Research shows us that a child's first six years of life set the foundation for his or her future successes. The more we learn how children develop, the better we can help them be successful.

Research also shows that it is not only families that directly influence a child's development, but the neighbourhoods and communities where children grow and learn also have a direct impact on them.

Understanding the Early Years (UEY) is a Canada-wide research project that gathers information about Senior Kindergarten children, their families and their communities.

UEY will provide communities with:

  • High-quality data on the "school readiness to learn" of their young children between the ages of 6 to 6
  • Information on family and community factors that influence children's development
  • Information on existing community resources.
We’ve taken all of the information and raw data currently available through UEY such as the socio-economic characteristics of neighbourhoods and the data on children’s development and attempted to present it in a visual, user friendly manner.

You can access data on this website in three different ways:

1. Report - This report covers the findings of the EDI for children attending senior kindergarten in the 2005/2006 school year in Ottawa.

2. Online map - this rollover map that makes it easy for users to compare neighbourhood level results by selecting the data you would like to see and then using your mouse to view the selected information.

 
   
 

 
The UEY project was developed with funding from the Government of Canada under the Understanding the Early Years Initiative and is managed by Success By 6.