Tweet
The thread about closed in vs open spaces inspired this new thread. How many of you all use the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale? It is a great resource! I love it! It breaks down nearly every aspect of creating a good environment, from discipline to use of space, to health practices. And it focuses specifically on how to create good environments for reading, privacy, art, music, displays, ouside, sand/water, creative play, math and science. VERY useful tool. You can go through the book and see how your environment meets the outlined criteia. As long as you are HONEST with yourself, it can be extremely beneficial. Our Early Learning Coalition send evaluaters in once a year to do an ECERS survey. I scored a 5.9 out of 7. The first year I did not do as well, but I took the tool seriously and the next year I scored higher. And higher and higher. You should consider it. If anyone else uses it, I'd love to hear from you!
-
-
I used ECERS-R when I was in supervisory position at a large centre, but now that I am doing a HDC I use the FCCERS ( Family child care enviroemt rating scale)
It helps a lot and is designed for a group setting with varying ages. It shows what you need to have to run a culturally diverse, inclusive, and all around great program. It includes all learning domains that should be covered, appropriate furnishings for optimum safety, supervision, and happy set up. It includes heights of shelves, chairs, tables, ect... Ofcourse, some is common knowledge, but others you would never think of. -
Godiva, Awesome! Glad to hear you like it also! I am a multi age center, so I was hoping they would score me with FCCERS, but they refused. It takes the "pros" a while to figure out my multi age approach, so they use Ecers!Comment
-
I also used it when I was a director at a center. I really loved it too! I actually worked with the teachers to score each of the rooms and it was a great tool to help all of us see where we could improve. I haven't used it yet in my home preschool.Comment
-
Funny you mentioned this today...
I actually ordered the book (Infant and Toddler ERS) off Walmart.Com last night to check it out for myself ($20.11).
It has been getting ALOT of negative press around here (my hometown) because the standard viewpoint is that it favors the more affluent areas/providers with higher ratings and downplays actual CARE of the child.
I agreed (very loudly as many of you recall) with every fiber in my being because having STUFF never mattered as much to me as having good food, love, trust, a clean/safe environment, a bully free zone and excellent care.
I was angry they were claiming, by publishing those ratings to parents, that those affluent providers/big box centers who could afford the window dressing bells and whistles were somehow better than me. Even with little to NO hands on experience.
That is how most of my real life peers feel. 
My area is predominately "working poor" and many of the things these ratings want are out of reach financially for providers caring for 2-6 kids in their homes (the legal ratio here). Many cannot even provide those things for their own kids.
I am just now, after collecting toys and equipment for 17 years, able to meet most of the things I have read (online, secondhand...hence my ordering the book
) to be included.
Crystal got me to really thinking about what I am offering already and how to make it work for all the new requirements I have been hit with recently. I am actually getting a bit more interested/excited about getting to work on it.
I am hoping to find a way that even my local peers, who make very little because they accept subsidy, can afford to meet those scales/requirements without giving up their paychecks for months on end before the deadline approaches. (we are all working on CDA hours now)
I don't think anyone really WANTS to not pass the scales... I think we just don't know a way to afford it on $600 a week, before bills.
- Unless otherwise stated, all my posts are personal opinion and worth what you paid for them.
Comment
-
Cathedar, I completely get what you are saying. But, I found there are always ways around spending Oddles of money. Get creative with displays, second hand, home made ect... Also, the FCCERS is more open to home daycare and easier to meet it's requirements IMO. I also agree with you it is what the environment and care giver has to offer not necessarily the items or looks of the environment that makes a great daycare.
I also, am not suggesting you don't do these things by this post.Comment
-
I use the FCCERS. Our licensing uses a star rating system. Part of that system includes the FCCERS assessment every three years. We are actually due for our next one next year. Through a lot of hard work, we score pretty well on them.Comment
-
No I don't use that though I'm facinated by it. I've read it a few times and wonder what it would be like to take care of kids with their system.
Most of the non health/safety stuff... not all.. but most by far... of the things I do are the opposite so I am intrigued by the idea of how it would be being that provider with a set up like that.Comment
-
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about the rating scales and what they really entail.
There is a huge emphasis on the actual care and relationships between the provider/child/family. There are several indicators in each scale that focus on language skills, feeding, health and safety, etc. THEN there are the indicators that focuis on the environment, and No, the environment does not have to cost a fortune to set up/provide. In fact, the less commercial and the more home made/natural, etc. is highly valued in the scales.
I have conducted about 50 scales on a wide variety of environments for our R&R and Head Start, and my favorite programs to assess have always been the FCC, because they tend to be the most relationship oriented.
BTW, it is innapropriate for anything other than the FCCERS to be used on a FCC. They have completely different expectations for things that WOULD require significant investment - that srtuff is intended for commercial buildings.
Don't be afraid of the Environmental Rating Scales! Use them as a learning tool and GROW from the experience.Comment
-
I'm super intrigued now to get the FCCERS book and read it and see where I stand right now...and where I can improve. I have $20 in Amazon credit atm, perhaps I found what I want to use it on.Hee hee! Look, I have a signature!Comment
-
- Unless otherwise stated, all my posts are personal opinion and worth what you paid for them.Comment
-
I agree! A great deal of it has to do with the way providers interact, run their program, teach hygeine, etc! I am a fairly new FCC and had worked in a large tribally funded facility so I was worried when my review was coming up! But, they sent me the book and I was surprised to see that I already rated quite well without changing much! (And I don't have a lot of extra $ to invest!) I'n sure a lot of it was just ingrained in me from years of meeting the requirements in a center. But, I think it is a great tool! It isn't meant to degrade anyone, but to help you improve care! And, we can always keep improving!!Comment
Comment