Teacher-collected data on thumb-sucking, temper tantrums help decide which parks get upgraded

Rosedale Park, a sprawling, mostly empty field between Chapple Ave. and Marwayne Ave., will soon undergo something of a transformation.

As SooToday reported late last year, the big park behind Cambrian Mall is next up on the city's parks revitalization plan, with $80,000 in generous initial donations from the Kiwanis Club of Lakeshore Foundation for playground equipment and/or amenities.

At its most recent meeting, City Council agreed to accept further contributions to the project: $50,000 from Child Care Algoma and $10,000 from Kiwanis Club of Sault Ste. Marie.

"I want to acknowledge Kiwanis Club and Child Care Algoma for their very generous donations to the Rosedale Park," enthused Mayor Christian Provenzano.

"It's great that we invest in our parks for our youth that use them. I want to thank the community partners that help us do that," the mayor added.

Actually, Child Care Algoma got the cash for its donation from District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Service Administration Board (DSSMSSAB).

DSSMSSAB provided a one-time capital grant to Child Care Algoma, specifically to be invested in the neighbourhood playground.

Why Rosedale?

At their most recent meeting, city councillors were given little information about why Rosedale was chosen as the next park to be revitalized.

Brent Lamming, the city's director of community services, described it simply as a "high-need area in the community" with infrastructure needing to be replaced.

DSSMSSAB directors, on the other hand, got a more comprehensive briefing when they met last month.

Early childhood development data provided to the DSSMSSAB painted a less-than-flattering portrait of neighbourhoods surrounding Rosedale.

In fact, the numbers added up to a rather dismal picture of the entire city as a place to raise healthy children.

Every part of Sault Ste. Marie falls below provincial average on critical early-years metrics, DSSMSSAB directors were told.

Kindergarten teachers answer 103 questions about every student

The city's decisions on what parks should be revitalized are being driven in part by something called the Early Development Instrument (EDI).

Developed by researchers at McMaster University's Offord Centre for Child Studies, the EDI is a 103-question survey filled out by senior kindergarten teachers during the second half of the school year.

EDI has been used since 1998 in Canada.

It's been implemented in every Canadian province and territory except Nunavut.

The Canadian-developed questionnaire has also been used in many other countries including Australia, which has deployed EDI nationally for many years.

Here in Ontario, it's a big undertaking, conducted province-wide every three years since 2003/2004.

Rarely mentioned in news reports

Yet EDI findings are hardly ever mentioned in local media coverage.

A Google search of local news sites found only one article mentioning EDI, written by SooToday's James Hopkin in September, 2020.

EDI is designed to evaluate ability of children to meet age-appropriate developmental expectations in five general domains:

• physical health and well-being (sample EDI question: would you say this child is well coordinated – moves without running into things or tripping over things?)
• social competency (sample EDI question: would you say this child is able to follow one-step instructions?)
• emotional maturity (sample EDI question: would you say this child comforts a child who is crying or upset?)
• language and cognitive development (sample EDI question: would you say this child is able to read simple words?)
• communication skills and general knowledge (sample EDI question: how would you rate this child’s ability to tell a story?)

Teachers dutifully record kindergartners who show up late or hungry, are interested in mathematics, get into fights, who try to stop fights, who have unaddressed dental needs, suck thumbs or fingers, throw temper tantrums or who volunteer to clean up messes left by other students.

The idea is to understand where children need help.

"Research is increasingly discovering what happens in early childhood plays a big role in lifelong health, well-being, and learning. Brain development happens quickly in the early years of life," says the Offord Centre in a guide to interpreting EDI findings.

"Positive experiences during this time can help the brain develop in healthy ways. Negative experiences are harmful to brain development and can have lasting impacts," the Offord toolkit states.

"Research using the EDI has found that children identified as being vulnerable in kindergarten are more likely to have problems in Grades 3, 6, and even high school. We cannot assume children with difficulties early on will simply grow out of their problems. There is a real risk their difficulties early on in school will predict difficulties later in life, both in school and beyond."

"Thankfully, many common problems faced by children are preventable, or can at least be improved, with the help of early recognition and management. Providing help early on is likely to be more effective and less costly than providing help later in life."

What EDI is not good for

The EDI is not designed for assessing or diagnosing individual children.

It's not intended to rank schools or teachers.

It's a population-level measure, designed for comparisons between communities or neighbourhoods, even between provinces or nations.

Here in Sault Ste. Marie, improving local EDI scores was flagged as a priority in the landmark 2017 Community Adjustment Committee report, an action plan intended to get the city back on its feet after the insolvency of Essar Steel Algoma.

FutureSSM has committed to the same goal.

City officials have resolved to make Sault Ste. Marie a provincial leader in early childhood development.

Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre has advised upgrading neighbourhood playgrounds as one way to addressing our EDI deficiencies.

The Sault's EDI scores are expected to be updated soon, but for now, the most recent findings are four or five years old.

"In 2017/18, EDI scores identified that the physical health and well-being development across all neighbourhoods in Sault Ste. Marie were, and have historically been, below the provincial average," says Carla Fairbrother, DSSMSSAB's director of early-years services.

"This is of particular concern within the Rosedale neighborhood EDI planning area, which identified 23.4 per cent of area children to be vulnerable in this domain," Fairbrother says in a report to her board.

"The West Central area of the community had an EDI score of 30.1 per cent; and in response the Early Years (DSSMSSAB) supported the Soup Kitchen with a similar funding contribution to support redevelopment of the playground in the James Street community in 2018/19."

"Early Years is also looking forward to offering the Kids Being Kids program once again at the Rosedale Hub for children living in both the Rosedale and Hamilton Heights areas. The development of a playground as a central staging area will benefit the program and the children attending."

Local EDI data show many Sault children are entering the education system with low score in three of the five EDI test areas: physical health and well-being, emotional maturity and social competence.

As for details of the planned revitalization of Rosedale Park, Brent Lamming says a working group is finalizing budget elements, obtaining costs for proposed amenities and preparing a site plan.

The site plan is expected to be completed soon, with tenders issued in the spring and construction slated for this summer and fall.

"Early Years Division and Child Care Algoma are both participating on the city’s Rosedale Park planning committee aimed at redeveloping the existing playground to offer support and experience related to Early Years and licensed child care playground development," Fairbrother says.

"Consultation related to best practice associated with more naturalized playgrounds and the benefits to children from a developmental perspective will be included."

"This is an exciting opportunity to provide children living in the Rosedale area with more options for healthy physical growth and development in accordance with community plans to endorse strategies to bring the latest community EDI scores in line with provincial averages," Fairbrother added.

"The redevelopment of this playground will help to create a more balanced neighbourhood environment associated with the Rosedale Hub and families living in the surrounding area."

"The success of this endeavour may also serve as a model for other neighbourhoods and support playground revitalization across the community," she said.