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“A child’s early experiences set the foundation for her/his success in school and in life,” said Minister of Education Dave Hancock. “By understanding what influences healthy child development, government, families and communities can work together to ensure our young children are provided with the right kinds of experiences to support positive preschool development.”
The initiative will also gather information about local facilities, programs and services available for young children. This information will be used to produce community maps to help explain the differences across communities and the factors that may influence how children are developing.
As the information is interpreted, it will be shared and presented to communities - people who live, work and play within a defined geographic area. Families, school authorities and communities can then use the information to build the best possible programs, facilities and services to help young children develop to their full potential.
“Maps provide us with a sense of direction and they show us routes to destinations,” added Hancock. “This mapping initiative will strengthen our ability to make healthy development a reality for all of our province’s young children.”
The initiative gathers information about children’s development prior to kindergarten entry using the Early Development Instrument (EDI). The questionnaire is completed by kindergarten teachers in February and March. Similar to a census, results from the EDI are interpreted at the group level. No individual child is identified.
This initiative is funded through Alberta Education and is expected to cost $25 million over five years. It supports the Ministry’s priority to continue to improve broad-based supports and early intervention initiatives for at-risk children to improve their learning outcomes.
Backgrounder: The Early Child Development (ECD) Mapping Initiative
Media inquiries may be directed to:
| Zoë Cooper, Communications, Education 780 427 0964 zoe.cooper@gov.ab.ca |
To call toll free within Alberta dial 310-0000.
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The Early Child Development (ECD) Mapping Initiative
The Early Child Development (ECD) Mapping Initiative is a five-year research activity that will give Alberta school authorities, communities and parents/caregivers a comprehensive range of information on children’s development prior to kindergarten.
What is the EDI (Early Development Instrument)?
The questionnaire kindergarten teachers complete collects information on children’s development in five areas: health and readiness for the day (physical health); self-confidence and how they play with others (social competence); ability to concentrate and help others (emotional maturity); interest in reading and writing, ability to recognize shapes and numbers (language development); and ability to tell stories and express themselves (communications skills).
Results from the EDI are designed to be interpreted at the group level. It is a population-based questionnaire, similar to a census, and no individual child is identified. In February and March, kindergarten teachers are given a questionnaire to complete for each child in their classroom. The process is reflective - teachers complete the forms while considering the development of each child in the five developmental areas. Children are not asked any questions and are not even in the room while teachers complete the questionnaire.
How will this help children and communities?
In addition to the EDI questionnaire, the initiative uses Statistics Canada socio-economic data and works with communities to collect information about community assets such as facilities, programming and services for young children. The data will be ‘plotted’ on maps for each community in the province. This type of information can reveal more about the differences across communities in child development; and what factors may be influencing how children are progressing. Families, teachers, key decision-makers and others interested in the well-being of children will be able to use the information gathered through the ECD Mapping Initiative to develop effective policies and programs to help young children develop to their full potential.
Who is participating in the project?
By the spring of 2010, over 40 school authorities in the province will have collected EDI data for over 30,000 children. The goal is that by the end of the project, every kindergarten in Alberta will have collected EDI data at least twice to determine trends in the development of young children in the province.
Why is the Alberta government doing this?
EDI results across Canada indicate that 25 per cent of kindergarten children are vulnerable in one or more of the developmental areas measured. Research shows that it pays to address these concerns as early as possible. The Early Years Study 2, published by the Council for Early Child Development in 2007, notes that every $1 spent in the early childhood years reduces later costs by as much as $3 in school age children and $8 on adult education.
Why is there a five-year timeframe for this initiative?
The initiative will take five years to complete because it involves collections and analysis of three unique sets of data and information.
The contractor required time to hire and train staff, as well as acquire and set up the technology for data analysis and mapping of data and information.
A major component of the initiative is working with communities to define community boundaries, inventory the assets in terms of child development, map the information in conjunctions with the child development data and SES data, and form community early childhood coalitions that will consider how best to use the data for planning.
This type of initiative has been done, and is currently underway, in a number of other Canadian provinces, as well as other countries, and that work has taught us that this is a process and that good research takes time.
What can Albertans expect during the initiative’s five-year time frame?
Albertans will be involved in many facets of the initiative. Parents of kindergarten children will receive information about the initiative and will be asked to provide informed consent for the collection of information about their child; school authorities will receive an overview of the child development data for their overall population. They will be invited to participate at the community coalitions; and, communities will be invited to information sessions about the initiative that will include long term benefits for the children of their community.
During the initiative, communities will receive maps that will clearly demonstrate the development of their children, factors that impact development, and the assets and resources available in the community. This information will help communities build the best possible programs, facilities and services to help young children develop to their full potential.
At the end of the five years, government will have a report on key findings and suggested next steps. In addition, government will have data to assist in making effective and informed decisions about how to best support children and families.
Why is there a $25 million budget for this initiative?
Since 2009, Alberta Education has been working on the Minister’s priority to continue to improve broad-based supports and early intervention initiatives for at-risk children to improve their learning outcomes, including identifying a budget to support the ECD Mapping Initiative.
The budget was established to provide annual support to school authorities so that they can provide training and release time for kindergarten teachers to complete the Early Development Instrument (EDI).
The budget supports a contract with McMaster University to provide guidance in the EDI process, access to the EDI instrument and analysis of the raw data.
Education has contracted with a project team through the University of Alberta (Community-University Partnership) to complete the research, community development, and mapping components of the Initiative.
The budget is split over five years.
Media inquiries may be directed to:
| Zoë Cooper, Communications, Education 780 427 0964 zoe.cooper@gov.ab.ca |
To call toll free within Alberta dial 310-0000.
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