Early Development Instrument (EDI)

It is well known how important the early years in a child’s development are for their later educational outcomes and social and emotional wellbeing. It has also been recognized that tools are needed to measure early development at a population level in a uniform way across communities to assist local, state and national level planning for needed services to young children and their families. The best examples of successful, national efforts to measure early development across communities can be found in Canada and Australia. Using the Early Development Instrument (EDI), developed by researchers at McMaster’s University in Ottawa Canada, these two countries have successfully developed a national measurement system to inform strategies and policies aimed at optimizing child development. The UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities is working with local and national partners to lay the groundwork for national acceptance and replication of the EDI. Nationally, interest in the EDI is gaining momentum. The Center is having discussions with key leadership from the United Way Success by Six program, the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation and the National Center for Children in Poverty about developing a national measurement system for early childhood that uses the EDI. Locally, the Center is preparing to pilot the EDI in the spring of 2008 in an Orange County School District in partnership with and support from, the Children & Families Commission of Orange County and is also exploring a pilot for the state of Connecticut. The expected outcome of this project is to demonstrate the value of using population-level school readiness data to engage communities and mobilize assets on behalf of young children. In the long-term, the expected outcome of this project is to develop a fully functioning school readiness assessment, mapping and community engagement and improvement process that can be used in all Orange County school districts and replicated in other local communities throughout California and nationally.

For additional information, please contact Lisa Stanley, MPH.