Using rating scales to evaluate quality early childhood education and care: reliability issues

ABSTRACT

Four rating scales for accessing aspects of early childhood education and care programs’ quality were employed for the present study. The aim of the study was to examine scales’ reliability by using them in one preschool and one infant/toddler classroom during the course of a week. Research results suggest that early childhood education and care programs include both static and dynamic variables. Activities and types of interaction were found to fluctuate over days whereas the other aspects of the global quality of the classrooms remained consistent over days. Implications of these findings are discussed. The paper emphasizes the importance of using multiple rating scales in order to assess quality dimensions in early childhood education and care programs.

Keywords:

• Early Childhood Education and Care Assessment
• Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R)
• Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ITERS-R)
• ACEI Global Guidelines Assessment (GGA)
• Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Konstantina Rentzou is Scientific Collaborator at the European University of Cyprus and she has participated as a researcher in Greek, Cypriot and EU-funded research projects. She has published 29 papers in peer-reviewed journals and co-authored a book. She is the ACEI Country Liaison in Greece and in Cyprus and co-leads the international Special Interest Forum “ECEC in EU”. Her research interests are in ECEC quality, parental involvement and parent caregiver relationships, involvement and recruitment of males in ECEC, the organization of the preschool environment and children’s play.

ORCID

Konstantina Rentzou http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0692-7283