Identifying High-Quality Preschool Programs: New Evidence on the Validity of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) in Relation to School Readiness Goals

Autor/inn/en	Gordon, Rachel A.; Hofer, Kerry G.; Fujimoto, Ken A.; Risk, Nicole; Kaestner, Robert; Korenman, Sanders
Titel	Identifying High-Quality Preschool Programs: New Evidence on the Validity of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) in Relation to School Readiness Goals
Quelle	In: Early Education and Development, 26 (2015) 8, S.1086-1110 (25 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1040-9289
DOI	10.1080/10409289.2015.1036348
Schlagwörter	Educational Quality; Preschool Education; Item Response Theory; School Readiness; Validity; Child Development; Educational Policy; Rating Scales; Program Evaluation; Evaluation Methods; Specialists; Observation; Child Care Centers; Goodness of Fit; Statistical Analysis; Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Quality of education; Bildungsqualität; Pre-school education; Vorschulerziehung; Item-Response-Theorie; Readiness for school; School ability; Schulreife; Gültigkeit; Kindesentwicklung; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Rating-Skala; Programme evaluation; Programmevaluation; Beobachtung; Child care facilities; Child care services; Kinderzentrum; Kinderbetreuung; Statistische Analyse
Abstract	Research Findings: The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) is widely used, often to evaluate whether preschool programs are of sufficient quality to improve children's school readiness. We examined the validity of the measure for this purpose. Item response theory (IRT) analyses revealed that many items did not fit together to measure single dimensions, particularly when rated by consultants as indicating aspects of quality relevant for multiple domains of child development. IRT results also conflicted with the scale developers' expectations in terms of whether markers that they attached to higher response categories represented higher quality empirically. When reanalyzed based on experts' ratings, IRT results also showed that relatively few indicators captured the moderate to high range of quality. Practice or Policy: Our results suggest that policymakers should carefully consider whether measures designed for specific purposes are appropriate for other high-stakes uses. We encourage continued refinement of existing quality measures, development of new measures, and the accumulation of evidence for their various uses. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01