2012 National Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI) - An annual report on the well-being of children in the United States begun in 1975, this year's CWI features a look at the last decade, and puts that analysis in context of the last 36 years. The bad news:Economic well-being of families with children under 18 has deteriorated, a process that began in 2001, well before the Great Recession. Progress in PreK enrollment has slowed as has health insurance coverage for children. The good news: risky behaviors are down, violent crime is down, bachelor's degrees are up and the composite CWI stopped deteriorating in 2010 and 2011. (Kenneth C. Land, Foundation for Child Development, December 2012)...

America's Report Card 2012: Children in the U.S. - This report provides a holistic picture of unmet needs in five areas of a child’s life: economic security, early childhood education, K-12 education, permanence and stability, and health and safety. The report also urges the American people to take action to boost children’s chances for success in school and life: vote in November’s general election for candidates who support investments in children; hold elected officials accountable for commitments to help children succeed; and engage with other local leaders to improve the lives of children in their own communities. (First Focus, October 2012)...

Untapped Skills: Realising the Potential of Immigrant Students - This report was jointly produced by the countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the experts and institutions working within the framework of the PISA Consortium, the OECD Directorate for and the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. It offers an in-depth look at the various factors, including language and socioeconomic disadvantage, which can impede the full integration of immigrant students into their host societies. (OECD, June 2012)...

When Labels Don't Fit: Hispanics and Their Views of Identity - This report explores Latinos’ attitudes about their identity; their language usage patterns; their core values; and their views about the U.S. and their families’ country of origin. It is based on findings from a national bilingual survey of 1,220 Hispanic adults. (Pew Research Center-Pew Hispanic Center, April 2012)...

Young, Underemployed and Optimistic: Coming of Age, Slowly, in a Tough Economy - This research report identifies the ways in which the recession has affected 18-34-year-olds and finds that that group is perceived by the public to be having the toughest time in today's economy. (Pew Social & Demographic Trends, 2012)...

A Public Education Primer: Basic (and Sometimes Surprising) Facts About the U.S. Educational System PDF - This report pulls together recent data about students, teachers, school districts, schools, and other aspects of elementary and secondary education in the U.S. Included are facts and figures on the distribution of students, student demographics, educational entities and their responsibilities, funding, student achievement, teachers, and other school services. (Center on Education Policy, 2012)...

America's Youth: Transitions to Adulthood - This report examines numerous aspects of the lives of youth and young adults, ages 14 to 24, in the United States over the last several decades. The report features status and trend data from multiple surveys on the distribution of youth and their family structure; on school-, employment-, and health-related factors; and on future plans. (National Center for Education Statistics, Dec 2011)...

2011 Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI) - A comprehensive measure of how children are faring in the United States based on a composite of 28 Key indicators of well-being that are grouped into seven Quality-of-Life/Well-Being Domains. (Foundation for Child Development, Nov 2011)...

Preprimary School Enrollment--Summary: 1970 to 2009 - Table 237 in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012. This is the second table on the page. Scroll down the page to Table 237. (U.S. Census Bureau, September 2011)...

The State of America's Children -- 2011 - The report finds children have fallen further behind in many of the leading indicators over the past year as the country slowly climbs out of the recession. This is a comprehensive compilation and analysis of the most recent and reliable national and state-by-state data on population, poverty, family structure, family income, health/nutrition, early childhood development, education, child welfare, juvenile justice, and gun violence. The report provides key child data showing alarming numbers of youth at risk: children are the poorest age group with 15.5 million youth—one in every five children in America—living in poverty, and more than 60 percent of fourth, eighth and 12th grade public school students are reading or doing math below grade level. (Children's Defense Fund, July 2011)...

School Enrollment in the United States: 2008 - This report discusses school enrollment levels and trends in the population aged 3 and older, based on data collected in 2008 by the U.S. Census Bureau in the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Current Population Survey (CPS). The ACS is a valuable source of school enrollment data because of its large sample size and ability to provide statistics for small levels of geography. The CPS data offer a detailed selection of questions on school enrollment, allowing for unique analysis. (U.S. Census Bureau, June 2011)...

Childhood Poverty Persistence: Facts and Consequences - This study is the first to highlight the relationship between poverty status at birth and children's poverty persistence and subsequent adult outcomes. Understanding the link between poverty status at birth and future outcomes provides important program and policy implications. (Carolina Ratcliffe and Signe-Mary McKernan, The Urban Institute, June 2010)...

2010 Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI) - Today children under 18 are the single largest group in America living in poverty. Research shows that children who slip into poverty for even a short time can suffer significant setbacks when the families regain their economic footing. These setbacks are particularly acute for children in their first 10 years of life. We need to rethink current budgetary policies for children's programs so they are not subject to the chopping block each time our government faces budget shortfalls. (The Foundation for Child Development, June 2010)...

The Condition of Education 2010 - The Condition of Education 2010 highlights characteristics of high-poverty schools and their students. High-poverty schools are defined as those with more than 75% of the students eligible for subsidized lunch. The report presents 49 indicators on the status and condition of education, in addition to the special section on high-poverty schools. The indicators represent a consensus of professional judgment on the most significant national measures of the condition and progress of education for which accurate data are available. The Condition of Education 2010 in Brief is also available. (National Center for Education Statistics, May 2010)...

Children of Immigrants: National and State Characteristics - Current state information on children of immigrants is essential for social policies that affect children and families. This brief describes the national and state characteristics of children of immigrants. Since children of immigrants account for 24 percent of children under age 5, their share in the school-age population will increase, with important implications for education policy. (Karina Fortuny, Randy Capps, Margaret Simms and Ajay Chaudry, The Urban Institute, August 2009)...

Latino Children: A Majority Are U.S.-Born Offspring of Immigrants - The family context of Hispanic children is changing. In future years a greater share will be born into families that have been in the United States for at least a generation and whose parents will have been both born and educated in the U.S. This compositional change will likely affect the education and social outcomes of Hispanic children. (Richard Fry and Jeffrey Passel, Pew Hispanic Center, May 2009)...

The Changing Face of the United States: The Influence of Culture on Early Childhood Development - A paper by ZERO TO THREE examines the increasing cultural diversity in the United States and its implications for early education professionals. The author raises the challenging question of how to address instances when conventional understanding of "best practices" and "healthy" development conflicts with beliefs and behaviors of minority cultures. Included is an extensive bibliography of early childhood studies that include culturally diverse children in their samples. (Bell Maschinot, Zero to Three, 2008)...

Reinvesting in the Third Age - In 2004, 54.2 million people in the United States were between the ages of 55 and 79, constituting about 19% of the American population, and that number is rising. This report describes the changing demographics of adults aged 55 to 79, their motivations for participating in higher education and the obstacles that prevent broader participation. (American Council on Education, October 2007)...

A Child’s Day: 2003 (Selected Indicators of Child Well-Being) - This illuminating study uses U.S. Census data collected through the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) from 2003 to investigate the lives of children, from TV usage and household weekly reading times, to number of children receiving non-relative outside care. It collected detailed reports about all aspects of a child's life, including parental academic achievement and marital status. The study found correlations between low-income households and lower academic achievement as well as fewer daily interactions with parents. (Jane Lawler Dye and Tallese Johnson, U.S. Census Bureau, January 2007)...

U.S. Census Bureau Voting and Registration - This Web site provides information on reported voting and registration by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, as well as projections of the voting-age population by age, race, Hispanic origin and gender derived from administrative data produced every other year in anticipation of the elections. ...