Monitoring community progress on School Readiness : The Early Development Instrument World Bank, May 2008

Early years matter: They set the stage for further development

Overview  School readiness and the EDI  School readiness as a child-level indicator  Uses of the EDI data  International data

Readiness to learn concept All children are born ready to learn: the neurosystem is pre-programmed to develop various skills and neuropathways, depending on the experience it receives.

Readiness for school Refers to the child’s ability to meet the task demands of school, such as:  being comfortable exploring and asking questions,  listening to the teacher,  playing and working with other children,  remembering and following rules. In short, it is the ability to benefit from the educational activities that are provided by the school.

 Reliably reflects a broad concept of development  Population level indicator  Useful at macro and micro-levels School readiness is an indicator of child development in a community

Domains of school readiness  Physical health and well-being  Social competence  Emotional maturity  Language and cognitive development  Communication skills and general knowledge

Early Development Instrument (EDI)  Allows to put child development outcome at the same indicator level as birth rate or survival  Completed by teacher (early childhood educator)  104 items grouped into five domains  Context sections relevant to the local context  Items adaptable to the local language/context

Purposes of the EDI  Report on populations of children in different communities  Monitor populations of children over time  Predict how children will do in elementary school

Physical Health and Well-being SUBDOMAINS  Physical readiness for school day - e.g., arriving to school hungry  Physical independence - e.g., having well-coordinated movements  Gross and fine motor skills - e.g., being able to manipulate objects

Social Competence SUBDOMAINS  Overall social competence - e.g., ability to get along with other children  Responsibility and respect - e.g., accept responsibility for actions  Approaches to learning - e.g., working independently  Readiness to explore new things - e.g., eager to explore new items

Emotional Maturity SUBDOMAINS  Pro-social and helping behaviour - e.g., helps other children in distress  Anxious and fearful behaviour - e.g., appears unhappy or sad  Aggressive behaviour - e.g., gets into physical fights  Hyperactivity and inattention - e.g., is restless

Language and Cognitive Development SUBDOMAINS  Basic literacy - e.g., able to write own name  Interest in literacy/numeracy and memory - e.g., interested in games involving numbers  Advanced literacy - e.g., able to read sentences  Basic numeracy - e.g., able to count to 20

Communication Skills and General Knowledge (No subdomains) Ability to clearly communicate one’s own needs and understand others  Clear articulation  Active participation in story-telling (not necessarily with good grammar and syntax)  Interest in general knowledge about the world

Reliability and validity

 Basic psychometric properties (Janus & Offord 2007)  Predictive validity (data from Queb é c, BC, and Ontario, also LSAC)  Cultural relevance and validity

Factors increasing the vulnerability risk  Child health (low)2.35  Gender (boy)2.32  Income (low)2.02  Family status (not intact)1.83  Age (younger half)1.36  Literacy (looking at books) 1.35  Parent smoking 1.29 Janus & Duku, 2007

Predictor of Grade 1 achievement % variance (Total)  EDI to Grade 133.8% (33.8%)  EDI above age, sex, SES23% (36%)  EDI above direct cognitive, language and “readiness” screen5% (50%) Source: Forget-Dubois et al. 2007

The Cost of Vulnerability: Percent ‘Failing to meet expectations’ & Percent ‘Not Passing’ on Grade 4 FSA’s # of Vulnerabilities % Failing to meet % Not passing (kindergarten) expectations Numeracy Reading Hertzman 2008

Vulnerability on EDI and Grade 6 outcomes Percentage of Grade 6 students not meeting provincial standards in relation to number of vulnerabilities in Kindergarten (EDI) TDSB, 2007 N of domains with low scores:

 Reflects a broad concept of development  Population level indicator  Useful at macro and micro-levels School readiness is an indicator of child development in a community

Some Canadian data on the EDI  Not ready: children who score low in one or more of the five domains of the EDI  “Low” - in the lowest 10 percent of the population within their site  Specific for domain  Specific for site  Norms available for comparison

Readiness to Learn at School by Family Income (N=2039) Source: NLSCY/UEY ; EDI %

School readiness and Grade 3 by neighbourhood affluence % below standard in Grade 3 in:

% vulnerable in kindergarten % Neighbourhood affluence

 Reflects a broad concept of development  Population level indicator  Useful at macro and micro-levels School readiness is an indicator of child development in a community

Information from the EDI  Average scores for groups of children in five domains/16 subdomains  Percentages of children who are at risk for not doing well in school: - for each domain - overall

Percentage of Students Vulnerable on One or More scales of the EDI Based on Provincial cutoffs, Wave 1

Percentage of Students Vulnerable on One or More Scales of the EDI Based on Provincial cutoffs, Wave 2

3. Community asset mapping The AEDI community planning process 1. Identifying areas of particular need e.g. Mission Australia funds 3 year play group, language program & mums group at school 4. Mobilising community action 2. Assessing the local distribution of children’s developmental vulnerability

Ways to use the EDI - basic info  Aggregation of results  Macro-level: global picture for a city, state, country  Micro-level: schools, neighbourhoods, non- geographic communities

Ways to use the EDI - comparisons  Geographic areas  Identified groups  Groups based on program attendance  Comparisons of the range of scores - Example: average% vulnerable - Community 1 22% 5.7%to 26.5% - Community 2 28% 10.5% to 46.7%

 Macro-level indicators (e.g., GDP)  Country, city, etc. statistics (e.g., education)  Differences among areas in outcomes for youth or adults (e.g., school drop-out, PISA, adult employment)  Environmental and geographical variables (local: e.g., parks, and global: e.g., pollution)  Cultural differences (e.g., type of nutrition, promotion of independence) Ways to use the EDI - associations

 Neighbourhood-level indicators of risk: socioeconomic, environmental, developmental  Example: Social Risk Index - a sum of risk (1) or no risk (1) level at 9 characteristics  0-2 low SRI, 3-6 moderate SRI, 7-9 high SRI  Combination of SRI and EDI results Ways to use the EDI - associations

Toronto

Montréal

Can the EDI be adapted?  Used in several other countries with minimal changes  Subscale identification allows for valid shortening  Room for adjusting items to ensure relevance to local context

EDI Internationally  Translated/adapted in: Australia, Chile, Egypt, Holland, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Mexico, Moldova, Mozambique, New Zealand, Turkey, US (Washington state counties, currently further adaptation ongoing through UCLA)  Translated: China

Steps in adapting to local context  Experts’ feedback regarding the relevance of items  Possible change: within limits of the subdomains for comparability  Pilot implementation with teachers/ECE  Local validity assessment

Requirements for implementation  Entire groups of children are involved  Respondents know the child in an early learning setting  Respondents capable of interpreting the questions: - minimal training - provision of a written interpretation “guide”

Social Competence – Overall Social Competence Canada 2000/04 Normative Jamaica 2005 Australia 2003 Chile 2004 Seattle 2004 Overall social/emotional dev Gets along with peers Cooperative Plays with various children Self-confidence Cronbach’s alpha % Variation explained

Emotional Maturity – Anxious & Fearful Behaviour CanadaJamaicaAustraliaChileSeattle Upset when left Seems unhappy Fearful Worried Cries a lot Nervous Indecisive Shy Cronbach’s alpha % Variation explained

Language & Cognitive Development – interest literacy/numeracy & memory CanadaJamaicaAustraliaChileSeattle Handles a book Identifies letters Sounds to letters Write own name Experiments writing Cronbach’s alpha % Variation explained

Relationship of the EDI with SES indicators -Canada: low-income cut-off (4 categories) -Australia: disadvantage index (6 categories) -Jamaica: Asset Index (# assets) – quartiles -Kosovo: household financial situation in relation to ability to buy food and clothes (4 categories) -Mexico: Asset Index - 4 categories

Canada: % vulnerable by SES Source: NLSCY/UEY ; EDI %

Australia: % vulnerable by SES %

Jamaica: % vulnerable by SES % Vulnerable SES

Kosovo: % vulnerable by SES % Vulnerable

Mexico: % vulnerable by SES % Vulnerable

Reminder….

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