Australian Early Development Census National Conference 2015
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Australian Early Development Census National Conference 2015
EXAMPLE ABSTRACT
RESEARCH STREAM
The Australian Early development index (EDI) predicts reading and
numeracy skills seven years later
Gregory, T.1,2, Brinkman, S.1,2
1Telethon
2University
Kids Institute, Perth, AUSTRALIA
of Adelaide, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA
In Australia, the EDI has been adapted to the AEDI and in 2009 it was administered as a
census to all children in their first year of full time schooling. Over the next few years data
linkage systems will be used to link the AEDC data with school assessments to explore how
well the instrument can predict academic performance in later childhood. However, data
collected during the initial piloting of the EDI in Australia provide an opportunity to explore
this association now. In 2003, teachers completed the EDI assessment for 4,420 children
living in Perth, Australia. In 2010, the EDI data were linked to state and national school
assessments completed when the children were in Year 3, 5 and 7. Linked data were
available for a total of 1,823 children. Results showed that children who were vulnerable on
one or more domains of the EDI were significantly more likely to perform poorly on reading
and numeracy assessments in Year 3, 5 and 7 than children who were not vulnerable on
any domains of the EDI. The strength of the association remained very stable over time.
These results suggest that interventions aimed at reducing the number of children who are
developmentally vulnerable on the EDI at age five should also reduce the number of children
with reading and numeracy problems in later childhood. The findings will be of relevance to
those in the school sectors and policy makers.
PRESENTER BIO: Dr Tess Gregory is a Senior Research Fellow in the Fraser Mustard
Centre, a partnership between the Telethon Kids Institute and the South Australian
Department for Education and Child Development aimed to improve research translation.
Dr Gregory holds a Bachelor of Mathematics and Computer Sciences and a PhD in
Psychology from the University of Adelaide. Dr Gregory’s current research focuses on using
population level data on children’s health and wellbeing, including the Australian Early
Development Census and the Middle Years Development Instrument, to inform policy and
practice.