Program Assessments

 Let us talk program or classroom assessments for a minute. There are four that I have taken the time to look at and they are all similar but with subtle differences.
 Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS) and Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) are the closest in similarities because they were created by the same people and are just for different age groups. ITERS is for birth to 30 months while ECERS is for 24-60 months or 2-5 years of age. The ITERS scale consists of 39 items and the ECERS consists of 43 items both organized into 7 categories including; space and furnishings, personal care routines, listening and talking (language-reasoning for ECERS), activities, interaction, program structure, and lastly parents and staff. Each item has a rating based on what it should look like. It is a very simple scale to use and leaves little to no gray areas as to what a rating is. The scale ranges from a 1.1 which is Inadequate to a 7.4 that is Excellent.
 The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) observational tools objectively measure the quality of teacher–student interactions. They also have different versions for infant, toddler and Pre-K age groups.The CLASS tools help pinpoint areas of strength and areas for growth, providing critical information programs and schools can use to guide improvement efforts.
 Lastly we have the Rating Observation Scale for Inspiring Environments (ROSIE). This is an observation rating scale that has teachers examine classrooms in a totally new way with an eye for what is aesthetically beautiful and inspiring.
 I personally like the ITERS and ECERS the best because I think it has a broad "cover all" things feel to it.