School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale (Sacers Spiral Edition)

Product Information

School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale, Updated edition - For children age 5 year through 12 years Our scales are designed to assess process quality in an early childhood or school age care group. Process quality consists of the various interactions that go on in a classroom between staff and children, staff, parents, and other adults, among the children themselves, and the interactions children have with the many materials and activities in the environment, as well as those features, such as space, schedule and materials that support these interactions. Process quality is assessed primarily through observation and has been found to be more predictive of child outcomes than structural indicators such as staff to child ratio, group size, cost of care, and even type of care, for example child care center or family child care home (Whitebook, Howes & Phillips, 1995). For example, if a facility has 1-4 preschool classrooms then 1 ECERS-R assessment is needed. However, if there are 5, 6, or 7 preschool classrooms then 2 ECERS-R assessments are needed. Personal care routines (e.g. welfare requirements such as health & safety and provision for sleeping)

For programs that include a specific curriculum day (e.g., 8:00-2:30), wrap-around or before/after care hours operated under the same license will be considered, even if separate fees are required. Therefore, it is important for teachers to be aware of what the children enrolled in their classroom experience or would experience at these other times if they attended the extended day programming, even when another teacher is responsible for the children. This helps insure that children have appropriate experiences, indoors and outdoors, with much time for child-selected learning and consistent expectations. The ERS are structured, observation based classroom assessments that providecomprehensive coverage of the environment experienced by children (e.g., physical environment, language-reasoning, interactions, program structure, health and safety). School age children need to be in care for at least two hours each afternoon before a SACERS-U assessment can be completed. Beyond that consider the following: Programme structure (e.g. opportunities for children to access their own curriculum, planning schedules/routines to meet children’s needs)

If there are equal numbers of classrooms in age/scale groups and an additional assessment is needed based on the total number of classrooms, the additional assessment and random selection will occur for the rating scale that assesses a younger age group. ERS Virtual TA Cohorts: Participants have the opportunity to collaborate with peers, as they obtain resources and support through professional development and technical assistance in a cooperative group setting. Cohorts have specific application periods where you can sign up. For example, 10 children are enrolled so 6 must be present for more than half of the observation time. Or if 9 children are enrolled, then 5 must be present for more than half of the observation time.

How is it decided how many assessments are needed and which classrooms are assessed in a child care center?

Which Environment Rating Scale is used to assess a small center in a residence?

Most important, the SACERS is an adaptation of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) (Harms & Clifford, 1980). The SACERS is similar in format to the ECERS, the Family Day Care Rating Scale (FDCRS) (Harms & Clifford, 1989), and the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS) (Harms, Cryer, & Clifford, 1990), but the content is specific to the school-age care group. Participate in a “self-assessment” before the scheduled assessment. Likewise, if the program has been previously assessed, review of the earlier assessment report(s) can be helpful. Remember to pay attention to items that scored high, and not only any lower scoring items, to make sure the same strong characteristics are present in the areas that scored well before. The assessment report includes a section called "Summary of Indicators Not Receiving Credit" that identifies every indicator where requirements were not met. This can help identify indicators beyond a lower scoring indicator or even those at the 7 level, where additional consideration may be helpful in improving children's experiences.

My program has NC Pre-K and Head Start classrooms and also some private-pay classrooms. Are the operating hours different for each classroom or the same? If additional assessments are needed to reach 1/3 of the total classrooms, additional assessment(s) will be needed starting with the age/scale group that has the most classrooms. When 1/3 of that age group has been represented, additional assessment(s) will be added for the next largest age/scale group, as needed, until the total number needed is reached. The Environment Rating Scales (ERS) are an observational assessment that assess the process quality of a program. Process quality is what the children are directly experiencing in their program and how it has a direct effect on their development. There are 4 (four) different tools that are used in the ERS: the Infant and Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS), the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS), the Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale (FCCERS) and the School Age Care Environment Rating Scale (SACERS). All 4 (four) of the scales are set up the same way to make learning the different scales easier, but the content in each scale is based off of the age group that the scale was created for. At least one assessment will be needed per applicable scale.If there is only one classroom that fits into the age guideline of a rating scale, then that classroom will be assessed. In North Carolina, the FCCERS-R is used to assess programs with a FCCH license and also those classified as small centers in a residence.

My program has NC Pre-K and Head Start classrooms and also some private-pay classrooms. Are the operating hours different for each classroom or the same?

When there are several classrooms, at least 1/3 of the overall number of classrooms must be assessed, in addition to representing each applicable rating scale. The ERS are reliable and valid instruments with many uses, including program enhancement, regulation, and research. For example, there are 5 infant and toddler classrooms and 9 preschool classrooms. This means that 5 assessments are needed in total. These will include 3 ECERS-R and 2 ITERS-R assessments. Activities (e.g. provision of an exciting and accessible learning environment, resources to support specific types of play) If you are interested in finding more about the Environment Rating Scales, consider applying to be a part of Virtual TA Cohorts, take an Intro and Overview of the ERS Training or apply for a Progressive Training and TA Program option.