Early Childhood Development – New Orleans, LA

Fewer kindergarteners in high-poverty New Orleans neighborhoods ‘developmentally vulnerable,’ study finds, By Danielle Dreilinger, February 8, 2013, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “A new study has unexpected good news for New Orleans’ education system: Several high-poverty neighborhoods are sending a relatively low number of children to kindergarten who are considered ‘developmentally vulnerable,’ according to data released this week by the Orleans Public Education Network. Children entering elementary school with certain social and intellectual deficits are likely to struggle academically. The findings come from the Early Development Instrument, an internationally respected survey that measures kids’ health, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, communication and general knowledge. Children are considered developmentally vulnerable if they score in the bottom 10th percentile in at least two of the five areas. The measure is strongly tied to how well 4th-graders score on standardized tests…”