Transcript Document

UEY Red Deer Preliminary Results
Research Forum:
December 1, 2009
The School Readiness of Red Deer’s Kindergarten Children:
A Preliminary Report on the Results of the Early Development Instrument (EDI)
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The School Readiness of Red Deer’s Kindergarten Children A
Preliminary Report on the Results of the Early Development Instrument,
is one of several reports and products released by the Red Deer
Understanding the Early Years Project.
The UEY Red Deer Project is funded by the Government of Canada’ s
Understanding the Early Years Initiative.
The opinions and interpretations in this publication are those of the
author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of
Canada.
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The Early Development Instrument (EDI)

Developed by the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University
in Hamilton, Ontario

Designed to assess how children are faring as a group in a community
in five areas or domains of early development

Examines how well children are prepared to participate in school
activities-school readiness
Does not provide diagnostic information about individual children, and
does not measure school performance

 Results can be used to
report on areas of strength and deficit for populations of children,
monitor populations of children over time,
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predict how children will do in later school years.
What is meant by “readiness to learn?”
Children are born ‘ready to learn.’
The human neurosystem is
pre-programmed to develop
various pathways and skills,
depending on the
experiences that a child
receives.
School Readiness refers to
the child’s ability to meet the
tasks and expectations at
school. The EDI is a
measurement of readiness to
learn at school.
The EDI looks at children’s development in 5 areas or domains
1. Physical health and well-being
Includes:
gross and fine motor skills:
holding a pencil,
running on the playground,
motor coordination
adequate energy levels for classroom activities
independence in looking after own needs
daily living skills
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2. Social Competence
Includes:
curiosity about the world,
eagerness to try new experiences,
knowledge of standards of acceptable behaviour in a public place,
ability to control own behaviour,
appropriate respect for adult authority,
cooperation with others,
following rules
ability to play and work with other children
3. Emotional Maturity
Includes:
ability to reflect before acting,
a balance between too fearful and too impulsive
ability to deal with feelings at the age-appropriate level
empathic response to other people's feelings
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4. Language and cognitive development
Includes:
reading awareness,
age-appropriate reading and writing skills
age-appropriate numeracy skills
board games,
ability to understand similarities and differences,
ability to recite back specific pieces of information from memory
5. Communication skills and general knowledge
Includes:
skills to communicate needs and wants in socially appropriate ways
symbolic use of language,
story telling,
age-appropriate knowledge about the life and world around;
Two additional indicators look at
Special skills and Special problems
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Sample EDI Questions
How would you rate this child’s:

Level of energy throughout the school day?

Ability to tell a story?

Ability to play with various children?
Would you say that this child:

Is able to write his or her own name?

Follows directions?

Appears fearful or anxious?
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The Red Deer Collection of Information
 Kindergarten teachers in Red Deer Public and Red Deer Catholic
Schools completed the EDI for their students in March of 2009, after
a training session on the procedure.
 Approximately 104 questions for each student were completed.
 Only children who had been in the kindergarten class for at least
one month were included.
 Signed parental permission was obtained.
 The findings are based on a sample of 850 kindergarten children.
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The Red Deer Collection of Information con’t
 Completed EDI surveys were shipped to the Offord Centre
at McMaster University in Hamilton for scoring and comparison to
the Canadian sample of 176,621 children.
 Results were returned to the Red Deer Understanding the Early
Years Project.
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Key Findings:
 In all 5 developmental areas, the Red Deer kindergarten children
achieved higher average scores than the Canadian sample.
 Of the sample of Red Deer kindergarten children,
17.8% scored low in at least one area of development
9.4% of the children scored low in at least two areas of development
 The greatest strength for children was in the area of physical readiness for
school
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Key Findings con’t
 On the physical health and well being sub-domains, the gross and fine
motor skills sub-domain had the fewest children with developmental
readiness.
 The Multiple Challenge Index, a measure of wide-ranging challenges
indicated by low scores on 3 or more developmental domains showed that
2.1% of the Red Deer sample had multiple challenges, compared to 3.9% of
the Canadian sample.
 The results revealed that communication skills and general knowledge
was the most challenging area for Red Deer’s kindergarten children.
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Comparison of average scores in each of the 5 EDI domains
Red Deer and Canadian scores
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9
8.89
8.80
8.68
8.32
8.28
8.54
8.44
8.04
8
8.15
7.65
Mean
7
6
Red Deer
5
Normative II
4
3
2
1
0
Physical health and Social competence Emotional maturity
well-being
Language and
cognitive
development
Communication and
general knowledge
Domains
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Percentages of children who scored low on at least one or two of the five EDI
domains, compared to the Canadian sample
Percentages
Red Deer
Canadian
Normative II
sample
Low on at least one
developmental readiness domain
17.8%
27.2%
Low on at least two
developmental readiness domains
9.4%
13.6%
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Vulnerable children are considered to be those whose scores fall below the 10th
percentile. These children are not at all developmentally ready to handle the tasks
and expectations of school. (Children with identified special needs are not
included in these results).
Table 2: Percentage of Vulnerable Children in one or more domains, from the Red De
% Vulnerable
Domains
Red Deer Cut-offs
Physical Health and Well-Being
12.5%
Social Competence
11.3%
Emotional Maturity
9.4%
Language and Cognitive
10.0%
Development
Communication skills & General
Knowledge
13.6%
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Significant differences were found between girls and boys. With respect
to every domain girls scored higher than boys.
Note: This is a consistent developmental phenomenon across all sites
where the EDI has been implemented
Table 5 depicts the comparative mean score on the five domains for boys and girls.
Domains
Physical health
and
well-being
Social competence
Emotional maturity
Language and
cognitive
development
Communication
skills and general
knowledge
N
Girls
Mean
SD
433
9.07
433
Statistically
Significant?
N
Boys
Mean
SD
1.15
417
8.69
1.36
Yes
9.08
1.20
416
8.26
1.76
Yes
433
8.67
1.20
413
7.86
1.55
Yes
433
8.78
1.44
417
8.29
1.72
Yes
433
8.43
2.11
417
7.85
2.41
Yes
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The mean age of Red Deer children assessed was 5.71 years. Children
above the mean age recorded better levels of readiness to learn than
children below the mean age.
Note: This is a consistent developmental phenomenon across
all sites where the EDI has been implemented.
Table 4: Effect of age of child on mean scores in EDI domains
Domains
Physical health
and
well-being
Social competence
Emotional maturity
Language and
cognitive
development
Communication
skills and general
knowledge
Above mean age
Statistically
Significant?
N
Mean
SD
Below the mean
age
N
Mean SD
432
9.08
1.24
418
8.69 1.27
Yes
432
8.95
1.43
417
8.39 1.62
Yes
430
8.47
1.35
415
8.08 1.50
Yes
432
8.89
1.35
418
8.18 1.73
Yes
432
8.54
2.11
418
7.73 2.38
Yes
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Children with English as their first language had higher language and cognitive
development, communication skills and general knowledge scores than children who
with English as their second language. It is important to use caution in interpretation of
this table, given that this group is only 3.4% of the children in the sample.
Table 5: Effect of English as Second Language (ESL) Status on mean scores in
EDI domains
Domains
Physical health and
well-being
Social competence
Emotional maturity
Language and
cognitive
development
Communication skills
and general
knowledge
Not ESL
N
Mean
Statistically
Significant?
ELS
N
Mean
SD
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9.02
1.19
818
8.89
1.27
No
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8.77
1.54
817
8.68
1.55
No
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8.00
1.47
813
8.30
1.43
No
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7.62
1.95
818
8.50
1.57
Yes
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5.28
2.42
818
8.26
2.20
Yes
SD
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Children in French immersion programs scored higher on all the four domains compared
to children without French immersion.
Table 6: Effect of French Immersion on mean scores in EDI domains
Domains
Physical health and
well-being
Social competence
Emotional maturity
Language and
cognitive
development
Communication
skills and general
knowledge
French Immersion
No French
Immersion
N
Mean
Statistically
Significant?
N
Mean
SD
SD
132
8.84
1.18
716
8.91
1.26
No
132
9.18
1.15
715
8.60
1.59
Yes
132
8.77
1.25
711
8.20
1.43
Yes
132
9.06
0.96
716
8.45
1.66
Yes
132
8.56
1.82
716
8.09
2.32
Yes
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Children with Aboriginal status (self-identified as North American Indian, First Nation,
Metis, or Inuit-Census 2006 definition); scored significantly lower in all five domains
when compared to children with non-Aboriginal status. It is important to use caution
in interpretation of this table, given that this group is less than 5% of the children
in the sample.
Table 7: Effect of Aboriginal Status on mean scores in EDI domains
Domains
Physical health and
well-being
Social competence
Emotional maturity
Language and
cognitive
development
Communication skills
and general
knowledge
Aboriginal
N
Mean
SD
Non- Aboriginal
N
Mean SD
Statistically
Significant?
41
8.40
1.53
802
8.93
1.22
Yes
41
8.18
1.64
801
8.72
1.53
Yes
41
7.81
1.60
797
8.32
1.41
Yes
41
7.91
1.73
802
8.59
1.57
Yes
41
7.38
2.71
802
8.22
2.21
Yes
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Early interventions programs are defined as speech/language therapy, Head Start, a
school-based program for mild/moderate or Program Unit Funded children, or if
similar services were provided in the home.
Table 8: Effect of attending an early intervention program on mean scores in EDI
domains
Domains
Physical health and
well-being
Social competence
Emotional maturity
Language and
cognitive
development
Communication skills
and general
knowledge
Early Intervention
N
Mean
SD
Statistically
No Early Intervention Significant?
N
Mean SD
103
8.76
1.44
703
8.91
1.25
No
103
8.63
1.62
702
8.71
1.51
No
103
8.18
1.60
700
8.27
1.42
No
103
8.55
1.85
703
8.53
1.58
No
103
7.71
2.66
703
8.23
2.20
Yes
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Language and religion classes are such things as Sunday school, or Hebrew or
Spanish classes. The influence of language and/or religious classes was limited to
two domains of children’s readiness to learn at school.
Table 9: Effect of attending language or religious classes on mean scores in EDI
domains
Domains
Physical health and
well-being
Social competence
Emotional maturity
Language and
cognitive
development
Communication skills
and general
knowledge
Language/ Religion
Classes
N
Mean SD
No Language/
Religion Classes
N
Mean SD
Statistically
Significant?
87
9.10
1.32
612
8.87
1.27
No
87
8.96
1.47
612
8.67
1.52
No
86
8.63
1.42
610
8.24
1.43
Yes
87
8.97
1.23
612
8.49
1.60
Yes
87
8.42
2.09
612
8.17
2.22
No
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No significant differences were found in developmental readiness scores with
respect to the types of non-parental care arrangement. Non-parental care
arrangements include care at a day care centre, family day home, or in the child’s
own home by relatives or non-relatives.
Table 11: Effect of type of non-parental care arrangement on mean scores in EDI
domains
Domains
N
Physical health and
well-being
Social competence
Emotional maturity
Language and
cognitive
development
Communication skills
and general
knowledge
Full Time
Mean
SD
Part Time
N
Mean SD
Statistically
Significant?
131
8.84
1.33
100
8.81
1.24
No
131
8.55
1.61
100
8.86
1.32
No
131
8.15
1.56
100
8.29
1.61
No
131
8.24
1.86
100
8.74
1.31
Yes
131
8.03
2.38
100
8.47
1.83
No
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There was a link between scores of children who attended part-time preschool
educational activities and the EDI domains. Part time preschool activities are
programs that do not provide full day child care and do not involve an early intervention
component. On all five domains children who attended part-time preschool have
significantly higher scores than children who did not attend.
Table 10: Effect of attending part-time preschool on mean scores in EDI domains
Domains
Physical health and
well-being
Social competence
Emotional maturity
Language and
cognitive
development
Communication skills
and general
knowledge
Preschool
N
Mean SD
No Preschool
Statistically
N
Mean SD Significant?
303
9.11
1.09
370
8.78
1.37
Yes
303
8.84
1.43
370
8.54
1.58
Yes
303
8.49
1.33
369
8.06
1.51
Yes
303
8.86
1.45
370
8.29
1.65
Yes
303
8.60
1.98
370
7.82
2.38
Yes
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The 5 developmental domains of the EDI contain16 sub-domains, with the exception of
Communication Skills and General Knowledge, which does not have sub-domains.
The following table shows the sub-domains for each domain.
Physical Health Social
Emotional
Language and Communication
Skills &General
and Well-Being Competence
Maturity
Cognitive
Knowledge
Development
Physical
Overall social
Prosocial and
Basic literacy
Communication
competence
readiness
helping
skills and
for school day
behaviour
Interest
general
knowledge
Responsibility
Anxious and
in literacy
and respect
Physical
fearful
numeracy and
independence
behaviour
memory
Approaches to
Aggressive
learning
behaviour
Gross and fine
Advanced
motor skills
literacy
Readiness
Hyperactivity
to explore
and
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new things
inattention
Basic literacy
Key components of communication and general knowledge include effective
communication, ability to participate in story-telling or imaginative play, clear
articulation, demonstration of adequate general knowledge, and proficiency of
children in their native language.
Communication and General Knowledge
53.8
0%
20%
Ready for school
24.4
40%
60%
Middle
21.9
80%
Not Ready for school
100%
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Next Steps
Policy makers, schools, service providers, libraries, and community
organizations can use the results to make decisions about programs
and allocation of resources.
EDI results for Red Deer will be mapped, as is done in British
Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Manitoba
Through Alberta Education, all school districts in Alberta will be
involved in collecting information on the readiness to learn of
kindergarten children, using the EDI Instrument.
The Red Deer EDI results will become part of the provincial project
Collection of the information on new groups of kindergarten students
will allow trends to be examined.
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Next Steps
Policy makers, schools, service providers, libraries, and community
organizations can use the results to make decisions about programs
and allocation of resources.
EDI results for Red Deer will be mapped, as is done in British
Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Manitoba
Through Alberta Education, all school districts in Alberta will be
involved in collecting information on the readiness to learn of
kindergarten children, using the EDI Instrument.
The Red Deer EDI results will become part of the provincial project
Collection of the information on new groups of kindergarten students
will allow trends to be examined.
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For more information, contact Laurie Lafortune, Red Deer
Understanding the Early Years Coordinator at Family
Services of Central Alberta: 403-309-8224
[email protected]
Research Summaries and the full report will be available at
www.fsca.ca
Thank you for your participation!
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