New data shows Rockford-area children under 5 are academically vulnerable compared to rest of U.S.

By Mary Sisk
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — New data released Thursday revealed that children under age 5 in the region have the potential to be both academically and emotionally at risk.

This data came from the results of the 2022 Early Development Instrument, or EDI, which examines children across five domains: physical health, emotional maturity, social competence, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills with general knowledge.

The EDI survey is performed every three years in Rockford Public Schools, and the Harlem School District and the private Spectrum Progressive School were added this year. It is conducted in collaboration with UCLA.

The survey of 2,164 kindergarten students showed that Rockford-area children scored 10 percentage points higher in the at-risk and vulnerable category compared to the national average in all five domains.

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Alignment Rockford’s Ready to Learn team announced the findings of the data Thursday morning in an event at Rockford University. Educators said they’re concerned that children are not entering kindergarten with the skills they need to excel, and parents often don’t have the resources to ensure proper development.

“Parents and caregivers of young children are the first teachers, and many are not connected with a system of support or structure of resources until their children enter school, most often at kindergarten,” said Emily Klonicki, Alignment Rockford’s executive director. “By the time a child enters kindergarten, around age 5, that important window of development is already closing.”

The pandemic is also a factor in the increase of children at-risk. Neighborhoods that were showing improvements in the data before COVID-19 slid backward in this year’s survey.

Rockford Public Schools Superintendent Ehren Jarrett wants to break the association between low-income areas and poorly performing schools.

“Across our country, you can very, very often and almost exclusively be able to tell how a school will perform based on the ZIP code of where that school is located,” Jarrett said. “I don’t want us to continue to be OK, as an educational system or as a community, with outcomes that are very predictable based on socioeconomic status or wealth and resources. ”

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Educators plan to use the results of the EDI to better allocate funding, work with community partners and give extra support to the neighborhoods that need it.

“In order to truly support our students, as a district, we need to make an effort to understand the barriers that they face at their earliest age possible,” said Terrell Yarbrough, Harlem’s superintendent. “The knowledge that we gain from having information that shows exactly where our students are, not only our most vulnerable to certain emotional deficits, but also which neighborhoods need extra support and love.”

This article is by Mary Sisk. Email her at msisk@rockrivercurrent.com or follow her on Instagram at @maryrrcurrent