Jill Kortwright
The Program Quality Assessment (PQA) team is excited to welcome All About the ECERS-3 to our library of resources. If you’ve attended an Environment Rating Scale (ERS) professional development event, you’ve probably heard about All About the ITERS-R and All About the ECERS-R. These companion resources support the use of the ERS for continuous quality improvement and planning for program growth.
The Assessors often refer to the All About books as the ultimate note for clarification from the authors. The ERS authors describe All About ECERS-3, as a “detailed guide in words & pictures . . .” All About books include insight into why the authors identified certain practices as optimal for young children’s development. If you are uncertain about a term used in an ERS quality indicator, the All About book will often be your go-to resource for greater understanding. The All About books include lots of photos from real early childhood classrooms. Sometimes the photo highlights best practice, sometimes the photo highlights inadequate practice.
Like its predecessors, All About the ECERS-3 includes additional clarification, the “why” insight into best practice, and a variety of photos from real early childhood programs. New features are color-coded page edges and indicator number call-outs that allow you to quickly find the ECERS-3 sub-scale and indicator you need. How might you use, All About the ECERS-3?
- After completing a self-assessment, you aren’t sure if an audiobook meets the expectation of reading a book. On page 180 of All About the ECERS-3, you’ll find more information about indicator 3.1 for Item 14: Staff use of books with children.
- You review your assessment feedback and want to better understand how room arrangement connects to a high-quality experience for children. Starting on page 28 of All About the ECERS-3, you’ll find general information and indicator level detail about concepts such as play areas, defined interest centers, and using room arrangement to support supervision.
All About the ITERS-R and All About the ECERS-R continue to be available at no cost to programs participating in Keystone STARS. One copy of each book can be ordered by a program after completing ERS professional development. At this time, All About the ECERS-3 is not being provided through Keystone STARS and would need to be purchased by your program.
P.S. An audiobook would not meet the expectations of quality indicator 3.1.
