Assessment

Quality rating and improvement systems (QRISs) have become an increasingly popular mechanism in states and localities seeking to raise the quality of their early care and education (ECE) programs.

In response to a lack of available, validated instruments designed specifically to measure the quality of classroom support provided for children with disabilities in inclusive settings, the Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP), a structured observation rating scale, was designed to assess the quality of inclusive classroom practices in pre-k programs. The development of the ICP was modeled after the ECERS-R and was informed by national research and professional recommended practices within the field of early childhood inclusion.

Soukakou-Inclusive-Classrom-Profile-sample-9-2010-1.pdf

In response to a lack of available, validated instruments designed specifically to measure the quality of classroom support provided for children with disabilities in inclusive settings, the Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP), a structured observation rating scale, was designed to assess the quality of inclusive classroom practices in pre-k programs. The development of the ICP was modeled after the ECERS-R and was informed by national research and professional recommended practices within the field of early childhood inclusion.

Measuring-Classroom-Quality-in-Inclusive-Programs-PP-2010-1.pdf

The checklist can be used as part of a self-assessment and quality improvement planning process to identify strengths and areas of improvement related to inclusive practice. The findings can be used to build on existing strengths, identify needed resources including training and technical assistance support and clarify quality improvement priorities.

IQuIP-references-form-121411-ftv1-fillable.pdf

The National Center for Children in Poverty is pleased to announce the release of our latest publication, Practices for Promoting Young Children’s Learning in QRIS Standards. This brief provides an examination of the strength of supports for children’s early learning in Quality Rating Improvement System standards based on an analysis of QRIS standards in 23 states.

QRIS Standards re Learning standards.pdf

Trend Briefs share data collected through the NAEYC Accreditation process and connect the findings to early childhood research trends. The analysis of this data tells the story of successful approaches used by high quality programs

Student assessments are a critical component of any early learning program. Assessments are used to inform student instruction and to ensure that children are making significant learning gains based on age-appropriate expectations. For Hispanic English language learner (ELL) children, assessments must be structured in a manner that accurately measures children’s progress in both content knowledge and English language development. Additionally, assessments should provide information about how programs are serving young children with diverse learning needs.

The field of early childhood education continues to grapple with the issue of understanding quality in classrooms. The lack of clarity in definition (or conceptualization) and related ability to assess (or operationalize) quality has contributed to a reliance on the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-R), which is often interpreted to be synonymous with the quality of a classroom. Likewise, the ECERS-R (although a measurement tool) is often used to define quality.

This chart provides an analysis of states that are using or planning to use (or proposed to use in their RTT/ELC application) the CLASS as part of their quality rating and improvement system (QRIS). 

CLASSCHART.pdf