Scoping Review of Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS): Assessing and Validating Quality in Early Childhood Education Settings

Alpys A. Hernández-Torrano D.
2026 Routledge

Early Education and Development
2026 #37 Issue 3 644 - 664 pp.

The quality of early childhood education and care is paramount in shaping the foundation for children’s lifelong learning and development. Quality assessment tools, such as the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS), are crucial in evaluating and enhancing quality in early childhood environments. Despite their widespread use, a comprehensive review of ECERS applications and validations is lacking. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines, this review investigates 154 studies on the application and validation of the ECERS and its versions over the past two decades. Research Findings: The results suggest that the ECERS has been primarily used in five different ways, including as a measure of young children’s academic and non-academic outcomes, a quality assessment tool in ECEC settings, an intervention assessment tool, a complementary tool alongside other methods (e.g. self-report), and to study cultural nuances of early childhood settings. The review emphasizes the need for a more holistic exploration of the psychological well-being aspect of early childhood environments and advocates for culturally sensitive adaptations and contextual considerations in ECERS applications. Practice or Policy: The findings highlight the importance of combining multiple assessment tools for a comprehensive evaluation of early childhood settings and call for standardized approaches in ECERS validation studies to enhance comparability and reliability.

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Central Asian Research Center for Education Innovation and Transformation (CARCEIT), Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan
Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan

Central Asian Research Center for Education Innovation and Transformation (CARCEIT)
Graduate School of Education

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