Major Partners

What is UEY? A national initiative funded by Human Resources and Social

Development Canada (HRSDC).

Enables community members to understand the needs of young children and their families.

Enables community members to work together to address those needs.

Seeks to answer the question, “What family and community factors affect children’s readiness to learn at school?”

Looks at kindergarten children through the use of a teacher-completed questionnaire (EDI) and a more in-depth assessment of a sample of parents and children (PIDACS).

Principles of UEY

The early years are critical for children’s development and well-being.

A child’s family and community are key influences on overall development.

Research and knowledge are needed to guide programs and policies that enhance early childhood development.

Effective communities engage their citizens and utilize resources in creative collaborative ways to address challenges.

Benefits of an Understanding the Early Years Project

For Parents and Children:

Helps decision-makers to better understand the needs of children and families in our city.

Helps parents better understand ways to enhance their children’s development.

For Communities:

Provides a catalyst to work together on behalf of families and children.

Benefits of an Understanding the Early Years Project (cont’d)

For Educators:

Helps determine the factors that impact on children’s readiness to learn and success upon arrival at school.

Can provide information to guide decision-making.

For Non-Governmental Organizations:

Encourages collaboration and partnering to improve the effectiveness of program and service delivery.

For Governments:

Informs policy and program development related to early childhood development and community engagement.

Understanding the Early Years Communities

Funding

Full time community coordinator

Researchers/mapping technician

Communications and knowledge dissemination

Community engagement activities

Community Mapping Report

Community Action Plan

UEY Red Deer has a contribution agreement, with funding of $358,660 provided over approximately three years. The funds support:

Funding (cont’d)

Hire independent researchers who will work with the schools.

Cover teacher replacement costs during training and data collection times.

Additional funds from HRSDC are earmarked to:

Key Components of UEYA. Gathering Information

• Children’s development and experiences

• Early Development Instrument (EDI)

• Parent Interviews and Direct Assessment of Children (PIDACS)

• Inventory of community programs and services

• Local socio-economic characteristics

B. Building Knowledge

• Community Research Report and EDI Report

• Community Mapping Report

• Community Action Plan

C. Enabling Communities

• Transferring knowledge

• Working together to act on the knowledge

• Strengthening the ability to make decisions

What has UEY Research Shown?

No one family or community factor is the magic answer for improving children’s development.

Positive childhood outcomes are found in families that function well in the following areas:

• Parents who use positive approaches to parenting.

• Families who are involved in learning activities.

• Families who utilize community programs and resources.

• Families who are in good mental health.

• Families who have a high level of social support and live in communities where neighbours support each other.

Findings from Previous UEY Communities:

An increased community understanding of the importance of the early years.

An increase in community involvement in early childhood development from parents, educators, businesses, governments.

New and strengthened relationships with communities.

Findings from Previous UEY Communities (cont’d):

What has UEY Research Shown?

Accomplishments in Previous UEY Communities

New playgrounds

Pre-school programs increased

Community ‘Champions’ identified and engaged

Re-organization of Ontario Early Years Centres’ programs

Cross-sector coalition to address addiction issues

Food charter

Mom’s Groups

Readiness centers and literacy program

Accomplishments in Previous UEY Communities (cont’d)

Information portfolio: Understanding and Supporting Early Childhood Development

Story telling program

Calendars highlighting early childhood activities

Booklet for parents

Inventory for Francophone families in Manitoba

Collaboration on local parenting TV show

Collaboration on Aboriginal Elders DVD for families about cultural heritage

UEY Red Deer Key Players

Recipient OrganizationFamily Services of Central Alberta,

Walter Lidster, Executive Director Laurie Lafortune, Community Coordinator

Community CoalitionThe Children’s Working Group and the

UEY Steering Committee

ResearchersDr. Donna Morrison, with Raj Navaratnam and Nigel Stuart from

Red Deer College

School DistrictsRed Deer Catholic Regional SchoolsRed Deer Public Schools

Human Resources and Social Development Canada

Independent Contractors (hired by HRSDC)

Role of the Schools

The school districts will support the data collection process by:

Providing needed information to contractors to carry out the data collection

Facilitating the contractors’ meetings with schools and teachers

Facilitating the distribution and collection of the parent letter and consent form, including follow up as necessary to reach new parents to the city or non-responding parents

Assisting with organizing kindergarten teacher training sessions and determining teacher reimbursement rates

Early Development Instrument and the Parent Interviews and Direct Assessments of Children are the two instruments used to collect data.

Role of the Schools (cont’d)

Distributing teacher packages to the schools

Collecting completed EDI questionnaires and returning to coordinator

Providing space for direct assessments in the PIDACS collection

Providing a list of families interested in participating in the in-depth assessments.

Time Frames and Activities

May 2007 – March 2008 (Completed)

Hired project staff

Developed Communications and Knowledge Transfer Plan

Conducted inventory of community programs and services

Completed Community Mapping Report, with socio-economic data and inventory of community programs and services data (no EDI or PIDACS data for this first version)

Developed parent information letter and permission forms about the UEY project

Developed presentation materials

Understanding the Early YearsBoundaries for Red Deer

April 2008 – March 2009

Ensure EDI and PIDACS data collection is completed

• Participate in EDI and PIDACS information sessions

• Liaise with contractors and schools as requested during data collections

Continue to develop reader-friendly research products

Time Frames and Activities (cont’d)

April 2009 – March 2010

Receive Early Development Instrument Report from the Offord Centre at McMaster University

Receive Community Research Report from independent contractor

Continue to develop and share reader-friendly research dissemination products

Develop Community Action Plan

Complete final results-based research report

Time Frames and Activities (cont’d)

Work with the community to develop an understanding of and commitment to the UEY project

Support and strengthen the community coalition

Communicate the importance of the early years

Share UEY project results on an ongoing basis

Develop tools and products to assist parents and others to better understand early childhood development

Ongoing Activities Throughout the Project

Websites

Human Resources and Social Development Canadawww.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/hip/sd/300_UEYInfo.shtml

Family Services of Central Albertawww.fsca.ca

Research Activities

Provides information on children’s development and well-being

Generates knowledge of what helps the early development of children: the extent and nature of family and community factors

Identifies challenges that children and families are facing and gaps in programs and services for families

Mobilizes communities to create effective, creative, comprehensive responses to identified needs

Research is critical to UEY Red Deer as it:

Developed by the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University

Completed by kindergarten teachers for each child in their classes

Designed to assess how children are faring as a group in a community in the following five domains of early development:

1. Physical health and well-being2. Social competence3. Emotional maturity4. Language and cognitive development5. Communication skills and general knowledge

Examines how well children are prepared to participate in school activities

The Early Development Instrument (EDI)

How would you rate this child’s:

Level of energy throughout the school day?

Ability to tell a story?

Ability to get along with peers?

Sample EDI Questions

Would you say that this child:

Is able to write simple sentences?

Follows directions?

Appears fearful or anxious?

Carried out in Red Deer schools from January to March 2009

Collected on all kindergarten children in Public and Catholic schools (with parental consent for participation)

Parents to be informed of the research and required to provide consent to participation and use of data collected for the community

Kindergarten teachers to be trained to administer the EDI

Collecting the EDI Data

Uses instruments designed and adapted for five-year-olds in the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY)

Has two complementary components; parent questionnaire and three direct assessments of children

Collects information from a parent or guardian regarding: kindergarten child’s development, family, child care and other community experiences (1 hour telephone interview)

Child completes three activities to assess his or her cognitive development: identifies pictures, reproduces shapes, and works with numbers (30 minutes with an assessor, at school )

Parent Interviews and Direct Assessments of Children (PIDACS)

During the past 12 months, how many weeks did you do any work at a job or business?

Sample PIDACS Questions

Agree or Disagree About your Family:

In times of crisis, we can turn to each other for support

We avoid discussing our fears or concerns

What is the highest level of education that you have ever attained?

How Often do You (or your spouse):

Read aloud to _____ or listen to him read?

Sing songs with him?

Teach him to read words?

Developed by Lloyd and Leota Dunn at the University of Hawaii

Widely used to assess receptive or hearing vocabulary for any age group (2 ½ years to adult)

Children with low scores are at risk of experiencing difficulties in learning to read

The test requires the child to identify one of the four pictures on a card at hearing a word spoken by the assessor

Pictures and words become progressively difficult as the test continues

Direct Assessments of Children-Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R)

Developed by Molly de Lemos and colleagues at the Australian Council for Educational Research

Used with children from 3 to 7 years of age and in UEY, kindergarten children enrolled in schools

Assesses the cognitive processes underlying early literacy and numeracy skills

Consists of three scales: symbols (circle, cross, square, triangle, and diamond); copying (printing name, letters, numbers, words, and sentences); and drawing (a picture of self)

The child completes as many tasks as he or she can in a booklet while the assessor turns the pages and gives instructions

Direct Assessments of Children-Who Am I?

Developed originally by Robbie Case at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto and later shortened for NLSCY (National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth)

Used with children from about 3 ½ to 10 ½ years of age

Assesses understanding of quantity (more or less) and the system of whole numbers (number sequence and simple arithmetic)

Children with this intuitive knowledge generally do well in math

Children without this knowledge, or working in non-mother-tongue, often have difficulty demonstrating number sense and mastering basic arithmetic

The test, administered orally, continues until the child fails to correctly answer more than half the problems in a level

Direct Assessments of Children-Number Knowledge Test

Participation is voluntary, but crucial, to ensure the collection of accurate data.

Privacy is always an important concern:

• all information collected is kept confidential and used for only statistical purposes, at a neighbourhood (EDI) or community level

• data-sharing agreements will accompany the data files when they are provided to the UEY recipient organization

Data Collection Considerations

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software used to create maps using data from three sources:

1. Community-level Census and other data2. The local Inventory of Programs and Services for families of

young children3. Data on children’s development (EDI data)

Report may also include a description of the community and an analysis of the maps

Developed by each community – without EDI data for first version

The Community Mapping Report

Census data at specific community or neighbourhood levels indicates the socio-economic context of communities, in the areas of employment rate, average income level, education level of parents, family status, residents’ mobility, language, home ownership, immigrant population, and reliance on government transfers

This data can be mapped by local UEY staff

Local Socio-Economic Characteristics:Census Data

Gathers information on:

• Physical and socio-economic characteristics of the neighbourhoods in which children live

• Kinds of programs and services that are available to children aged six (6) and younger and where these programs are located

Helps gain a greater understanding of:

• Whether resources are in close proximity to where children live

• Whether there is equitable distribution of key resources

• The most effective way for the community to plan, prioritize and allocate resources for child development

Insights from Community Mapping

The results of the three research activities (EDI, PIDACS, and Community Mapping) are analyzed to:

Measure children’s early development before they enter school

Show how family and community influences have an impact on child development in the early years

Profile the types and availability of community resources for families and children

Assess how well the needs of families with young children are being met

Learn more about how research can be used at the local level to bring about improvements for children

Analyzing the Research Results

The Community Action Plan, a key product of the local UEY project:

Involves collaboration with the community coalition and other community members interested in improving children’s well-being

Is based on results of the local research

Outlines concrete measures that community members can take to address gaps in programs and services identified by the research

Aims to provide the best possible approaches to meet the needs of their young children

Research, Knowledge, Action

Census Maps

Asset Maps

Websites

Human Resources and Social Development Canadawww.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/hip/sd/300_UEYInfo.shtml

Family Services of Central Albertawww.fsca.ca