ICP at a glance.pdf

At-A-Glance

What it assesses The quality of 12 daily classroom practices that support the developmental needs of children with disabilities in early childhood settings
Components The Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP) Manual, Research Edition; The Inclusive Classroom Profile Forms (sold in packs of 5)
Age range Programs serving children from ages 2 to 5
Where it is conducted Various inclusive early childhood programs, including child care, public preschool, private programs, and Head Start classrooms
Who conducts it Early childhood special educators, professional development providers, and program administrators
Number of items 12 items assessed on a 7-point Likert scale (each item has 9-12 indicators, for a total of 135 indicators)
Languages available English
Sample items and responses Adaptations of Space, Materials, and Equipment (Observation) Indicator - Most classroom areas are not accessible (e.g., stairs, various ground levels, toys covering large floor space preclude access) and children are not helped to access classroom areas. Response: Yes/No. Membership (Observation, Interview) Indicator: When children's photos or work are displayed in the classroom (e.g., children's work pictures displayed on walls, children's or family photo albums), examples completed by children with and without special needs are present. Response: Yes/N (A Permitted)
Time to administer Comprehensive assessment with ICP takes approximately 3½ hours
Time to score 20 minutes
Scores provided 1. Observation Focus 2. Interview: During the interview, assessors need to ask the questions as stated on the ICP rating scale and rate teachers' responses by following the relevant criteria for rating indicators. 3. Documentation: The main documents to be reviewed include: 1. the program's inclusive policy; 2. child developmental screening and progress monitoring assessments used by the program; 3. procedures for communicating with families, and 4. individual child intervention plans.
Research sample Two research studies assessed the ICP's psychometric properties. The first study was conducted in 45 inclusive preschool classrooms in the UK; the second was conducted in 51 inclusive preschool classrooms in the U.S.

Reliability & Validity

Reliability & Validity In the UK study, inter-rater reliability was high; independent observers were highly consistent in their ratings of individual items, with a mean weighted kappa score for the scale's items being 0.79. To assess construct validity, the ICP was compared with the ECERS-R, the ECERS-E, and the Caregiver Interaction Scale. The total score of the ICP showed a moderately high correlation [0.626 (p < 0.001)] with the ECERS-R, suggesting the two instruments are measuring similar, but not identical constructs. A pattern of higher and lower correlations between the total ICP score and constructs from the other measures provided initial support for the convergent and divergent validity of the ICP. In the U.S. study, ICP assessors received training prior to data collection, and each assessor met a reliability proficiency standard of 85% agreement within one scale point. The mean inter-rater agreement across assessors was 98% with a range of 91-100%. Inter-rater agreement was further assessed in nine additional reliability-paired observations, and the mean inter-rater agreement across observations was 87%. Internal consistency Cronbach's alpha analysis for the 12 items also suggested that the scale's items were internally consistent (α=0.88). Construct validity was assessed through correlation analysis between the ratings on the ICP and ratings on the ECERS-R, and a moderately high correlation between the total score of the ICP and the ECERS-R (r=0.48) confirmed initial evidence for the construct validity of the scale.
Training Training for the ICP is provided by the FPG Institute; see http://bit.ly/ICPTraining for details.