Dr. Lorie Hoggard of the NewportMesa Unified School District presented Commission members with a status report on the “Early Development Index” (EDI) and its success assessing children in their first year of school. The purpose of the EDI is to measure a child’s readiness for school and to identify children and geographic areas at-risk in terms of future educational achievement. Dr. Hoggard reported that EDI findings, which has evaluated over 1000 children in the last two years, reveal that Commission supported programs have been successful in preparing children to enter school.