Early Development Instrument (EDI)

Preparing Manitoba Children for School

The first 5 years of children's lives are very important in preparing them for future success in school and life. Ensuring Manitoba children get the best start in life is one of the key reasons for using the Early Development Instrument (EDI). The EDI is an annual questionnaire measuring Kindergarten children's ‘readiness for school’ across several areas of child development. EDI results assist communities in planning for the services and programs children need in order to learn and enjoy their school experience.

What is the Early Development Instrument (EDI)?

• The EDI measures how a group of Kindergarten children is developing compared to children in other communities.
• The EDI is used to help communities identify their strengths and needs so they can best support early childhood development.

Why is the EDI important?

• To know how to best support healthy child development, we need to know how children are doing right now.
• The EDI helps individual communities guide programs and services for children and parents based on the community's identified strengths and needs.

How is the EDI collected?

• Kindergarten teachers complete the EDI questionnaire for all children in their classroom.
• EDI results can only be presented for groups of children; the EDI is never used to assess the development of individual children.

What information does the EDI collect?

• The EDI tells us how children are doing in the following areas of child development:
  • physical health and well-being
  • social competency
  • emotional maturity
  • language and thinking skills
  • communication skills and general knowledge

What do we do with the EDI results?

• The EDI results are shared with:
  • Schools and School Divisions including school boards, teachers, administrators and resource workers
  • Communities including parent-child coalitions, parents, child care workers, community residents, health professionals, community development and resource workers and policy makers
• Access to local level EDI results will help communities make informed decisions about how to support the development of their children, so that every child is able to fully benefit from their first school experiences.