Specific Tools

Child Care Assessment Tool-R Checklist
The CCAT-R Checklist is a 5 part assessment from Bank Street College of Education. For ExceleRate Illinois only the Health and Safety Checklist is required and the checklist has been revised to fit IDCFS licensing standards. There are two checklists that can be used based on age group. 

Specific Tools - Assessment of Learning Environment

Environment Rating Scales  
The Environment Rating Scales (ERS) are designed to assess process quality in an early childhood care group. Process quality consists of the various interactions that go on in a classroom between staff and children, staff, parents, and other adults, among the children themselves, and the interactions children have with the many materials and activities in the environment, as well as those features, such as space, schedule, and materials that support these interactions.

Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale, Revised Edition (FCCERS-R)
FCCERS-R is designed to assess family child care programs conducted in a provider's home for children from infancy through school-age.

The scale consists of 38 items organized into 7 subscales:

  • Space and Furnishings
  • Personal Care Routines
  • Listening and Talking
  • Activities
  • Interaction
  • Program Structure
  • Parents and Provider