Quality in New Jersey’s Abbott Preschool Program

This brief examines the evolution of quality as measured by the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales between 2003 and 2017 in periodic assessments of pre-K quality in Abbott classrooms. From 2003 through 2008 average scores rose consistently. They subsequently plateaued, perhaps rising slightly again in 2015 the last year the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised (ECERS-R) was used to assess quality. In 2016 we began to use the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Third Edition (ECERS-3), a revised version of the ECERS-R. Scores on the ECERS-3 in 2016 and 2017 were lower than prior year scores on the ECERS-R n 2014 and 2015, which would be expected as research generally finds lower scores on the ECERS-3 than on the ECERS-R. However, ECERS-3 scores decreased from 2016 to 2017 raising concerns that call for careful attention to quality state-wide, and to reinvigorating sustainable systems to support quality in both longstanding and new “expansion” programs.