Measuring in support of early childhood development

Question 1

Where does Canada rank in comparison with 29 OECD countries on measures of child health and wellness?

Answer 1

27th in childhood obesity

21st in child well-being including mental health

Question 2

What are the objectives of monitoring early childhood outcomes in Canada?

Answer 2

1. understand the determinants of healthy child development;
2. stimulate dialogue and problem solving;
3. inform policy; and
4. examine the effectiveness of interventions across jurisdictions.

Question 3

What are four approaches to a measurement system?

Answer 3

1. Population-based survey approach
2. Longitudinal survey approach (direct follow-up of a representative sample of a given population of children and their families)
3. Linked data approach (create a person-specific, population-based, longitudinal data set by linking administrative records from a range of sources)
4. Social Indicators approach (skillful collation of routinely collected data from a wide variety of sources that can provide a national and regional snapshot that may be repeated, inexpensively, over time and place to follow trends)

Question 4

What are some benefits and downsides to the longitudinal survey approach?

Answer 4

Benefits:

1. Better suited to studying children’s individual trajectories
2. Better for establishing timing and sequencing
3. Better for evaluating causal claims

Problems:
1. More expensive per child

Question 5

What are the CPS recommendations?

Answer 5

1. That federal and provincial/territorial governments commit to creating an enhanced and robust monitoring system, with data accessible to Canadians for bona fide research and analysis. Such a system is crucial to informing policy affecting the health and well-being of young children. This system must be coordinated, include measures to fill existing gaps in data collection, and integrate research, best practice and knowledge exchange.
2. That provinces and territories fully implement use of the EDI, making the collated data available to policy-makers and researchers with a view toward improving community outcomes.
3. That provinces and territories support the development of other population health measures to monitor the progress of children at other key points in their development (notably at 18 months of age and in Grade 4).
4. That governments invest in effective early child development interventions that maximize the health, well-being and education of all Canadian children, regardless of where they live, their socioeconomic status or cultural origins.
   That governments participate in the analysis of, dialogue and problem-solving around childhood outcomes data, with financial support.