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

Product Information

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.

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.

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

Science and Environment (e.g. supporting children’s creative and critical thinking and understanding of the natural and physical world)

The observation will continue for at least 3 hours when using the ITERS-R, ECERS-R, and FCCERS-R, but is also likely that a longer observation will occur. For after school assessments using the SACERS-U, the observation will continue for at least 2 hours, but may last longer during assessments that occur on full days such as during the summer. During the visit, the assessor will observe and take notes on a wide variety of interactions, activities, and materials as required by the rating scale. For example, the assessor will observe indoor and outdoor spaces for play and routine care, materials used by the children, health practices, staff/child interactions, and so on.Assessors may also take photographs of the indoor/outdoor spaces and materials as part of their documentation. This generally occurswhen children are not using the space andchildren will not be photographed. How is it decided whether a SACERS-U assessment will be needed for an after school program in a child care center?

Are all items on each of the Environment Rating Scales scored?

The smallest number of children that can be assessed is two and if only two children are enrolled, then both must be present during the assessment. If only one child is enrolled, an assessment will not occur. For the ERS assessment process, a program’s operating hours are determined based on when the program opens and closes, rather than a shorter time period when specific programming occurs. Therefore, the earliest time any children are allowed to attend, until the time the program closes are the program’s operating hours. 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.