Alberta baseline results completed
EDI results for Alberta are based on a cohort of 70,200 kindergarten-age children. EDI information was collected in two waves by school authorities between 2009 and 2013. The data wasmerged to create a provincial baseline for comparing future EDI results and tracking change over time.
Baseline results provide a more complete picture of early development in Alberta than interim results released earlier. Differences between the interim and baseline results do not reflect actual changes in early development. They are largely the result of adding information on large numbers children into the data base. (EDI information was collected on an additional 20,000 children in 2013, for example.)
Summary
- Approximately 46 per cent of kindergarten-aged children in Alberta are developing appropriately in all five areas of development.
- The percentage of children developing appropriately in all five areas of development varies a great deal from one community to another in Alberta. The percentage ranges from a high of 73 per cent to a low of 16 per cent.
- A higher percentage of young children in Alberta are experiencing developmental difficulties as compared to the Canadian norm. Nearly 29 per cent are experiencing great difficulty in one or more areas of development compared to the Canadian norm of 25.4 per cent and 14.7 per cent are experiencing great difficulty in two or more areas of development compared to the Canadian norm of 12.4 per cent.
- About three quarters of young children are developing appropriately in each of the following four areas: physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity and language and thinking skills.
- Nearly a third (31.4 per cent) are experiencing difficulty or great difficulty in communications skills and general knowledge, the area that appears to be the biggest challenge across Alberta.
Alberta baseline EDI results (2009-2013) for five areas of development
*Because of missing data and rounding, percentages may not add up to exactly 100%
Download Baseline EDI results set for Alberta fact sheet. (June 2014)
Download page I-20, an updated page from the Introduction here. (June 2014)