• Return to UEY Project Activities page

In 2006 and 2007, the project is focused on gathering quantitative and qualitative information from many sources to learn more about our region's children six and under, their parents and the early childhood assets available to them in their communities.

Key Data Gathering Tools:

• EDI
• PIDACS
• Asset Inventory
• Child Care Information Action Project
• Early Childhood Atlas

All UEY projects implement two standardized research tools, the Early Development Instrument (EDI) and PIDACS (Parent Interview and Direct Assessment of Children Survey).

The EDI is a questionnaire, filled out by kindergarten teachers, to gather information on five areas of child development. "The EDI can be viewed as a measure of how well children's early years have served them as they enter the school system. It is not a measure of any school factor, but an indicator of how well their genetics, health, relationships and environments have promoted their development in the five different domains." (Vancouver Island Early Years Report - [PDF 2.3MB] - 2006, The Early Years on Vancouver Island, page 41). It is not an assessment of individual children, but a tool to monitor populations of children over time.

In 2006, the UEY project worked in partnership with the four school districts in the region to implement the EDI. Data was collected from over 2300 children. Results for our site are available on the HELP website. And the UEY project will be releasing further data this year.

Child Developmental Domains Measured by the EDI

Physical Health & Well Being
Measures:

• Fine and gross motor development
• Levels of energy
• Established handedness
• Daily preparedness for school (tired, late, hungry)
• Washroom independence

Social Competence
Measures:

• Cooperative and respectful to others (children and adults)
• Able to work within the school environment
• Socially appropriate in behaviour during school activities
• Self-control, self-confidence

Emotional Maturity
Measures:

• Pro-social behaviour, helping, tolerance, empathy as opposed to aggressive behaviour, anxiety, hyperactivity, inattention, impulsiveness
• Informal, peer-to-peer interaction - as opposed to the more structured interaction measured on the social competence scale

Language and Cognitive Development
Measures:

• Interest in books, reading, language-related activities (rhyming, group reading)
• Literacy - ability to recognize letters, read and write simple words
• Interest in simple math related activities
• Numeracy - ability to recognize and compare numbers, count, sort etc.

Communication & General Knowledge
Measures:

• Ability to clearly communicate one's own needs and understand others
• Clear articulation
• Active participation in story-telling (not necessarily with good grammar or syntax)
• Interest in and general knowledge about the world

[ back to top ]

The Parent Interview and Direct Assessment of Children Survey is the second standardized research tool used by all UEY sites across Canada. It involves two research techniques: a parent interview and an accompanying child assessment. The federal government has contracted Malatest & Associates Ltd., with offices located here in Victoria, to manage and coordinate the delivery of this research. Of course, the UEY coordinator and participating school districts provide necessary local coordination and support.

The first portion of the research involves a telephone or on-line survey of a primary care giver/parent of the kindergarten child. Questions cover general information about the family, the child's health and behaviours, child and family involvement in community activities, parenting styles, child care, perceptions of the quality and safety of the neighbourhood they live in, and so on. During this interview, parents will give their consent for their children to participate in three assessments that will take place at their school, during class time. The child assessment tools are: Number Knowledge, Who Am I and Peabody Picture and Vocabulary Test. Assessors are experienced educational professionals who have worked in our schools in Greater Victoria and have come recommended by UEY project partners. All have worked with young children, are knowledgeable and know how important it is to create a positive experience for the child.

The UEY Greater Victoria site collected data from 700 kindergarten children and their parents. Our reports will be written by Doug Willms and should be shared with us in 2008 by the federal government.

Thank you to all the parents and children who are taking valuable time to participate!

[ back to top ]

We are also designing and implementing our own data collection tools.

We have established a database with over 1000 assets in the region that the PLAY coalition has identified as important supports for healthy early childhood development. We are now starting to map this information by municipality for further analysis of our local supports for young children and families. Visit the Asset Inventory page to learn more.

Childcare has been identified as an important early childhood asset in our region. Our project is currently gathering childcare information that will support analysis and mapping to provide us with a picture of our regional situation with respect to staffing (recruitment and retention of child care staff and professionals), childcare costs and funding, as well as child care spaces and availability. We will be compiling our data by municipality and preparing research briefs to share with respective municipal councilors and planners.

Early Childhood Atlas

The UEY project will begin the development on an Early Childhood Atlas upon the completion of the Early Years Report Series for the Capital Region. PLAY and Early Years coalition members will identify key themes for further research, mapping and analysis which will form the basis of the Early Childhood Atlas for the region.

Additionally, we also hope that the data gathered by the UEY project will also be integrated into VIHA's Health Atlas.

[ back to top ]

---

This project was developed with funding from Human Resources and Social Development Canada under the Understanding the Early Years Initiative.

[ back to top ]