The America's Children Report Commentary America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2001 is an annual federal report that answers such basic questions as: How many children are poor, have unemployed parents, live in poor housing, don't eat well, or lack health insurance? How many children are healthy and immunized? How many babies weigh less than 5-1/2 pounds (low birthweight)? What are the big killers of infants, children and adolescents? How many teens have babies? How many teens smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, or use illicit drugs? How many are victims of crime or commit crimes? How many preschoolers have someone who reads to them each day? How many are in child care and education programs? How well are students doing in reading and math? How many take advanced placement courses? How many finish high school or college? How many are neither in school nor working? How many children have asthma? How many youth have jobs? How many U.S. kids are there? What is their racial and ethnic breakdown? How many have difficulty with English? How many live in two-parent homes? How many babies are born to unmarried women? How many children are in child care? How many live in places with poor air quality? This report is the result of a remarkable collaboration among 20 agencies in nine federal departments (Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, and Transportation) plus the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Management and Budget. The agencies - collectively known as the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics - began meeting on their own in 1994. President Clinton issued an Executive Order in 1997 supporting their work. President Bush has continued this important effort. The Policy Exchange is proud to have worked closely with the Forum since it began, including conducting annual policy seminars. The statistics tell a mixed story - a story of both progress and challenges: Good News Bad News Fewer children live in poverty. Teen births are at a record low. Teen death rates are at all-time lows. Most young people have at least one parent who works full-time. 85% of children have health insurance. The number of fully immunized babies is increasing. Teen deaths from firearms are going down. Cigarette smoking is going down. Violent crimes by, and against, youth are down. More students are taking advanced placement courses. Math scores are up a little. More people are getting college degrees. Many children are poor even though they have at least one parent who works full-time, all year. 14% of children don't have health insurance. Asthma rates are up, especially for African-American children. Car crashes are the most common reason for child and adolescent death. Adolescent drinking and illicit drug use have stayed about the same. Reading scores aren't getting any better. Also of note About a quarter of the U.S. population is under age 18. U.S. kids are a diverse bunch: 64% white, 16% Hispanic, 15% Black, 4% Asian/Pacific islander, and 1% American Indian/Alaskan Native. The percent of children who don't speak English well has nearly doubled in the last 20 years. Female-headed families are the poorest, and two-parent families the least likely to be poor. Well over half of 16-year-olds work as well as go to school. The federal statisticians set tough guidelines for the national indicators-that they be easy to understand; reliable and objectively based on research connecting them to child well-being; balanced across all aspects of children's lives; measured regularly so that they can be updated and show trends over time; and representative of large segments of the population, not just one group. I urge you to get a copy of the full report. It shows important and sometimes surprising gaps in how well U.S. children are doing-by income, race, ethnicity and gender. America's Children is on the Web: http://childstats.gov. Single copies are available at no cost from the National Maternal and Child Health Clearinghouse (888-434-4624 or nmchc@circsol.com). Back to Policy Exchange page. Margaret Dunkle mcd729@aol.com Director, IEL Policy Exchange October 2001 Institute for Educational Leadership 4455 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 310, Washington, DC 20008 Tel: (202) 822-8405, Fax: (202) 872-4050, E-mail: iel@iel.org Home | About | Programs | Publications | EPFP | News | Contacts