The Early Development Instrument or EDI is a tool to measure how a community prepares children for school and where young kids may face the most challenges.
Winnebago County is one of a handful of places in the U.S. that use it. Alignment Rockford collects the EDI data every three years and recently released the latest version as an interactive map.
The EDI measures kindergartners in five areas: physical health, emotional maturity, social competence, language and cognitive skills, and communication and general knowledge…