Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

ECMap was an Alberta Government funded 5-year project that worked to raise community awareness of the results of an intensive study on the readiness of Alberta’s children for kindergarten. The Government invested 26 million dollars to gather Early Development Instrument (EDI) data, interpret it, and share the results with communities province-wide. We learned that Alberta’s kindergarten children are behind the Canadian average in their performance, with children in Lethbridge behind the Provincial average. Why is it so when we know that the preschool years are the most important time for brain development? We also know that skills that support a child’s success in school and in life are trainable and can be developed through simple play activities that stimulate thinking, problem solving and self-regulation. Our speakers will share some of the work currently underway that aims to address these issues.