School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale (Sacers Spiral Edition)

Product Information

School age children need to be in care for at least two hours each afternoon before a SACERS-U assessment can be completed. Beyond that consider the following:

The average rate paid by a fixed bond with a term over 550 days dropped to 5.11% at the start of October, according to Moneyfacts’ data. This is the first time this rate has fallen since March 2023. In both the United States and Canada, elementary schools, community and recreation centers, preschool child care centers, and family child care homes have responded to this obvious need for supervision during out-of-school hours by developing school-age care programs. Both the facilities and the program content differ from one program to another. Some programs focus on recreational activities so that the children can have the same extracurricular opportunities that are available to children who return home at the end of the school day. Others focus on enhancing children's learning by offering a more academically oriented program. In yet other programs, there is an emphasis on the creative arts including the visual arts, music, and drama. One must also consider that school-age child care programs enroll children from 5 to 12 years of age. Given this broad age range, it is essential to offer activities that meet the widely differing needs and interests of children over a 7-year age span. The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale®, 3 rd ed. -- A thorough revision of the ITERS-R™, designed to assess group programs for children from birth to 3 years of age. Total scale consists of 33 items.If there are equal numbers of classrooms in age/scale groups and an additional assessment is needed based on the total number of classrooms, the additional assessment and random selection will occur for the rating scale that assesses a younger age group. The School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale® -- An updated edition of the SACERS™ designed to assess before and after school group. The total scale consists of 47 items, including 6 supplementary items for programs enrolling children with disabilities. Designed to assess group-care programs for children of school age, 5 to 12 during their out-of-school time. For example, there are 5 infant and toddler classrooms and 9 preschool classrooms. This means that 5 assessments are needed in total. These will include 3 ECERS-R and 2 ITERS-R assessments.

The Environment Rating Scales (ERS) are an observational assessment that assess the process quality of a program. Process quality is what the children are directly experiencing in their program and how it has a direct effect on their development. There are 4 (four) different tools that are used in the ERS: the Infant and Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS), the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS), the Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale (FCCERS) and the School Age Care Environment Rating Scale (SACERS). All 4 (four) of the scales are set up the same way to make learning the different scales easier, but the content in each scale is based off of the age group that the scale was created for. When a teacher is assigned to a classroom where only school-age children are enrolled, a SACERS-U assessment will be completed when a program’s Rated License Assessment occurs. At least two children must be enrolled for the assessment to occur. The Scale consists of 47 items, including 6 supplementary items for programs enrolling children with disabilities.

How many children need to be present for an assessment to be completed?

The smallest number of children that can be assessed is two and if only two children are enrolled, then both must be present during the assessment. If only one child is enrolled, an assessment will not occur. The Environment Rating Scales require a 30 to 45 minute interview with the teacher or child care provider after the observation to complete scoring. Depending on the facility type, the interview process may involve the child care provider, the lead classroom teacher, and /or other program staff that take care of children at various times of the day. The interview takes place during naptime or while a substitute teacher replaces the child care provider. For after school assessments, assessors may conduct an interview before children arrive as well as a post-assessment interview.