Early Years ELGIN Community Profile COUNTY PRINTED:SEPTEMBER 2008 Profile Summary This profile provides census data, a social risk index, and measurements of school readiness (Early Development INSIDE THIS Instrument, EDI). Reading this profile will help provide you REPORT: with a picture of our communities and the well being and development of our children. If you have questions about the 2006 data definitions and collection methods, please refer to page 3 2 Census Data (EDI) and page 4 (census, social risk index & EDI). Elgin County’s population grew by approximately 5% between 2006 Social 2001 and 2006, to 85350 people. Of the entire population for 2 Risk Index Elgin County, 7250 or 8.5% are children ages 0-6 years. There was a decline in this age group by approximately 4% from 2001 EDI Results to 2006. The East Elgin region is still home to the highest 2 2005/2006 proportion of children ages 0-6 years per capita. The level of social risk experienced in Elgin County is high in What is the some areas when viewed at the County level. St. Thomas, Ayl- 3 EDI? mer and Bayham report the greatest presence of characteris- tics associated with risk and disadvantage. To see a more de- % Vulnerable tailed breakdown of social risk by EDI district, please refer to 3 Children the lower tiered municipal community profiles. The 2005/2006 average EDI scores for Elgin County were higher than the Provincial average in the categories of Notes about Physical Health & Well-Being and Communication Skills & General Knowledge. When examining school readi- 4 Data ness levels by skill category (see table below), 75% or more of children in Elgin County scored “ready” for school in 10 of the 16 skill subcategories. There were only three sub-categories in which 25% or more of the children were classified as “not ready”. These subcategories were: communication skills, prosocial and helping behaviour, and gross and fine motor skills. not ready County of Elgin School Readiness Levels by Skill Category middle ready Communication skills and general know ledge 40% 22% 38% Interest and memory 12% 11% 77% Complex literacy skills 14% 6% 80% Basic literacy and numeracy 9% 6% 86% Basic literacy 8% 15% 78% Prosocial and helping behaviour 28% 38% 34% Hyperactive and inattentive behaviour 13% 17% 69% lls & General Knowledge Anxious and fearful behaviour 1%8% 91% Aggressive behaviour 6% 10% 85% Respect and responsibility 4% 17% 79% Readiness Skills Readiness to explore new things 2% 15% 83% Overall social competence w ith peers 6% 32% 62% Independence and adjustment 8% 29% 63% Early Development Instrument (EDI) Readiness School of Categories Com: Communication Ski Lit: Language and Cognitive Development Em: Emotional Maturity Soc: Social Competence Phy: Physical Health & Well-Being Categories and Sub-Categories of School ofSchool Sub-Categories and Categories Gross & fine motor skills 37% 15% 48% Physical independence 9% 92% Physical readiness for school 8% 26% 76% PhyPhyPhySocSocSocSoc Em Em Em Em Lit Lit Lit Lit Com 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100 % % of Children By Readiness Level Page 2 of 4 Community Profile for: Elgin County Elgin Dutton Central Ontario Malahide Aylmer Bayham Dunwich/ Southwold St. Thomas West Elgin Province of of Province Census (2006, Statistics Canada) Elgin County Population 7065 6730 12725 3820 8830 4725 36110 5350 85350 12160280 Population Age 0—6 years 685 710 845 285 980 355 3020 375 7250 950570 % of population ages 0—6 9.7 10.5 6.6 7.5 11.1 7.5 8.4 7.0 8.5 7.8 % Total aboriginal origins population 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.4 0.7 1.5 1.1 1.1 2.0 % French language spoken in home 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 2.7 % Non-official language spoken in home 12 16 3 1 16 2 3 5 6 17 % Lone parent families 15 11 10 12 8 9 18 12 14 16 % without high school graduation certificate, age 25 + 40 47 21 26 39 23 26 37 30 22 Unemployment rate, age 15 + 5.5 7.1 5.0 3.6 4.5 2.6 6.3 4.4 5.5 6.4 % Low income after tax 2005 for economic families 6.5 3.9 3.0 2.8 2.2 2.6 6.8 4.8 5.0 8.6 % Movers age 1 year and over, 1 year ago 14 8 10 10 12 7 18 8 13 13 % Income from government transfer pay- ments for economic families 13 16 8 9 11 8 12 15 11 9 % Owner occupied private dwellings 72 81 89 86 83 89 68 83 76 71 % Tenant occupied private dwellings 28 19 11 14 17 11 32 17 24 29 % Owner households spending 30% or more of household income on owner’s major pay- 17 23 14 15 19 19 15 22 17 21 ments % Tenant households spending 30% or more of household income on gross rent 39 29 38 31 18 14 43 41 39 44 SOCIAL RISK INDEX: scale is 0-9, 9 being greatest risk. For methodology go to page 4. 4 4 0 1 3 0 5 2 2 n/a Early Development Instrument (EDI) Provincial Results 2005/2006 baseline Valid questionnaires 65 51 112 39 75 36 389 46 813 113710 Categories of School Readiness (scale 0-10, 10 being best possible score) Physical Health and Well-Being 9.00 8.70 8.70 9.00 9.10 8.70 8.70 8.10 8.75 8.91 Social Competence 8.80 8.30 8.70 8.50 8.80 8.00 8.30 7.70 8.39 8.34 Emotional Maturity 8.40 8.20 8.40 8.20 8.50 7.70 8.00 8.10 8.12 8.09 Language and Cognitive Development 8.50 8.60 8.70 8.80 8.90 8.80 8.80 9.20 8.78 8.57 Communication Skills & General Knowledge 8.80 6.80 7.40 8.40 8.00 8.10 7.60 7.60 7.72 7.80 % Low on at least ONE readiness to learn category (lowest 10th percentile) 32.3% 35.2% 25.0% 20.5% 22.6% 33.3% 31.8% 21.7% 29.3% 27.3% % Low on at least TWO readiness to learn categories (lowest 10th percentile) 12.3% 23.5% 9.8% 12.8% 12.0% 19.4% 15.9% 13.0% 14.8% 13.8% Early Years Community Profile: Elgin County Page 3 of 4 What is the Early Development Instrument (EDI) ? The EDI is a population based tool used to assess children's development as they enter the formal education system. It is a checklist consisting of over 120 questions about children's behaviour and developmental characteristics within the classroom. The EDI questionnaire is completed by Senior Kindergarten teachers after several months of classroom interaction and observation. The questionnaires are processed by the Offord Centre for Child Studies to provide community scores for different school readiness skills. This information can then be used by families and children's organizations to help prepare children for their entry into Grade One. The following are the EDI's 5 categories and sub-categories of school readiness 1. Physical Health & Well Being Gross and fine motor skills: Ability to perform skills requiring gross and fine motor competence, and ability to sustain energy levels during the day. Physical independence: Physically prepared for active participation in school activities—being dressed appropriately, coming to school on time, not hungry or tired. Physical readiness for school work: Self-hygiene, independence, handedness, coordination and lack of signs of dependence like finger-sucking. 2. Social Knowledge & Competence Respect and responsibility: Respect for others and for property, shown by: self-control, following rules, taking care of materials, and accepting responsibility for actions. Readiness to explore new things: Curiosity and eagerness to explore new toys, books and games. Overall social competence with peers: Overall social skills, self-confidence, ability to get along with various children. Independence and adjustment: Working habits and problem-solving abilities, ability to adjust to class routines. 3. Emotional Health & Maturity % Low: The Prosocial and helping behaviour: Basic empathy and willingness to help others who may need assistance or percent of encouragement. children who Hyperactive and inattentive behaviours: Restlessness and distractibility, inability to concentrate. scored in the Anxious and fearful behaviour: Anxiety, excessive crying, sadness and fearfulness, lack of comfort with school. lowest 10th 4. Language & Cognitive Development percentile in Interest and memory: Interest in participating in literacy and numeracy-oriented activities. one or more Complex literacy skills: Reading and writing. categories of Basic literacy and numeracy: Number recognition and counting, comfort with basic mathematical concepts. school readi- Basic literacy: basic abilities to recognize written words and to participate in literacy-oriented play. ness. 5. Communication Skills & General Knowledge Ability to communicate needs and ideas effectively, interest in the surrounding world. The EDI results in this report establish a baseline of children's developmental readiness as they begin school in Elgin County. This report is meant to provide planning groups with evidence-based data that will help inform policy and service plans. The EDI data should not be used exclusively for planning purposes but should be used in combination with other data sources related to child development. Other data sources may include socio-economic, health and program/service information at the neighbourhood level. This will provide a more complete picture of each Township in Elgin County.