion, a classroom with two teachers is always better than one teacher. The

teaching team should share ideas, use their observational data to inform curriculum planning, seek and receive support in addressing challenging situations, and exchange other information helpful for other teachers to know. Teachers are responsible for planning the learning environment and curriculum best to support children’s learning such as focusing on interactions, scaffolding learning experi ences, engaging in explicit instruction, changing the environment and materials, and making adaptations to the learning environment (Appendix A CA Preschool guidelines). For example, in the pretend play video, the teacher has a long conversation with the children in one area, that teacher cannot have that long conversation if he is the only teacher in that classroom. He needs a co-worker to be there and help him pay attention to the children who are not in pretend play area. The teacher in pretend play asks opened questions with the children. One of questions he asks, “What do you do with butterflies from the store?” A teacher who can ask a lot of open-ended questions is a really skilled teacher. Opened- questions need more time than yes or no questions. The response does not have to be right, the thing we focus on is to help children become more aware of the thoughts in their heads and more confident about expressing those thoughts to others.

B. These subscales are designed to measure the amount of support that the teacher and curriculum provide for children’s development of language and cognitive skills required for effective conversation. Which measure do you believe has better construct validity (or are they similar)? Make sure to explain your answer completely.

- I think the ECERS has constructed validity because it has a lot of details on each rating. It measures the quality of the environment and the interactions and experiences children receive at school. Item 16, 17, and 18 are about to encourage children to communicate, using language to develop reasoning skills, and informal use of language. Teacher jobs move around the classroom questioning children about their play and encourage them to communicate with others. Interaction with children is the key to help them succeed. We will learn a lot about what the children know and how they think when we have a back and forth conversation. It is not only a way to strengthen relationships with children, but it is also a way to extend children’s learning about language, thinking, understanding of ideas, and awareness. I know the scoring for the ECERS is very confusing, but when people understand how it works, it is very easy. NEED EXAMPLE

- C. Do you believe these measures are reliable?

i. General reliability: Did you understand the measure? Did you find it easy or challenging to decide which rating to give each activity on each scale? Are you sure that you would pick the same rating if you saw the same behavior/event again?

- These measures are reliable, the description and layout are pretty easy to understand. I have a hard time deciding which video should go to which rating. I have to watch each video two times to decide which video I want to do. I’m not sure I will pick the same rating because each time the children and teacher might respond a little differently than the last time. For example, I choose gardening video for CLASS rating, I hope I will see some advanced language, but I end up with none on that item. ii. Test-retest reliability: How much was the teacher affected by the activity

and the children with whom he/she was interacting? Would the teacher behave similarly on a different day or during a different activity?

- I think these measures are test-retest reliability because the rating is different each day when the test is taken. The teacher needs to have intentional interaction, they have to think about what to say and do in the interaction to be most effective as a teacher for that child. It depends on which child and what activity, the way each child responds and level of learning are different. The child might respond less if he/she is new to the class, as the relationships with the children grow deeper, children feel more confident and focused, and they are more open to learning from teachers. iii. Inter-rater reliability: Was the scale well defined? How confident are you

that other people would interpret the scale in the same way and choose the same rating?

- I don’t feel confident that other people will choose the same rating, however, if they choose the same video with the same rating I'm pretty sure that they will get something similar to what I get. The three scales are very clear about what they are rating on and each scale has a description so we can look and try to match it with what the teacher is doing.

D. How well do these measures represent effective assessment of program quality as defined by the NAEYC Position Statement, your personal experience/education, and/or your course sources? Be specific in your answer.

- The measure’s main point is to see how the teacher teach in class and record what they doing. My experiment is when I take Lab class in college, the teacher is watching and record how I’m doing with the children. The teacher is focusing on interaction, awareness, conversation, engagement, guidance, solve problems, support, and encouragement.