Examining the psychometric properties of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R)

Abstract

The psychometric properties of the revised Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-R) were examined using 202 Colorado child care centers. A factor analysis revealed that the ECERS-R does not measure seven distinct aspects of quality, as asserted by the developers of the ECERS-R, but instead measures one global aspect of quality. This suggests high redundancy among the 43 items in the ECERS-R. We selected subgroups of items randomly, by identifying easy-to-administer items, and by having practitioners select items they deemed to be especially important to child-care provider quality. Comparison of scores on these different subgroups of items to the overall ECERS-R scores revealed that the subgroups provided highly similar measures of quality. Relationships between scores based on each of the subgroups of items and the overall ECERS-R scores to staff credentials and staff-to-child ratios were comparable. Results suggest that much smaller subgroups of items provide information that is very similar to information generated by administering the full ECERS-R. Findings are interpreted in light of growing use of the ECERS-R in high-stakes settings.