Monday, January 23, 2012

Early Childhood Environmental Education Rating Scale

NEW Early Childhood Environmental Education tool - based on the Guidelines for Excellence - published by NAAEE:
http://eelinked.naaee.net/n/guidelines/posts/Early-Childhood-Environmental-Education-Rating-Scale

Early Childhood Environmental Education Rating Scale
The Early Childhood Environmental Education Rating Scale (NAAEE 2011), authored by Yash Bhagwanji, provides a collaborative tool for educators and others to discuss their early childhood environmental education program goals, consider strengths and areas of needed improvement, and chart a future direction for development. The Early Childhood Environmental Education Rating Scale is easy to use while also encouraging deep discussions about program philosophy, design and implementation. Building off of NAAEE’s Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence, it is a much welcomed addition to the early childhood environmental education tool kit.
The Early Childhood Environmental Education Rating Scale (ECEERS) is a formative evaluation tool designed to assist programs in improving their environmental education curriculum.
Whether you work with a center-based child development or family day care center, this tool can help you make needed improvements in the quality of activities, experiences, interactions, and instruction concerning the world of nature and its value in society. Environmental education centers, too, may benefit through improvements in curriculum that better respond to the abilities, interests, learning styles, and motivations for learning of young children.
Based on six key characteristics of high quality early childhood environmental education programs (North American Association for Environmental Education, 2010), the procedures for using the rating scale emphasize a collaborative approach in evaluation, through the sharing of differing perspectives (as represented by program board members, administrative officials, teaching staff, family members of the children participating in the program, and community partners), and the development of consensus in the rating of each specific guideline or recommendation. The rating scale is designed as a self-assessment tool requiring open and honest conversations. The process can be personally satisfying for the individual team members involved and, with ongoing evaluation utilizing the rating scale, can lead to program success over time. Download your copy of the PDF.

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