Environment Rating Scale (ERS)

Early childhood program evaluation tools

For over 40 years, these environmental rating scales continue to be the most reliable instruments to assess the comprehensive quality of early childhood classrooms and preschool programs and to guide continuous quality improvement. ERS^® is designed to assess overall program quality in a variety of early childhood and after-school settings, measuring both essential environmental provisions plus teacher-child interactions that affect the broad developmental needs of young children. Based on extensive research and field testing, the ERS tools have established interrater reliability and validity, making them especially useful for research and program evaluation, in addition to professional development and program improvement initiatives.

There are four classroom assessment tools, each designed to improve classroom learning experiences: Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS-3), Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-3), Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale (FCCERS-3), and School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale Updated (SACERS).

The ERS are widely used for: State and District-wide QRIS, Continuous Quality Improvement, RTT-ELC Funded Programs, Universal Pre-K Systems, the Preschool Classroom Environment, the Head Start Environment, Culturally Diverse and Inclusive Programs, Teacher Self-Evaluation, Professional Development and Coaching, Early Childhood Education Courses.

“The scientific evidence linking process quality (as measured by the ERS) and child learning and developmental outcomes is compelling….”
—CampbellCollaboration review, January 2017

“When EC assessment dollars are tight, a comprehensive tool that identifies a broad range of program strengths and captures critical interactions is the perfect solution. Thanks to the authors for ECERS-3!”
—Janice Carter, Childhood Services, Arkansas State University