August 2007 No. 36Table of ContentsFocus on Youth |
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Kids Count in IN. While less than the US average of 19%, the 17% of Hoosier children that live in poverty has grown from 14% in 2000, the Annie E. Casey Foundation reports in its latest yearbook on youth in America. Here are some other worse/better facts:
The data compare states as well as counties and school districts. You can check it out yourself atwww.kidscount.org/sld/databook.jsp, or you can attend the Kids Count in Indiana conference this December 5 and 6 in Indianapolis with TV’s Henry Winkler (“Fonzie”) as featured speaker. More details on that will be at www.iyi.org/trainings_conferences/kidscount.asp.
When asked—if they had the ability to make the decisions—what they would like to change in America over the next 10 years, two of eleven options overwhelmingly tied for first place as “absolutely necessary”—“the overall care and resources devoted to children,” and “the quality of a public school education”—said 82% of respondents to the Barna survey. These choices topped “the health of Christian churches (44%), “the spiritual state of the country” (53%), “the state of marriage and families (60%), “the lives of poor and disadvantaged people (69%), and “national security of the USA” (69%). That’s a mandate.
Teens think adults are doing a pretty good job of providing them with a quality education, according to a UCan Teen Report Card. They give adults a B, but their grade for “building healthy relationships with young people” dropped to a C+ this year, along with preventing child abuse and only a C for “leading by example.” It was a C- for “stopping young people from drinking.” Check out www.ucanchicago.org.
In fact, parenting is difficult, and most parents (76%) say raising children today is “a lot harder” than it was when they were kids. A new Public Agenda report found parenting styles between “Parents in Chief” and “Overwhelmed.” Yet on average:
Single and low-income parents “have serious worries about their children’s social milieu, making ends meet, and getting health insurance for their kids. For details, www.publicagenda.org/specials/parents/parents.htm.
It’s all in how you look at it. Total inflation-adjusted federal spending on programs aimed at young people grew 6 times from 1960 to 2006—from $53B to $333B—now 2.6% of the USA gross domestic product (GDP). But that palls in comparison to spending for non-child portions of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid which rose 17 times in the same period. And the children’s share of domestic—non-defense or international—spending dropped from 20% to 15%.
Why? Most of the growth in federal spending on youth is due to programs enacted since 1960—big ones like Food Stamps and Medicaid but also the child tax credit, special education and education for the disadvantaged, foster care, childcare block grants, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and others. These account for more than half of last year’s federal expenditures for kids, according to an Urban Institute (UI) analysis.
Changing federal priorities are likely to continue to shrink federal kids’ spending relative to other programs, UI forecasts, declining to 2.1% of GDP while programs for elderly Americans grow to 9.5%. Go to www.urban.org/publications/411432.html for more.
The U.S. spends $8,700 per pupil on education, says the Census Bureau. While IN is about average for the USA, the nation itself lags behind other developed nations in 4th-grade math scores for students knowing (US is 8th), applying (14th), and reasoning (12th), according to The Condition of Education from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Since the 1983 federal report, A Nation at Risk, recommended major education reforms across America, “a knowledge-based economy has emerged, the Internet has reshaped commerce and communication, exemplars of creative commerce…have revolutionized the way we live, and the global economy has undergone wrenching change,” says a new U.S. Chamber report, Leaders and Laggards. It critiques the school systems state-by-state, IN got a better than average report card with two As, 6 Cs, and one D on the Chamber’s criteria, compared to the number of states getting As:
The report did not provide average nationwide grades. See www.uschamber.com/icw/reportcard/default.
How do we help kids to get that high school diploma? Opportunities for “real-world” learning, said most (81%) of dropouts. Options for states/communities:
These are some of the ideas coming out of this year’s national campaign to “create a sea change in education policy” and turn the dropout rate around. Click onto the Ending the Silent Epidemic Web site. It outlines a 10-point solution – www.silentepidemic.org – with resources for parents, educators, and policymakers.
Today’s global economy requires higher education. But that takes good K-12 grades, higher tuition—hitting stagnant-income middle-class parents the most, especially for minorities—and reforms that don’t sacrifice quality or limit access. These are the major findings of Public Agenda’s Squeeze Play report that details what Americans say must happen for kids to get into and finish college. See www.publicagenda.org.
You can also check out a profile of how current policies in Indiana compare nationwide and are affecting high school graduation and student preparation for life after high school. It is on the Education Week Web site at www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2007/06/12/index.html.
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