The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a population measure of how young children are developing in communities. The EDI measures five domains of early childhood development: 1) Physical health and wellbeing, 2) Social competence, 3) Emotional maturity, 4) Language and cognitive skills, and 5) Communication skills and general knowledge. A child is considered “Very Ready” when their domain score is greater than or equal to the 75th percentile of the national EDI dataset.

The number of Bexar County ISDs adopting the assessment has increased each year. In some cases, dramatically changing the demographic mix of children assessed. Those changes make trending outcomes from the EDI problematic. In order to accurately trend this indicator and preserve the time series, a baseline geography was set as the 309 tracts assessed in 2015. In addition, the 70% representation criteria prescribed by EDI was applied to the geography as a whole rather than being applied to each individual tract.

All quantitative data and narrative related to the data on this page was prepared by CI NOW for ReadyKidSA.

School readiness, a multi-dimensional concept, conveys important advantages. Children who enter school with early skills, such as a basic knowledge of math and reading, are more likely than their peers to experience later academic success, attain higher levels of education, and secure employment. While cognitive development and early literacy are important for children’s school readiness and early success in school, other areas of development, like health, social development, and engagement, may be of equal or greater importance. However, although experts agree that social-emotional skills are critically important for school readiness, to date there are no nationally representative data in this area. (http://www.childtrends.org/indicators/early-school-readiness/)

Kindergarteners assessed as “Very Ready” in 4+ domains: Bexar County*, 2022

Source: Transforming Early Childhood Community Systems; Early Development Instrument (EDI), 2022. *309 census tracts used for analysis

Direct Service

• Engage Community Health Workers/Promotoras trained on benefits of early childhood development/education to directly interact with parents in the community
  • Embed Community Health Workers/Promotoras at natural outlets where parents come for services - SNAP, WIC, all service outlets
• Initiate "Kinder Prep Academy", a half-month program for children about to enter Kindergarten, which helps them grow familiar with the norms of a school environment - before they start the school year

Policy

• Conduct assessments before children enter school, in order to identify potential development delays earlier

Funding

• Implement a city-wide PSA and media/marketing campaign to raise awareness about the importance of school readiness
• Increase funding to conduct ECI screenings for more children ages 0 to 3
• Increase support for Home Visiting Programs for children ages 0 to 5

System Change

• Engage insurance providers to provide early developmental assessments on young children
• Ensure that a consistent message about Kinder Readiness is being used across the constellation of public and private partners engaged in school readiness

Other

• Survey parents and caregivers to frame effective messaging, and then determine if messages are being utilized
• The Family Resource Centers proposed in the current SA Tomorrow Bond are ideal locations for parent resource centers that can widely distribute educational information about very young children