Quality Assessment in Early Childhood Programs: A Multi-Dimensional Approach.

The relationships among independent observer ratings of a child care program on the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS), state department personnel ratings of program quality using the Child Development Program Evaluation Scale (CDPES), and self-evaluation ratings using the self-assessment instrument designed for the Early Childhood Education Linkage System (ECELS)--a federally-funded demonstration project--were studied. Data were collected in May 1989 and throughout 1990 in three stages: (1) during visits by teams of two external evaluators, data were collected for 87 day care centers (DCCs) using the ECERS and 62 family day care homes (FDCHs) using the Family Day Care Home Rating Scale (FDCRS); (2) 125 DCCs and FDCHs completed the environmental, health, and safety self-assessment for the ECELS program; and (3) licensing data were collected on all of the DCCs and FDCHs in the above two studies using Pennyslvania's CDPES. The results show the need for improvement in early childhood programs in Pennsylvania in terms of licensing, health and safety, and child development program environment. All three scales measure different dimensions of quality. The CDPES had the greatest limitations in providing information on areas for improvements in early childhood programs; the ECELS scale provided significantly better data in these areas. The ECERS provided additional programmatic quality data that are not contained in the CDPES and the ECELS scale. To help the embattled licensing representative in the field, a more effective/efficient balance of self-assessment with the representative validating the results of a self-assessment with unannounced licensing visits is needed. Results also show the need to develop a weighting system for the three scales. Four bar graphs and four charts are included. (RLC)