ECERS-3: Identifying Gaps and Equity Challenges - Focus Group Themes

Oct 15, 2026

Summarizes themes from six listening sessions held in April 2022 with Black and Latine Pre-K teachers, directors, and technical assistance providers. The sessions examined participants’ perceptions of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-3) and whether the tool is culturally grounded. The report presents recurring findings about how children’s and staff members’ race, ethnicity, culture, and language affect ECERS-3 scoring and how economic resources and program composition relate to classroom ratings, alongside methods for coding themes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Methods

Results

Theme 1: Race, ethnicity, culture, and language matter for ECERS-3 scoring

Theme 2: Economic resources and program composition influence ECERS-3 scores

ECERS-3: IDENTIFYING GAPS AND EQUITY CHALLENGES FOCUS GROUP THEMES This report summarizes themes that emerged from six listening sessions held in April 2022 with Black and Latine Pre-K teachers, directors, and technical assistance providers. The purpose of the listening sessions was to understand participants’ perceptions of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-3) and to gauge the extent to which the tool is culturally grounded. We recruited users of the ECERS-3 with particular attention to Black and Latine1 Pre-K teachers, directors, and technical assistance providers. We held six sessions, four with Black participants and two with Latine participants, led by Black and Latine facilitators, respectively. One of the Latine sessions was conducted in Spanish. There were 48 respondents, 34 Black and 14 Latine, from nine states. Based on a question in the recruitment survey, all participants rated their familiarity with the ECERS-3 as “very familiar.” Listening session questions were designed to capture the following information: (1) What strengths in classroom practices related to global quality from the child’s perspective are not captured by ECERS-3? (2) What aspects of programs appear to be related to lower classroom ratings in classes with Black or Hispanic/ Latine teachers? (3) Are there aspects of their teaching or classroom culture that the ECERS-3 is not accurately capturing or rating? (4) How might the racial composition of a school/program/classroom influence ECERS-3 scores? The listening sessions lasted on average 71 minutes (ranging from 35 to 90 minutes) and were recorded for later transcription and coding of data by themes that emerged. One investigator reviewed the transcripts and organized the primary themes, which were later reviewed and confirmed by a second investigator. 1 Consistent with experts in the field (Melzi et al., 2020), we use “Latine” to refer to individuals whose cultural background originated in Latin America. In U. S. academic circles,“Latinx” is being used as a gender-inclusive term to refer to people from Latin American backgrounds, but Spanish-speakers find that “Latinx” is unpronounceable in Spanish. Therefore, we have opted to use the gender-inclusive term “Latine,” commonly used throughout Spanish-speaking Latin America. Melzi, G., McWayne, C., & Ochoa, W. (2020) . Family engagement and Latine children’s early narrative skills. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1–13. ECERS-3: Identifying Gaps and Equity Challenges Focus Group Themes 2 METHODS RESULTS The following themes emerged from the listening session data. Note that an overarching theme was that the ECERS-3 is a useful tool; many participants praised its comprehensiveness and utility for ensuring a standard of quality forchildren in center-based classrooms. As one participant noted, the ECERS-3 “actually hits everything holistically so to think of what is missing is a lot because it’s so much that’s there.” 1 The race, ethnicity, culture, and language of the children, teacher, and assessor matter for ECERS-3 scoring. There are cultural variations in what is considered socially acceptable behavior, such as what is “raucous” play. One Black participant stated,“I feel that positive interactions look different to different people and sometimesit’s distinguished by culture—at least it’s been in my experience. You know, for example, my grandmother. I knew she loved me to death, and she loved children, but there was a way about her. And you knew [when] she was serious and you knew when she was playful, but sometimes that playfulness…might look serious to someone else. It might look negative…to someone else.” There are cultural variations in the ways that teachers may speak to and interact with children based on the race and ethnicity of the child or the cultural composition of the classroom, such as tone of voice or type of discipline. In addition, children may respond differently base

FAQs

What was the purpose of the April 2022 listening sessions?

To understand participants’ perceptions of ECERS-3 and to gauge the extent to which the tool is culturally grounded.

How do race, ethnicity, culture, and language affect ECERS-3 scoring according to participants?

Participants reported that cultural norms shape acceptable behavior, teacher-child interactions, home-language communication, and even children’s behavior depending on assessor familiarity.

What role do economic resources play in ECERS-3 scores?

The report describes how low-resource programs/schools may be unable to purchase materials, which participants link to differences in classroom ratings.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Sophia Brooks