The EDI: Monitoring Children’s Development and Readiness for School 191The correlations in the EDI domains were as follows:- Physical health and well-being: 0.15–0.34
- Social competence, Emotional maturity: 0.21–0.48
- Language and cognitive development, Communication skills
and general knowledge: 0.15–0.26.
All correlations were in the expected direction, and 16 of 24 (66
percent) were statistically significant.
Predictive Validity
The EDI’s predictive validity was determined using three direct tests 3
years after the EDI was first implemented (table 4).
The EDI as a Population-level Indicator
Since 1999, EDI data have been collected for more than 300,000 chil-
dren ages 4–5 years in Canada and several other countries. A subset of
the database, consisting of data collected from 2000 and later, has
been analyzed to establish normative values for the EDI domains.
The subset comprises 116,860 senior kindergarten children.
Table 4. Predictive Validity of the EDI
Direct test, given Correlation
in grade 2 with direct
EDI domain (n = 122) test scorea
Physical health and well-being Visual–motor integration 0.27
Social competence SDQ emotional score –0.19b
Emotional maturity SDQ emotional score –0.20b
Language and cognitive development DTLA-4 scores 0.46
Communication skills and general knowledge DTLA-4 scores 0.43
ap< 0.05.
bHigher values on the EDI indicate better scores, and higher values on the SDQ indicate lower scores; therefore, the negative
correlation was expected.
EDI, Early Development Instrument; SDQ, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; DTLA, Detroit Test of Learning Aptitude,
4th ed.