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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
Hennepin County Pre-Support Program
What Assessment Tools are Used?
Who is Involved?
What associated trainings are available?
Who can I contact for more information?
ATC staff
Funding
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About The Assessment and Training Center
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The Assessment and Training Center is a
new center that has been launched at CEED. The 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 three 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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Hennepin County
Pre-Support Program
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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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Who should I contact if I want to learn more
about the project?
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Contact the Project Coordinator, Tracy
Morgan, at tmorgan@umn.edu
or 612-625-8656 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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Hennepin County
Pre-Support Program
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For this project, CEED’s ATC is working
in conjunction with
Hennepin County to offer trainings
and consultation to child care providers
on the two assessment tools used in the
Parent Aware Pilot Project, the ERS and
the CLASS. The intent is to familiarize
child care providers with the tools in
preparation for enrollment in the Parent
Aware Quality Rating System.
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What Trainings are
Available?
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Learning opportunities to help child
care providers and programs prepare for
participation in Parent Aware are being
offered throughout October, November,
and December 2007. ERS and CLASS
trainings are offered via CEED. SEEDS
trainings are offered via Resources for
Child Caring.
ERS and CLASS Trainings information
(offered through ATC):
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ERS
Overview (pdf
file)
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CLASS
Overview (pdf
file)
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Training Schedule
(pdf file)(Note: October 13 ITERS
training changed to November 13,
4:30pm to 8:00pm, Pierre Bottineau
Library, 55 Broadway Street NE,
Minneapolis, MN 55413.)
To register for an ERS or CLASS
training:
Contact Tracy Morgan at CEED at
612-625-8656 or
tmorgan@umn.edu
SEEDS to Emergent Literacy Trainings
information (offered through Resources
for Child Caring)
To register for a SEEDS training:
Complete the
SEEDS Training Registration Form
and mail it to the address provided
on the registration form.
Questions on SEEDS trainings?
Contact Resources for Child Caring
at 651-290-9704.
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Project Staff
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Amy Susman-Stillman, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Center for Early Education and Development
University of Minnesota
Education
Sciences Building, Suite 40
56 East River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Email:
asusman@umn.edu
Tracy Morgan, MS OTR, Doctoral Candidate,
Educational Psychology
Project Coordinator
Education
Sciences Building, Suite 40
56 East River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612-625-8656
tmorgan@umn.edu
Katie Holmen, M.Ed.
Training Coordinator
Education
Sciences Building, Suite 40
56 East River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612-626-9393
holm0373@umn.edu
Kerry Gleason
Community Program Assistant
glea0043@umn.edu
Mary Beth Settergren
QRS Observer
venn0021@umn.edu
Allyson Candee
QRS Observer
cand0013@umn.edu
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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.
The
Pre-Supports Project is funded by
Hennepin County.
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