Helping our children through community research in Prince Edward Island

Helping our children through community research in Prince Edward Island

Date: November 15, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND - Working together for children to get a good start in life, the Government of Canada and the Early Childhood Development Association of Prince Edward Island released today the Early Childhood Development in Prince Edward Island report.

Prince Edward Island is one of 13 communities across Canada currently participating in the Understanding the Early Years (UEY) initiative. It is one of five Understanding the Early Years pilot communities to release a report on its findings. The Early Childhood Development in Prince Edward Island report describes children's outcomes in Prince Edward Island and explains them in terms of family and community factors.

"The Government of Canada is very supportive of the Understanding the Early Years initiative and encourages the Early Childhood Development Association to continue on in its work to support the young children of Prince Edward Island," said Lawrence MacAulay, Solicitor General of Canada and Member of Parliament for Cardigan. & The Government of Canada recognizes that the early years are important to the growth and well-being of children and funding such research will help governments and communities to develop the best policies to ensure that young children are ready to learn."

" Understanding the Early Years is an important study and I am very pleased that the province of Prince Edward Island has been an active participant from the start," said Premier Pat Binns. "Knowledge that our children are doing well is no doubt a reflection of our strong Island communities. We look forward to working with communities to improve outcomes for children through our provincial healthy child development strategy.&

The report points out that the children of Prince Edward Island were healthy and showed strong signs of positive development and readiness for learning. " Parents had relatively strong parenting skills and were members of supportive, stable communities, factors that undoubtedly contribute to PEI's success in achieving high children's outcomes, " said Sarah Henry Gallant, UEY Research Coordinator

Understanding the Early Years is a national research initiative funded by Human Resources Development Canada. It involves early childhood educators, teachers, parents, guardians and community agencies, and Canada's leading child development researchers working together to improve the well-being of children between the ages of 0 and 6. The research evidence will be used by communities to identify needs for local activities and services supporting families with children. Governments will also use this research to help understand how well young children are doing and what the key influences are to develop the policies that best promote the well-being of children. The Understanding the Early Years research findings indicates whether the children have the supports they need to develop fully, how well they are doing as they enter school and what the governments and communities can do to help them become ready to learn.

As other communities participating in the Understanding the Early Years initiative report their findings, valuable lessons will be learned about the needs and strengths of communities across Canada with different economic, social and physical characteristics and how we can work together to improve children's outcomes.

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For more information, please contact:
Regional Communications
Human Resources Development Canada
(902) 566-7653

BACKGROUNDER

Understanding the Early Years - Prince Edward Island

What are the key research findings of The Understanding the Early Years (UEY) report, Early Childhood Development in Prince Edward Island?

• Using three tests, the National Longitudinal Survey on Children and Youth (NLSCY) found that children in Prince Edward Island (PEI) scored above the national averages on direct assessments of their vocabulary and cognitive development. The Early Development Instrument (EDI) found that the results for the children of PEI on each of the five domains of school readiness exceeded the average of all children evaluated in 1999-2000.

• In PEI, parents had relatively strong parenting skills, and were members of safe, high quality neighbourhoods. The result of positive parenting was by far the highest in the study, 37% for the difference in physical health/well-being, and 131% for the difference in behaviour.

• Based on NLSCY data, use of resources was low for PEI and the combined data of the first five UEY communities, 3.4 and 3.2 on a 10.0 point scale, respectively.

• PEI scored 69.7/100 on family and community indicators, 2.8 points above the average for the five pilot communities.

• Despite good overall development in PEI, cognitive development and positive behaviour could be improved by greater parental engagement in children's learning activities, which was the province's weakest area on the 10 indicators.

• Participation in UEY is voluntary and involves pre-school children's parents, early childhood educators, guardians and agencies in the community. UEY will help ensure that communities know the specific needs of their children and will help communities put in place the strategies that will help young children reach their full potential.

• The Early Childhood Development Association (ECDA) of Prince Edward Island has been active since 1974 in increasing awareness about the importance of the early years and working with their community to ensure that all children enter school ready for successful learning.

• The Early Childhood Development Association of Prince Edward Island is a provincial, non-profit organization group that supports the UEY initiative in Prince Edward Island. Members of the ECDA include those involved or interested in early childhood care and education on Prince Edward Island, owners and operators of licensed early childhood care and education facilities, early childhood educators, professionals in related fields and parents.

• Before a community can plan how to improve the developmental outcomes for children, it is necessary to have an accurate and complete answer to the question, " How are our children doing now?" Understanding the Early Years (UEY) helps answer this question as well as providing insight into another important question, " Are we making a difference?"

• The Early Childhood Development Association of PEI will work with the UEY Community Advisory Committee to prepare knowledge action plans based on the UEY research that will help their pre-school children both before and after they enter school.

• Show how communities influence child development in the early years. To do this, the Understanding the Early Years initiative includes three research tools: the teacher-completed Early Development Instrument (EDI); the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth Community Study (NLSCY-CS); and a Community Mapping Study (CMS).

• Profile the type and availability of community resources for families and children.

• Provide community members with a way of assessing how well the needs of local families with young children are being met.

• Learn how research can be used at the community level to bring about improvements for children.

• Study the durability of results from early interventions by supporting a " learning community.&