Mapping Early Child Development in Surrey: Why is it important?
The Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), operating out of UBC, brings together academic, government and community partners to better understand Early Childhood Development.
A key component of the ECD Mapping Project is the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a research tool that assesses the state of children’s development in kindergarten. This measurement, taken as they enter school, reflects children’s early experiences and it can predict their performance later in life.
Kindergarten teachers complete a checklist for each child about six months into the kindergarten year. Five areas of a child’s development are measured: physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication skills.
The vulnerability threshold or cut-off is the EDI score that distinguishes the bottom 10% of children in the province from the other 90%. Children who fall below the cut-off are said to be vulnerable on that scale of development. The appropriate interpretation of vulnerability is that the child is, on average, more likely to be limited in his or her development than a child who scores above the cut-off. (To learn more about how vulnerability is interpreted, click here to
read HELP’s Vulnerability on the EDI fact sheet.)
In Surrey, the EDI has been conducted five times, in 2004-2005 (Wave 1), 2006 – 2007 (Wave 2), 2008 – 2009 (Wave 3), Wave 4 (2010 – 2011) and Wave 5 . These data collection points allow for the consideration of trends in children’s development in Surrey over the last ten years.
Results from the EDI are interpreted only at the level of the group, namely the school, neighbourhood, region or school district. It should be noted that children’s scores are
mapped in their neighbourhood of residence, not where they go to school.
To view Surrey’s EDI results, click here.