Early Education and Care Program Quality and Children's Well-being: a Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale

The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (-Revised) (ECERS/ECERS-R) is the most widely used assessment of global classroom quality in Early Childhood Education and Care programs. Despite prevalent use of the ECERS/ECERS-R in research and applied settings, its impact on child outcomes have not been systematically reviewed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between the ECERS/ECERS-R and children’s well-being. Searches of Medline, PsycINFO, ERIC, websites of large datasets and reference sections of all retrieved articles were conducted up to January 2013. Eligible studies provided a statistical link between the ECERS/ECERS-R and child outcomes. Sixty-three empirical studies met our inclusion criteria. All studies were included in the systematic review and 23 could be meta-analyzed. Associations between ECERS/ECERS-R total and factor scores and children’s cognitive, language, math, and social-emotional outcomes are evident but weak. Greater consistency in study methodology is critical in this area of research.%%%%M.A.%%%%2017-11-20 00:00:00