[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-590653-105":59,"doc-detail-590653-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","examining-the-category-functioning-of-the-ecers-r-across-eight-data-sets","Examining the Category Functioning of the ECERS-R Across Eight Data Sets","","Classroom quality measures such as the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised (ECERS-R) are widely used in research, practice, and policy, including high-stakes decisions. This study analyzes eight studies with 14 waves of classroom data (approximately 4,000 classrooms) to test whether ECERS-R item categories function as intended. Using several item response theory models and score analyses, the findings show non-ordinal category ordering and that category problems accumulate to scale scores, cautioning against standard raw scoring and supporting alternative methods for ECERS-R.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/examining-the-category-functioning-of-the-ecers-r-across-eight-data-sets/590653/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/examining-the-category-functioning-of-the-ecers-r-across-eight-data-sets/590653.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Stanley","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the main concern about the ECERS-R scoring categories in this study?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study finds that the ECERS-R item categories do not follow an ordinal progression, meaning higher categories do not consistently represent better quality in an ordered way.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What data did the authors analyze to evaluate ECERS-R category functioning?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"They analyzed eight studies providing 14 waves of data collection from approximately 4,000 classrooms.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How did the study assess category functioning and scoring problems?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The authors used multiple item response theory models (NRM, GPCM, PCM), along with within-category score averages and point-biserial correlations to examine category properties and their relationship to scale scores.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},590653,1792231304,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":36,"preview_page_count":4},2336477405376,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","AERA Open  \nJanuary-March 2018, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1–16 DOI: 10. 1177/2332858418758299  \n© The Author(s) 2018. [http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero)  \nExamining the Category Functioning of the ECERS-R Across Eight  \nData Sets  \nKen A. Fujimoto  \nLoyola University Chicago  \nRachel A. Gordon  \nFang Peng  \nUniversity of Illinois at Chicago  \nKerry G. Hofer  \nAbt Associates  \nClassroom quality measures, such as the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised (ECERS-R), are widely used in research, practice, and policy. Increasingly, these uses have been for purposes not originally intended, such as contributing to consequential policy decisions. The current study adds to the recent evidence of problems with the ECERS-R standard stop-scoring by analyzing eight studies offering 14 waves of data collection in approximately 4,000 classrooms. Our analysis, which featured the nominal response model, generalized partial credit model, partial credit model, within-category averages of total scores, and point-biserial correlations, revealed that all 36 items had categories that did not follow an ordinal progression with respect to quality. Additionally, our results showed that the category problems accumulated to the scale score. The results caution against the use of the standard raw scoring and encourage development of alternative scoring methods for the ECERS-R.  \nKeywords: child development, early childhood, item response theory, learning environments, psychometrics  \nMajor policy efforts aim to make preschool universally available and improve the quality of child care settings, with a goal of preparing all children for school (Child Trends, 2015; Pew Charitable Trusts, 2014; U.S. Department of Education, 2013) . Importantly for our study, policies often dictate that observational measures are incorporated in an attempt to ensure high classroom quality. Often, raw scores (e.g., averaging across all items) from these measures are compared to cut scores, contributing to consequential decisions for child care subsidy levels, Head Start funding, and public recognition with medals (gold, silver, bronze) or stars (5-star, 4-star, etc.) . One widely used measure to assess the quality of child care centers is the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised (ECERS-R; Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 1998) . A compendium of state Quality Rating and Improvement Systems found that 40% of states used only the ECERS-R and another 40% used ECERS-R along with another quality measure (Child Trends, 2015) . A recent survey of state pre-kindergarten policies similarly found that 19 states relied on ECERS-R for program monitoring (Ackerman, 2014) . With such consequences for funding and reputation, these measures can have an outsized influence on teacher practice, similar to high-stakes student  \ntesting. Therefore, probing the psychometric properties of the measures is important.  \nIndeed, the validity of the ECERS-R scores for these uses has increasingly come into question because of the small associations between its scale scores and child developmental outcomes (e.g., Burchinal, Kainz, & Cai, 2011; Burchinal, Zaslow, & Tarullo, 2016; Layzer & Goodson, 2006). Among many of the reasons for these low associations, recent studies pointed to limitations with the ECERS-R standard stopscoring (e.g., Gordon, Fujimoto, Kaestner, Korenman, & Abner, 2013). At first glance, the ECERS-R seems to have a simple Likert-like scoring, with category scores increasing from 1 (inadequate) to 7 (excellent) . A thorough examination of the items and scoring process, however, reveals the potential for the score categories not to follow an ordinal progression because assigning higher scores depends on scoring decisions for lower scores (referred to as stop-scoring) and indicators that probe different aspects of quality are mixed together within some items (e.g., mixing of sanitation aspects of quality like handwashing with social aspe","cbCaig4RXzvItZIi","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaig4RXzvItZIi","pdf",584582,16,"English","# Introduction\n## Policy use of observational measures\n# Study Purpose and Research Questions\n## Category functioning of ECERS-R items\n# Methods\n## Item response theory models and scoring analyses\n# Results\n## Ordinal, redundancy, disordered, and underutilized categories","[{\"question\":\"What is the main concern about the ECERS-R scoring categories in this study?\",\"answer\":\"The study finds that the ECERS-R item categories do not follow an ordinal progression, meaning higher categories do not consistently represent better quality in an ordered way.\"},{\"question\":\"What data did the authors analyze to evaluate ECERS-R category functioning?\",\"answer\":\"They analyzed eight studies providing 14 waves of data collection from approximately 4,000 classrooms.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the study assess category functioning and scoring problems?\",\"answer\":\"The authors used multiple item response theory models (NRM, GPCM, PCM), along with within-category score averages and point-biserial correlations to examine category properties and their relationship to scale scores.\"}]","Examining the Category Functioning of the ECERS-R Across Eight Data Sets | PDF",1792070130]