Laguna Beach Unified School District Analyzes Early Development Index Of Students

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — The Laguna Beach Unified School District invited Cinda Muckenthaler, consultant with the Children and Families Commission of Orange County, to share and analyze the most recent results of the Early Development Index (EDI) with select district staff and administrators, community preschool lead teachers and directors, the Laguna Beach Public Library staff and members from the local PTA Council.

The EDI is a tool to assist in understanding the early learning needs of young children in different communities and better prepare future generations for school success.

The EDI, administered every other year, includes five key domains and is used to produce holistic, community-level measures of childhood development during the kindergarten year, according to recent release.

The five key domain areas include:

• physical health and well-being
• social competence
• emotional maturity
• language and cognitive development
• communication skills and general knowledge

The Laguna Beach Unified School District administered the EDI in 2014 and again in February of 2016.

The EDI identifies the percentages of children who are considered ready for kindergarten by developmental domain area and compares this information across Orange County. Each developmental domain is broken down into sub-domain areas which allows the district to better understand skill strengths and weaknesses.

For each sub-domain analysis, children are categorized as either “not ready, “somewhat ready” or “ready” for school.

"Data reports from both administrations in 2014 and 2016 indicate similar results, identifying the same two sub-domain weaknesses: fine and gross motor skills, and communication and general knowledge," Muckenthaler said.

The 2016 EDI report indicates that 48 percent of children are not ready in fine and gross motor skills, and 15 percent are somewhat ready.

Skills in this domain include the ability to hold writing utensils such as pencils, crayons or paintbrushes; manipulate objects; climb stairs and maintain energy throughout the school day according to Velasco.

The second area that Laguna Beach children struggle with is communication skills and general knowledge.

The 2016 EDI reports that 49 percent of children are not ready and 15 percent are somewhat ready.

Skills in this domain include a child’s ability to use language effectively in English to tell a story; communicate their own needs in a way understandable to adults and peers; ability to understand on first try what is being said to him/her; ability to take part in imaginative play; articulate clearly as well show adequate general knowledge.

“A community-wide effort is necessary to improve our early childhood service systems,” said Irene White, director of special education and student services at the district. “We can change the outcomes by informing the community and providing families with opportunities that can help children build the necessary skills to be ready for kindergarten.”

The district’s school readiness team is forming a task force with local preschools, parents and the Laguna Beach Public Library to address the areas needed for improvement and assist the community in understanding best practices for preparing children for kindergarten.

The team provides many services to the community such as parent education events, professional development training at local preschools, free developmental screenings, referrals to local community resources and an opportunity to enroll in Learning Link.

The district launched its Learning Link program in 2016, an interactive center for parents and children ages 2 ½ to 5 years old that features activities to support and encourage healthy growth and development.

The Learning Link promotes early childhood development by providing various learning stations to stimulate children’s minds and encourage parent and child dialogue and interaction. Center activities consist of art projects, fine and gross motor development activities, a culturally and linguistically diverse library, language development activities and health information.

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