Understanding the Early Years An Update of Early Childhood Development Results in Four Canadian Communities - July 2005
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VII. Looking Forward
The four communities examined in this report were among the first communities to implement the Understanding the Early Years research and community development pilot project. Generally, the results suggest that early childhood outcomes were relatively stable over the period. This is to be suspected for several reasons. One is that the results are based on relatively small samples for assessing change. Also, the sample of children assessed in 2000 may differ from the 2004 sample in many respects due to several factors that affect the demographic characteristics of the sample. While some of these factors, such as family income, can be taken into account, it is impossible to control for all of the many factors that affect children’s outcomes. Another problem is that UEY was designed to include a broad range of measures, such that communities could get a general profile of their community. A more accurate measurement of early childhood outcomes and parent and community factors would require more direct assessments of children’s outcomes, and longer tests and interview protocols, which may not be feasible in a study such as UEY.
During the four-year period covered by this study, average levels of family income rose quite substantially in every community, on average by nearly $8,000 per year. Levels of parental education also rose considerably, on average by nearly one full year for both mothers and fathers. The findings of the regression analyses reported in the second chapter, which consider the relationships of these factors to early childhood outcomes within communities, indicate that changes of this magnitude are associated with increases of about 2 points in Receptive Language, and about one-half of one point in Positive Behaviour.
The findings also indicate that the scores on the measures of family processes and community factors were stable in two communities, and increased significantly in two others: in Prince Albert the total score for the ten 10-point scales was 71.0 in 2000 and 70.5 in 2004; in Winnipeg the total scores were 67.5 and 67.9 for 2000 and 2004 respectively; the total scores increased in Prince Edward Island from 72.0 to 74.6, and in Southwest Newfoundland from 70.7 to 73.4. Overall, these increases are small, on average the increase was from 70.1 to 71.3, or about one-tenth of one point on each of the ten point scales. The findings of the regression analyses reported in the second chapter suggest that increases in family and community factors of this magnitude are associated with an increase of only about one quarter of one point in Receptive Language, and about 0.7 points in Positive Behaviour.
Despite these rather significant increases in family income and parental education, and the modest increases in family processes and community factors, the Receptive Vocabulary scores declined, on average, by about 3 points, while the average scores on the parents’ assessments of Positive Behaviour fell by 2 points. Teachers’ ratings were generally more positive, increasing on average by 0.4 points across the five scales.
The popular wisdom regarding school effects is that it takes five to ten years before changes in school policies and teacher practices have their intended effect on student outcomes. The same argument probably applies to communities; UEY has had strong effects on increasing people’s awareness of the importance of the early years, and many communities developed specific initiatives to improve outcomes. Some of these changes would not have begun to have their effect until the latter part of the four-year period covered by this study. Thus, it is unrealistic to expect the effect to be realized in such a short period.
Overall, the Understanding the Early Years initiative has been remarkably successful in promoting the importance of early childhood development in the communities that pioneered this initiative. The findings of this follow-up study indicate that family income, parental education, and employment are important determinants of early childhood outcomes. However, there are other important determinants of positive outcomes that can be more easily changed through the efforts of families and other community members. These include approaches to parenting, engagement in learning activities, the family’s use of available resources, neighbourhood social capital, and social support. The work of these pioneer UEY communities has provided a strong base for other communities striving to improve children’s outcomes.
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