Kids Count, a project of the Annie E.
Casey Foundation, is a national and state-by-state effort
to track the status of children in the U.S. By providing policymakers
and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, Kids Count
seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions concerning
ways to secure better futures for all children. The Casey
Foundation produces the annual Kids Count Data Book, as well
as periodic special reports that track child well-being state-by-state.
The Foundation also funds Kids Count projects in every state. Agenda for Children serves as the KIDS COUNT grantee in Louisiana.
At the state level, Agenda for Children
produces the Kids Count Data Book on Louisiana's Children,
as well as special reports containing parish-by-parish data
on the educational, social, economic and physical well-being
of children. This data is available in hard copy, as well
as on-line. For more information on the Louisiana Kids Count
project, contact Teresa Falgoust.
Below is a list of publications available through our KIDS COUNT program.
Annie E. Casey Foundation's 2010 KIDS COUNT Data Book
Louisiana Ranked 49th in Overall Child Well-Being
According to data in the 21st annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, overall improvements in child well-being that began in the late 1990s stalled in the years just before the current economic downturn. Find national data and state-by-state data and rankings on 10 key indicators of child well-being.
Louisiana was once again ranked 49th in overall child well-being based on 10 key indicators. Since 2000, Louisiana improved on four measures--the child death rate, the teen birth rate, high school drop outs, and the child poverty rate. Unfortunately, conditions in Louisiana worsened since 2000 on four other indicators--low birthweight babies, infant mortality, teen death rate, and children in single parent families.
Visit the online KIDS COUNT Data Center
Access Data on Hundreds of Indicators of Child Well-Being
Visit the KIDS COUNT online Data Center to get data on hundreds of different indicators of child well-being at the national, state, and community level. The Data Center allows you to easily create your own customized maps, graphs, and charts, and use them in presentations or add them to your own website.
The Louisiana page in the "Data By State" section of the Data Center features parish- and school district-level data on many areas of child well-being, including demographics, education, economic well-being, health, juvenile justice, and child welfare.
Go to the Data Across States section of the Data Center to easily compare Louisiana to every other state on hundreds of different measures of child well-being.
Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters
A KIDS COUNT Special Report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation
Children who read on grade level by the end of third grade are more successful in school, work, and in life. This KIDS COUNT special report affirms a commitment by the Casey Foundation to help ensure that all students are proficient in reading by the end of third grade and help narrow the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children.
Louisiana ranked last among states in terms of the percentage of fourth graders who scored "proficient" on the reading section of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test.
The 2009 KIDS COUNT Data Book on Louisiana's Children provides parish-level data and information on over fifty different measures of child well-being. It includes statistics related to demographics, education, health, child welfare, and juvenile justice.
The report finds that race and place are two of the strongest predictors of child well-being in Louisiana. “As a society that values equity, it is imperative that Louisiana actively pursue policies and practices that lift up all our children," said Judy Watts, President/CEO of Agenda for Children. For more information, please read the press release or full report. Contact Teresa Falgoust at (504) 586-8509 for additional information or to request a Data Book on Louisiana's Children.
Agenda for Children's 2006
Louisiana KIDS COUNT Special Report on Child Care is
here. The report includes parish-level data on early education in Louisiana, including the availability of family child care homes, licensed child care centers and Head Start. Click on the image at the left to download the full
report in PDF format. The press release is available
here.
