User talk:Rachel F White

About the Australian Early Development Index
The Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) is a population measure of young children's development. Like a census, it involves collecting information to help create a snapshot of children's development in communities across Australia. Teachers complete a checklist for children in their first year of full-time school. The checklist measures five key areas, or domains, of early childhood development:


 * physical health and wellbeing
 * social competence
 * emotional maturity
 * language and cognitive skills (school-based)
 * communication skills and general knowledge

These areas are closely linked to the predictors of good adult health, education and social outcomes.

As a population measure, the AEDI places the focus on all children in the community; it examines early childhood development across the whole community. By moving the focus of effort from the individual child to all children in the community we can make a bigger difference in supporting efforts to create optimal early childhood development.

Although the AEDI is completed by teachers, results are reported for the communities where children live, not where they go to school. The AEDI results allow communities to see how local children are doing relative to, or compared to other children in their community, and across Australia.

Data collection takes place every three years. The results are provided through a national report, online community maps and community profiles.

Partnerships
The Australian Government and state and territory governments are working in partnership with The Royal Children's Hospital Centre for Community Child Health in Melbourne, the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, and the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth, to deliver the AEDI.

The Social Research Centre, Melbourne manages the 2012 data collection.

The AEDI story
The AEDI is based on the Canadian Early Development Instrument (EDI) and has been adapted for use in Australia.

The Canadian EDI was developed by Dr Magdalena Janus and Dr Dan Offord at the Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Canada. After much testing, piloting and refining, the final version of the instrument was developed, based on the data from over 16,000 students collected in 1999. As of 2012 it has been completed on over 520,000 Canadian children.

In Australia, the Canadian EDI checklist was first trialled in the northern metropolitan suburbs of Perth in 2002 and 2003, with around 4,300 children. In 2003, Australia began the adaption of the EDI - now called the Australian EDI, or AEDI. This adaptation was carried out by The Royal Children's Hospital Centre for Community Child Health in partnership with the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth.

The AEDI was then piloted in 60 communities across Australia between 2004 and 2008. Following the successful pilot of the AEDI, the Australian Government provided AUD$21.9 million for national implementation in 2009.

In 2010, a follow up data collection occurred in some small areas and the Australian Government increased funding to AUD$24.5 million to incorporate the AEDI Local Champions program.

Following the success of the first national implementation of the AEDI, the Australian Government has committed to collect this important data every three years. The AEDI commitment represents a total investment of AUD$51.2 million over five years (or AUD$28 million per collection cycle). The next national implementation of the AEDI is currently underway with results expected in 2013.

AEDI results
In 2009, the AEDI was completed nationwide. In the 2009 data collection, information was collected on 261,147 Australian children (97.5 per cent of the estimated five-year-old population) in their first year of full-time school between 1 May and 31 July. A follow-up data collection occurred in some small areas in 2010. In addition, small numbers of children were combined so that more communities could have their results released. In 2011, 97.8 per cent of Australian communities have had their results released.

The AEDI results provide communities with a snapshot of the development of their children across five key areas of early childhood development.

The results are presented in A Snapshot of Early Childhood Development in Australia: AEDI National Report 2009[1], detailed AEDI Community Profiles and as AEDI maps.

Research
Research plays a critical role in the ongoing development and utility of the Australian Early Development Index. A number of AEDI adaptation, validity and utility studies are either completed or are currently underway. These include:


 * Children with additional needs[2]
 * AEDI in Schools[3]
 * Language Diversity[4]
 * Indigenous Adaptation[5]