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Assessment and Training
Center
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About ATC
What is the Parent Aware Pilot Project?
Evaluation of Parent Aware Project
What Assessment Tools are Used?
Who is Involved?
ATC Activity Updates
ATC staff
Funding
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Related Project:
Identifying Essential Elements of Childcare
Project (IEEoC) |
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About The Assessment and Training Center
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The Assessment and Training Center has been
conceptualized as a way to transmit CEED’s unique observation and
assessment skill and knowledge to the greater early childhood
community, for program evaluation and improvement purposes.
The launch of the Assessment and Training
Center was accomplished through a planning grant from
the McKnight Foundation.
The ATC currently has these ongoing
projects:
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Parent
Aware Quality Rating System Pilot Project Implementation
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Evaluation
of the Parent Aware Project
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What is the Parent
Aware Pilot Project?
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The Parent
Aware Quality Rating System
Implementation Grant is a pilot
project to examine the feasibility of
initiating a state-wide quality rating
system for early care and education
settings in Minnesota. The specific role
of CEED’s Assessment and Training Center
is to conduct Environment Rating Scale
(ERS) and Classroom Assessment and
Scoring System (CLASS) observations in
center-based and family child care
settings in the pilot areas: St. Paul,
North Minneapolis, and Blue Earth/
Nicollet Counties. The ERS and CLASS
observations examine different aspects
of environmental and interactional
quality in early care and education
settings. The information collected with
these tools will be incorporated with
other information gathered from early
care and education sites. Based on this
compilation of information, the
Minnesota Department of Human Services
(DHS) will assign quality rating
scores which parents can consider when
making determinations about where to
place their children for care during the
day.
This information will also be used by
the early care and education settings to
make informed program improvement
decisions.
The Assessment and Training Center has
two main goals:
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To ensure that assessments are
conducted properly, and
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To help early childhood
professionals learn how to use
assessment data to enrich their
programs and children's development.
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What
Assessment Tools Are Used?
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The Community Program Assistants who
will be performing on-site observations
will use two different observational
tools: the Environment Rating Scales
(ERS) and the Classroom Assessment and
Scoring System (CLASS).
The Environment Rating Scales (ERS)
are observational tools used to assess the
quality of the environment in early care
settings. Observations using the environment
rating scales provide a brief snapshot of
the classroom environment, as well as the
children’s experiences in that classroom.
The rating scales were developed by a team
of early childhood professionals at the
University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill;
Thelma Harms,
Richard M. Clifford and
Debby Cryer. There are three versions of
the Environment Rating Scales, each designed
to assess a specific age group and early
care setting. The following information
provides a brief description of the
Environment Rating Scales.
Rating Scale Information
The
Environment Rating Scales are made up of
seven subscales which focus on different
aspects of the classroom environment,
including Space and Furnishings, Personal
Care Routines, Listening and Talking,
Activities, Interaction, Program Structure,
and Parents and Staff.
The information
collected from these subscales is then used
to provide an overview of program quality,
as well as to assign a score representing
the quality of the programs environment. The
quality rating score is based on a seven
point scoring system. A rating scale score
of 1 is considered representative of
inadequate care, 3 minimal care, 5 good
care, and 7 excellent care.
Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale
Revised Edition (ECERS-R): This
scale is designed to assess the quality
of preschool environments located in
center child care settings.
Infant and Toddler Environment Rating
Scale Revised Edition (ITERS-R):
This scale is designed to assess the
quality of care environments serving
children birth to 30 months of age and
is used in infant and toddler center
classrooms.
Family Child Care Environment Rating
Scale Revised Edition (FCCERS-R):
This scale is designed to assess the
quality of the environment in family
child care settings.
For more
information on the Environmental Rating
Scales, please visit
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ecers.
The
Classroom Assessment Scoring System PreK
(CLASS PreK; Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre,
2005) is a system for observing and
assessing the quality of interactions
between teachers and students in preschool
classrooms. The CLASS examines
social-emotional and instructional
interactions that contribute to student’s
social competence and academic achievement.
The CLASS measure includes 10 subscales
organized into three domains: (1)
Emotional Support, (2) Classroom
Organization, and (3) Instructional
Support. Each subscale is scored on
a 7-point scale, with a score of 1 and 2
considered to be in the low-range; 3, 4, and
5 are mid-range; and 6 and 7 are high range.
View/print an
overview of CLASS (pdf
file) |
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Who is involved in the project?
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CEED’s Assessment and Training Center (ATC)
is collaborating with the
Minnesota Department of Human Services,
the
Minnesota Department of Education,
and the
Minnesota Child Care Resource and
Referral Network to conduct this
project.
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Activity Updates
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The Assessment and Training
Center (ATC) continues to spread the word
about the CLASS (Classroom Assessment
Scoring System). ATC staff Vicki Hawley and
Allyson Candee spent much of late August
through mid-September doing trainings
related to CLASS. They did two observer
reliability trainings (Rosemount and Detroit
Lakes, MN), as well as teacher inservice
“Intro to CLASS” sessions in Watertown,
Worthington, Rosemount, Shakopee, and
Minneapolis, MN. Audiences were Head Start
programs and early childhood school-based
settings.
The ATC also received a
contract from the Minnesota Department of
Education to continue providing training and
support for early care and education
professionals who are interested in or are
using the CLASS observational tool.
CEED will continue to
provide CLASS training and CLASS online
learning communities through the end of
June, 2010. For more information, contact
Vicki Hawley at
hawle050@umn.edu. |
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Who should I contact if I want to learn more
about the project?
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Contact Amy Susman Stillman, Ph.D., at
asusman@umn.edu if you would like more
information about the study or have
needs related to this program and child
assessments.
Also,
please visit the Parent Aware website at
http://www.parentawareratings.org/.
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Evaluation of the Parent
Aware Project
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For this project, CEED’s
Assessment and Training Center is
working in partnership with
Child Trends, an independent
non-partisan research center focused
exclusively children. For the
evaluation, ATC observers will follow a
consistent protocol for observing
program quality that includes the ERS,
CLASS, and ECERS-E. Data
collected using these tools will be used
to evaluate aspects of the Parent Aware
Pilot Project.
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Project Staff
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Amy Susman-Stillman, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Email:
asusman@umn.edu
Kerry Gleason,
Training Coordinator, glea0043@umn.edu
Mary Beth Settergren,
QRS Observer,
venn0021@umn.edu
Allyson Candee,
QRS Observer,
cand0013@umn.edu
Vicki Hawley,
hawle050@umn.edu
Rosemary Frazel, QRS Observer
Kristina Erstad, QRS Observer
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Funding
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The Parent Aware Pilot Project is funded by the Minnesota
Early Learning Foundation (MELF), through
the
Minnesota Department of Human Services.
The
Parent Aware Evaluation is funded by
the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation (MELF)
and
Child Trends.
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