THE AUSTRALIAN EARLY DEVELOPMENT INDEX (AEDI)

The Australian Early Development Index is a national population progress measure of early childhood development.  The purpose of the AEDI is to measure the health and development of populations of children to help communities assess how well they are doing in supporting young children and their families. The AEDI provides information about how communities have raised their children before school and pinpoints strengths in communities as well as what can be improved.

Class teachers complete an AEDI checklist for every child in their first year of full-time school based on their knowledge and observations of each child.  The AEDI is based on the scores from a teacher-completed checklist consisting of over 100 questions in five developmental domains that are closely linked to predictors of good adult health, education and social outcomes.

Based on the scores from the teacher-completed checklist, the AEDI measures five areas of early childhood development:

• Physical health and well-being 
• Social competence
• Emotional maturity 
• Language and cognitive skills
• Communication skills and general knowledge

Teachers complete the AEDI Checklists on the secure web-based data entry site developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research. The names of individual children and any identifying information are NOT recorded in the data sent to the AEDI National Support Centre. The AEDI will be implemented nationally from 1 May – 20 July

For further information and resources go to:

·         National AEDI website http://www.aedi.org.au/

·         Fact sheets (via AEDI website)

·         National Support Centre help desk (1300 558 422)

·        Contact the Queensland State Coordinator: Kathy Treichel direct on 3237 0838 or kathy.treichel@deta.qld.edu.au

[NIB May 2009]