International Journal of Education and Social Science (IJESS)

While multiple assessment measures of process indicators exist, the need for a valid, reliable, research and theoretically based global measure for assessing the quality of child caregiver interactions remains. One of the most widely used caregiver interaction measures, the Arnett Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS) (1989), provides a basic measure of child caregiver interaction, yet also has serious limitations (i.e., lack of operational definitions, minimal attention to recent brain development research, weak reliability and validity, and extensive adaptations in the field). The Child Caregiver Interaction Scale (CCIS) (Carl, 2007, 2010), largely based upon the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC) Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) position statements (NAEYC, 2009; Bredekamp and Copple, 1997), is a valid and reliable measure for assessing the interactions of child caregivers and the children in their care. The CCIS measure demonstrates high internal consistency and strong utility across settings and child care giving age groups, including infant, toddler, preschool and home base child care.