Jim Insley, Assistant Superintendent of School District (Okanagan Similkameen) says the our ranking has improved in a big way in a decade.
School District #53 was ranked as 9th most vulnerable area of the province when Early Development Initiative (EDI) was first used as a measure of difficulties that about 1/3 of children have when entering the school system.
Insley says these early initiates like Strong Start, Early Learning are essential in detecting problems and getting help for children.
Here is a summary developed by UBC on our region.
Community Summary (2011/12 – 2012/13)
School District 53
Okanagan – Similkameen
The EDI…
• is a Canadian- made research tool that has been used in B.C. since 1999.
• is used to measure developmental change in populations of children – a bit like a child development census.
EDI PARTICIPATION
The Okanagan – Similkameen School District (53) has participated in all 5 waves of EDI data collection. Wave 5 results were collected in 2011/12-2012/13 from 7 schools in 3 neighbourhood(s). A total of 318 kindergarten children participated in Okanagan – Similkameen in Wave 5. EDI results are mapped based on children’s neighbourhood of residence, not where they go to school.
WAVE 5 EDI RESULTS
Overall, Okanagan – Similkameen had a vulnerability rate of 32% compared to the provincial vulnerability rate of 32.5%. (The lower the percentage the better)
District wide, vulnerability was highest on the Emotional Maturity scale at: 18%. Child vulnerability was lowest on the Language & Cognitive Development scale at: 8%.
The Keremeos – Cawston East Boundary neighbourhood had the lowest level of vulnerability (14%). The highest level of vulnerability was 42% in Oliver – Ok Falls.
NEIGHBOURHOOD RESULTS IN OKANAGAN – SIMILKAMEEN
Vulnerable children in B.C. are not spread evenly throughout the province. EDI research reveals a large “geography of opportunity” where some children face significant difficulties and others do not. The disparities between neighbourhoods are obvious: on the low end, some neighbourhoods had rates of vulnerability below 5% while others were over 50% in Wave 5. Only 6 neighbourhoods – about 3% of all neighbourhoods in B.C. – had vulnerability rates below 20%.
Often childhood vulnerability is associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, but the reality is more complex. Although children who are socioeconomically disadvantaged are more likely to be developmentally at risk, vulnerabilities are found across the entire socioeconomic spectrum. The greatest number of developmentally vulnerable children is found in the more populous middle class. Because of this, it is critical to provide universal access to supports and services, but these should also be accompanied by strategies to reduce barriers to access for marginalized families and children in high risk communities.