2 MEASURES OF THE QUALITY OF GROUP-CARE FOR INFANTS AND TODDLERS

Two sets of quality measures of group care were wed to assess their pr edictive power for two sets of measures of the development of infant a nd toddlers in group day care. One of the quality measures we investig ated was the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS). We repl icated the findings of Scarr, Eisenberg, & Dealer-Deckard (1994) which were that the total score of the ECERS represents a global index and that the 37 items making up the scale are redundant and could be short ened considerably without loss of the scale as a quality criterion of group care for young children. Neither Scarr, Eisenberg, and Dealer-De ckard (1994) nor our own Factor Analyses of the 37 items supported the a priori distinction of seven Subscales. However further findings ind icate that regardless of the redundancy within ECERS, two Subscales, d ealing mainly with adult-child, child-child and adult-adult interactio ns, predict the development of infants and toddlers, but only when the measures of development were based on participant observations of the children over a longer period of time and in the broad context of the natural daycare environ ment. None of the Subscales, nor the total EC ERS predicted social development when it was based on precise time sam pling observations assessed by non participant observers, in interacti ons between a child and a specific caregiver. Such measures of develop ment were well predicted in our study by caregiver behaviors assessed through Time Sampling Observations.