When it comes to how ready children are for school - a new study reveals a surprising result. The Revelstoke School District takes top marks. Only 6.7 per cent of children starting school in 2008 were considered vulnerable.
CTV News first reported in September that province wide 29 per cent of students in kindergarten are not ready. The data was compiled by the Human Early Learning Project at UBC from extensive surveys of kindergarten teachers across the province. They assessed the preparedness of their students in a wide range of social and educational areas.
Now researchers are revealing the detailed breakdown of school districts and neighbourhoods.
In Vancouver 37.8 per cent of children were considered not ready for school. When you look at the individual neighbourhoods South Cambie fared the best. Only 13.6 per cent of students were considered vulnerable.
Some Vancouver communities report vulnerability rates above 40 per cent, including the Downtown Eastside at 46.5 per cent and South Vancouver at 42.9 per cent.
West Vancouver and North Vancouver revealed the lowest vulnerability in Metro Vancouver.
The most dramatic improvement since the study began is in Revelstoke. In the early part of the decade the vulnerability rate was 32.9 per cent. Now, it's only 6.7 per cent. Educators say there has been a strong push to encourage early literacy in their community.
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As for the overall provincial rate - it's up from 26 per cent in 2004, Dr. Paul Kershaw of the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) says the kids who aren't prepared aren't necessarily from low-income families.
"The bulk of these kids aren't poor, the bulk of those kids are middle class," he said.
Starting this year, the progress of every vulnerable kindergarten child in the province will be tracked to see if those that get off to a rough start will continue having trouble in school.
So far, the research is showing that children that aren't ready for kindergarten are more likely to struggle later on in life.
"[They] tend to be more likely to get involved in crime, not be as healthy later on, and ultimately not be the productive employees that we're looking for in British Columbia," Kershaw said.
The study found a high rate of early vulnerability poses more problems for teachers, thus compromising the quality of education that could be achieved if educators didn't have to compensate for social problems in early years.
