Development of the ITERS Overview of the Subscales and Items
Selected References Additional Notes
Supplementary Materials Translations

Development of the ITERS

RATIONALE

Providing quality child care for infants and toddlers is of great concern in most industrialized countries today. The dramatic increase in the work force involvement of mothers with children under two years of age is making infant/ toddler child care the norm rather than the exception. At the same time, serious questions are being raised about the possible negative effects of non-parental, out-of-home care for such young children. Although it is widely believed that high-quality care does not adversely affect development, defining exactly what high-quality care means and providing such care on a daily basis are tremendous challenges. The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale draws on research evidence, professional values, and practical knowledge in order to define quality.

The ITERS is an adaptation of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS; Harms & Clifford, 1980) and the Family Day Care Rating Scale (FDCRS; Harms & Clifford, 1989). Although ITERS is similar in format to the other two scales, its content was developed especially for infant/toddler group care. The ITERS consists of 35 items for the assessment of the quality of center-based child care for children up to 30 months of age. These 35 items are organized under seven categories: Furnishings and Display for Children, Personal Care Routines, Listening and Talking, Learning Activities, Interaction, Program Structure, and Adult Needs. Each item is presented as a 7-point scale, with descriptors for I (inadequate), 3 (minimal), 5 (good), and 7 (excellent). Inadequate describes care that does not even meet custodial care needs, minimal describes care that meets custodial and to some small degree basic developmental needs, good describes the basic dimensions of developmental care, and excellent describes high-quality, personalized care. The inadequate (1) and minimal (3) ratings usually focus on provision of basic materials and on health and safety precautions. The good (5) and excellent (7) ratings require positive interaction, planning, and personalized care, as well as good materials.

The ITERS, like the two previous environmental rating scales, the ECERS and the FDCRS, is based on a broad definition of the day care environment including organization of space, interaction, activities, schedule for children, and provisions for staff and parents. The 35 items of the ITERS when taken together give a comprehensive picture of the quality of care provided in one room or for one group of children.

It was difficult to decide what term to use when referring to the person who is working directly with the children in a group and providing for their care and education. Neither the term teacher, which is associated with schools, nor caregiver, which is associated with child care, seemed quite adequate to describe the unique care-education role in early childhood settings. Other programs have tried to compensate for this linguistic deficiency by creating a new term. For example, Magda Gerber (1984) coined the term educarer, and Sparling and Lewis (1979) refer to the careteacher. For reasons of ease of comprehension, we chose to use the familiar term caregiver. In the ITERS caregiver means any individual directly providing for the care and education of the children. Anyone in this role, including those whose job description reads teacher, teacher aide, substitute, or volunteer, no matter what level of formal education, is performing the same generic role. The term staff is used to mean all people working in the center including the caregivers, director, and support staff.

The definition of quality in the ITERS is consistent with the Criteria for Quality Early Childhood Programs stated by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs (NAEYC, 1984) and with Child Development Associate (CDA) requirements. Comparing the ITERS with the six CDA competency goals (CDA National Credentialing Program, 1984) shows that the scale provides several items to assess each goal. The chart below displays the ITERS items for each CDA goal.
 
CDA Competencies ITERS Items
1. To establish and maintain a safe, healthy, learning environment  
      ·  Safe 13, 14, 29
      ·  Healthy 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
      ·  Learning 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 28, 29
2. To advance physical and intellectual competence  
      ·  Physical 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
      ·  Cognitive 17, 19, 21, 23
     ·  Communication 15, 16
     ·  Creative 19, 20, 21, 22
3. To support social and emotional development and provide positive guidance  
      ·  Self 6, 26, 31 
      ·  Social 24, 25
      ·  Guidance 25, 27
4. To establish positive and productive relationships with families  6, 31, 35
5. To ensure a well-run, purposeful program responsive to participant needs  28, 29, 30
6. To maintain a commitment to professionalism 30, 32, 33, 34

The ITERS was designed to be comprehensive in coverage, yet easy to use. It can be used by the caregiving staff as a self -assessment, by directors and supervisors as a program-quality measure for planning program improvement, or by agency staff for monitoring. It is also suitable for use in research.

Please direct questions or comments to Vanessa Loiselle.
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