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CHILD CARE QUALITY: STRUCTURAL AND PROCEDURAL QUALITY
EARLY HEAD START EVALUATION AND TRACKING PRE-K
Measure: Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale
Source
The birth-to-3 phase of the Early Head Start (EHS) evaluation (1996–2001) was funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contractor for the evaluation is Mathematica Policy Research (MPR) and the subcontractor is the Center for Children and Families at Columbia University, Teachers College. The Tracking Pre-K (TPK) follow-up phase (2001–2004) is also funded by the ACF, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. MPR is the contractor. In 1997, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development provided funds (through ACYF) to add a major study of the fathers of EHS children.
The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS) was developed by Harms, Cryer, and Clifford.
In addition to the EHS evaluation and TPK study, this measure was used by the following EDCP evaluations and surveys: National Child Care Staffing Study.
Population Assessed
The EHS and TPK follow-up was implemented in 17 EHS programs in all regions of the country. Programs offered center-based, home-based, and mixed-approach services. The families and children who participated in the evaluation were diverse. Many of the families were single-parent, were ethnically diverse (including Hispanic, African American, and White), did not speak English as their primary language, had relatively low educational attainment, and were receiving public assistance of some kind (e.g., Medicaid, WIC, food stamps, AFDC or TANF, and SSI benefits). A total of 3,001 families participated in the evaluation, with 1,513 in the treatment group and 1,488 in the control group. Table 1 contains specifics of the families and children participating in the EHS evaluation.
| Sample in All Sites | ||
|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Sample Size | Percent of Families |
| Parent and Family Characteristics | ||
| Mother's Education | ||
| Less than grade 12 | 1,375 | 48 |
| Grade 12 or attained a GED | 822 | 29 |
| Greater than grade 12 | 682 | 24 |
| Missing | 122 | |
| Race and Ethnicity | ||
| White Non-Hispanic | 1,091 | 37 |
| Black Non-Hispanic | 1,014 | 35 |
| Hispanic | 693 | 24 |
| Missing | 68 | |
| Welfare Receipt | ||
| Received welfare | 842 | 35 |
| Did not receive welfare | 1,554 | 65 |
| Missing | 41 | |
| Primary Language | ||
| English | 2,265 | 79 |
| Other | 615 | 21 |
| Missing | 121 | |
| Living Arrangements | ||
| With spouse | 752 | 25 |
| With other adults | 1,157 | 39 |
| Alone | 1,080 | 36 |
| Missing | 12 | |
| Focus Child Characteristics | ||
| Age | ||
| Unborn | 761 | 25 |
| Less than 5 months | 1,063 | 35 |
| 5 months or older | 1,177 | 39 |
| Missing | 0 | |
| Gender | ||
| Male | 1,510 | 51 |
| Female | 1,448 | 49 |
| Missing | 43 | |
| Sample Size | 3,001 | |
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2001, June). Building their futures: How Early Head Start programs are enhancing the lives of infants and toddlers in low-income families. Volume I: Technical report. Washington, DC: Author.
Periodicity
The ITERS was used when the children were 14 and 24 months old.
Subscales/Components
The ITERS is designed to assess group programs for children from birth to 2.5 years. The ITERS has seven subscales each with it’s own set of items:
- Furnishings and Display for Children (furnishings for routine care [feeding and sleeping, storage of child’s possessions], use of furnishings for learning activities, furnishings for relaxation and comfort, room arrangement, and display for children)
- Personal Care Routines (greeting/departing, meals/snacks, nap, diapering/toileting, personal grooming, health practice, health policy, safety practice, and safety policy)
- Listening and Talking (informal use of language, books, and pictures)
- Learning Activities (eye-hand coordination, active physical play, art, music and movement, blocks, pretend play, sand and water play, and cultural awareness)
- Interaction (peer interaction, caregiver-child interaction, and discipline)
- Program Structure (schedule of daily activities, supervision of daily activities, staff cooperation, and provisions for exceptional children)
- Adult Needs (adult personal needs, opportunities for professional growth, adult meeting area, and provisions for parents)
Procedures for Administration
The ITERS is completed during an in-depth observation of the group day care. The ITERS consists of 35 items each of which is rated on a 7-point scale with four anchors (1=inadequate; 3=minimal; 5=good; 7=excellent). Overall quality ratings are determined by averaging scores across items and higher scores indicate higher day care quality.
Psychometrics/Data Quality
Information on psychometrics and data quality is not readily available for use of the ITERS in the EHS Evaluation and TPK.
Languages Available
The ITERS is available in English, Dutch, French, German, and Italian.
Items Included
The ITERS is copyrighted and was reprinted for the EHS evaluation and TPK by permission of the scale developers. The subscales of the profile are not reproduced in full in this document. Examples of items from the subscales are not readily available, but the ITERS is an adaptation of the ECERS and the FDCRS and have similar items with content appropriate for infants and toddlers in group care. The ITERS can be purchased from the study developers by contacting Teachers College Press (full contact information listed in the references and source documents section).
References and Source Documents
Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. M. (1990). Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS). New York: Teachers College Press.
Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. M. (1995). Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale. Reiling, E. J., Verhoeven, M. J. E., & Tavecchio, L. W. C. (Translators), ITERS: Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale. Handleiding. Leiden: Afdeling Algemene en Gezinspedagogiek, Universiteit Leiden.
Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. M. (1997). Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale. A. Pomerleau, N. Bigras, R. Seguin, & G. Malcuit (Translators), Echelle d’evaluation. Environnement Des Nourrissons Et Des Tout-Petits. Canada: Presses De L’Universite Du Quebec.
Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. M. (in press, expected spring, 2002). Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale. W. Tietze, et. al. (Translators), Krippen Skala (KRIPS). Neuwied, Kriftel, Berlin: Luchterhand Verlag.
Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. M. (1992). Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale. M. Ferrari, & P. Livraghi (translators), Scala per la Valutazione dell’Asilo Nido. Milano, Italy: Franco Angeli.
More information about the ITERS is available on the Frank Porter Graham, University of North Carolina Web site at http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ecers/.
Ordering information for the ITERS is
Teachers College Press
1234 Amsterdam Ave.
New York, NY 10027
212-678-3929
1-800-575-6566
A number of reports are available on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/ehs_resrch/index.html
The reports include the following:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2002, December). Pathways to quality and full implementation in Early Head Start Programs. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2002, June). Making a difference in the lives of infants and toddlers and their families: The impacts of Early Head Start. Executive summary. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2002, June). Making a difference in the lives of infants and toddlers and their families: The impacts of Early Head Start. Volume I: Final technical report. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2002, June). Making a difference in the lives of infants and toddlers and their families: The impacts of Early Head Start. Volume II: Final technical report appendixes. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2002, June). Making a difference in the lives of infants and toddlers and their families: The impacts of Early Head Start. Volume III: Local contributions to understanding programs and their impacts. Washington, DC:
Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2001, June). Building their futures: How Early Head Start programs are enhancing the lives of infants and toddlers in low-income families. Volume I: Technical report. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2001, June). Building their futures: How Early Head Start Programs are enhancing the lives of infants and toddlers in low-income families. Volume II: Technical report, appendixes. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2001, June). Building their futures: How Early Head Start programs are enhancing the lives of infants and toddlers in low-income families. Summary report. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999, December). Leading the way: Characteristics and early experience of selected Early Head Start programs. Volume I: Cross-site perspectives. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000, December). Leading the way: Characteristics and early experience of selected Early Head Start programs. Volume II: Program profiles. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000, December). Leading the way: Characteristics and early experience of selected Early Head Start programs. Volume III: Program implementation. Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000, December). Leading the way: Characteristics and early experience of selected Early Head Start programs. Executive summary, Volumes I, II, and III. Washington, DC: Author.
For other papers, please refer to the Early Head Start Collection of Consortium-Written Research Articles and Reports at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/ehs_resrch/index.html
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