Child Care Centers Invited to Participate in Equity-Focused ECERS-3 Research Study

Pennsylvania preschool programs are invited to join an exciting research opportunity to improve the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Third Edition (ECERS-3). The Pennsylvania Key PQA Team is supporting researchers at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill examine the widely used program observation instrument, ECERS-3. The ECERS-3 is a global quality assessment used in classrooms serving children ages 3-5 years and is currently a resource used in the quality improvement systems of thirty states. This study examines how the measure considers the experiences of racially, culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse preschool groups.

This spring and early summer, data collectors from the PQA Team will visit participating classrooms to complete an ECERS-3 observation and an observation using the Equity in Early Learning Assessment (EELA) on the same day. Teachers will also be asked to complete a report on the demographic information for the group. For any participating classroom, it is a one-time observation which takes approximately 3 to 3.5 hours in total.

Although all center-based programs serving 3–5-year-olds are invited to participate, programs in the Delaware Valley, the Lehigh Valley, and in York, Berks, and Lancaster counties are prioritized. Space is limited to participate with this research opportunity. Those who would like to participate, or who have questions, should contact Rachel Kaplan, Pennsylvania’s primary contact for this research project, at Rachel.kaplan@unc.edu or 919-259-6235.