due today in 10 hours....... Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale- ECERS 3 ... READ FIRST

Scoring the ECERS-3

By now, you should be going through the ECERS and experimenting with scoring the items. The easiest way to do this is to go through the whole instrument and score each item (by score, I mean check the boxes for each item). Don’t try to add anything up while you are observing, just be sure you have the information needed to check each box. When I do the ECERS, I go through and score everything I can observe first. Then I use a highlighter on the answer sheet to indicate the measures where I need to ask the teacher questions. If there are items you need to ask the teacher about, be sure to use the prompts in the instrument so that your questions are neutral. For instance, in indicator 3 (Room arrangement for play and learning) , you may not be able to observe whether there are any additional materials available to add to the interest centers. Be sure you ask the questions as prompted (“Are there any additional materials available that you add to the interest center?”) Of course, if you are doing this on your own classroom, you probably will be able to answer all the questions yourself. Once all the boxes are marked and you are back home in your quiet space, it is time to score it.

Note: Be sure that you make some notes on each item that will help you remember why you scored the item the way you did. Then, when you revisit the scale in the future, you will have some observational back up for each item. These notes do not have to be extensive or complete sentences – just documentation.

For scoring, turn to page 9 of your ECERS scale. On page 9, number 6 (Under Scoring System ) there is a scale that is very helpful for scoring. I just keep this handy so I can refer to it as I score. Basically, the idea is that all of the items under a column must be a yes (or in the case of column 1, a “no” 0, in order to receive that score. The intermediate numbers (without indicators below them – number 2-4-6) are there to boost the score of anyone who gets more than half in columns 1, 3, or 5.

Ratings are assigned in the following manner:

A rating of 1 must be given if any indicator under 1 is scored “yes”.

A rating of 2 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and at least half of the indicators under 3 are scored “yes”.

A rating of 3 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and all indicators under 3 are scored “yes”.

A rating of 4 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and all indicators under 3 are scored “yes” and at least half of the indicators under 5 are scored “yes”.

A rating of 5 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and all indicators under 3 and 5 are scored “yes”

A rating of 6 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and all indicators under 3 and 5 are scored “yes”, and at least half of the indicators under 7 are scored “yes”.

A rating of 7 is given when all indicators under 1 are scored “no” and all indicators under 3, 5 and 7 are scored “yes”.

At the end of each subscale, you calculate the score for that section. Basically, you just add the total scores for each item and divide by the number of items to get the average score for that subscale. Once you have done that, then you just transfer those scores to page 11 of your score sheet. This gives you the “total picture”.

After you have done this, there is one last thing you need to do to complete your scoring. On the last page, entitled “ECERS-3 Profile”, you graph the scores for each item. For example, under # 1 Space and Furnishing”, if you scored a 4 on (#1) Indoor space, you put a dot under the 4. Then, if you scored a 5 on (#2) Furniture for routine care, play and learning you put a dot on the 5. Put your “dots” for each item in the subscale. Then, connect the dots and you have a graph that shows you the highs and lows of that subscale. It creates a visual picture of the scoring of that subscale. Try it and see if it makes sense.