Early Childhood Development
Overall Vulnerability
Vulnerability Across Specific Domains
The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a survey that measures school readiness and developmental progress in Senior Kindergarten students at a random subset of Ontario schools. It measures the developmental progress in five domains: physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication and general knowledge. Mean scores for each domain are presented on a scale of 0 to 10.
The results of the EDI are analysed and summaries are provided to the health unit separately for Simcoe County and the District of Muskoka. Significant differences between EDI results are therefore calculated using different methods. The results provided do not include children identified as special needs.
Early Childhood Development
In the 2015 EDI cycle, Simcoe County children scored lower than previous years on all domains. Muskoka children have improved significantly across four cycles for all domains except for physical health and well-being which has decreased significantly from the previous (2012) cycle and from the baseline (2006).
Simcoe children scored significantly lower than the Ontario average on physical health and wellbeing, social competence and emotional maturity, but significantly higher on language and cognitive development and communication and general knowledge. Children from the District of Muskoka scored significantly better than the Ontario average for social competence, and significantly lower on physical health and well-being; all other domains were on par with the provincial average.
Girls in the District of Muskoka scored significantly higher than boys across every domain, children in French Immersion programs also scored significantly higher than their non-French Immersion peers. No comparable information was available for Simcoe County.
Overall Vulnerability in Simcoe and Muskoka Children
Vulnerable children are identified as those who score below the 10th percentile of the Ontario baseline population (lower than 90% of students surveyed in Ontario in the initial 2004-2006 survey) on one or more domains.
Children are identified as ‘at risk’ for specific domains where they scored between the 10th and 25th percentile compared to the Ontario baseline population, and students who scored above the 25th percentile are identified as ‘on track’.
Research has shown that vulnerability measured by the EDI can predict vulnerability later in life including health, learning and behaviour issues. Further, EDI performance has been linked to later school performance, including on 3rd grade Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) assessments.
Over 30% of Simcoe and Muskoka children were identified as vulnerable on at least one domain (scoring below the 10th percentile compared to 2006 Ontario data), and 15% were vulnerable on two or more domains. Significantly more children in Simcoe and Muskoka were identified as vulnerable on at least one domain than across the province as a whole. Simcoe children also scored significantly higher than the provincial average on two more domains, but were consistent with the provincial average on the Multiple Challenge index (children who are vulnerable on 9 or more subdomains).
Results from the 2015 EDI show that improving trends in Simcoe County are being reversed as more children are identified as vulnerable in the 2015 cycle compared to 2010 across most domains except for communication and general knowledge.
Vulnerability Across Specific Domains
Vulnerability across specific domains and subdomains can help to identify areas where increased efforts in schools can improve early childhood development.
Physical Health & Wellbeing
A significantly higher proportion of children in Simcoe and Muskoka were identified as vulnerable in the physical health & wellbeing domain compared to the provincial average.
Almost a third of Muskoka children and approximately a quarter of Simcoe County children were meeting few or none of the expectations for fine and gross motor skills. For physical independence, 15% of Muskoka children and 10% of Simcoe children were meeting few or none of the expectations, and for physical readiness for the school day, roughly 5% of Simcoe and Muskoka children were meeting few or none of the expectations. Both Simcoe and Muskoka had a higher proportion of children meeting few or none of the expectations compared to Ontario.
Social Competence
Fewer children in Simcoe and Muskoka were identified as vulnerable compared to the provincial average, however, a considerably higher proportion of children were identified as at risk.
Compared to the provincial average, fewer Simcoe County children were identified as meeting few to none of the expectations for readiness to explore new things, however, a higher proportion were identified as meeting few to none of the expectations for overall social competence, responsibility and respect and approaches to learning. Fewer Muskoka children were identified as meeting few to none of the expectations for readiness to explore new things, and more than the provincial average were identified as meeting few to none of the expectations for overall social competence.
Emotional Maturity
A significantly higher proportion of Simcoe and Muskoka children were identified as vulnerable in the emotional maturity domain compared to the provincial average, similar proportions of Simcoe and Muskoka children were identified as at risk and on track.
A higher proportion of Simcoe children were identified as meeting few to none of the expectations for all four subdomains of emotional maturity compared to Ontario children. Compared to all Ontario children, fewer Muskoka children were identified as meeting few or none of the expectations for prosocial and helping behaviours and a higher proportion of Muskoka children met few or none of the expectations for aggressive behaviour and hyperactivity and inattention. The proportion of Muskoka children performing poorly in the anxious and fearful behaviour subdomain was similar to the provincial average.
Language and Cognitive Development
A significantly lower proportion of Simcoe and Muskoka children were identified as vulnerable and at risk in the language and cognitive development domain compared to Ontario overall.
Simcoe and Muskoka children performed better (fewer identified as meeting few or none of the expectations) than the provincial average on basic literacy, advanced literacy, interest in literacy/numeracy and memory and basic numeracy.
Communication and General Knowledge
A higher proportion of Simcoe and Muskoka children were identified as vulnerable and at risk on the communication and general knowledge domain compared to the Ontario average.
Just over a quarter of Simcoe and Muskoka children were identified as meeting few or none of the expectations for the communication skills and general knowledge subdomain, similar to the provincial average.
Note
Simcoe County did not participate in the 2012 cycle of the EDI.