Minnesota Planning developed the Children's Report Card in 1994 to help the state and its 87 counties gauge the well-being of Minnesota's children and youth. The report was created as an extension of Minnesota Milestones, a long-range plan for the state and a tool to measure results which was developed by Minnesota Planning in 1992. For the first time, this 1999 report card is organized around 6 of the 19 Milestones goals. The new structure is intended to strengthen the state's ability to track trends. With a focus on county-level data on children and youth, the report card presents data on 6 new indicators and 5 revised indicators. The indicators are: (1) children in poverty; (2) children in families receiving welfare; (3) children from low-income families; (4) school transfers; (5) births by teens; (6) children placed out of home; (7) child abuse and neglect; (8) physical abuse; (9) sexual abuse; (10) family alcohol abuse; (11) prenatal care; (12) low birth-weight babies; (13) on-time immunization; (14) third-grade assessment; (15) basic standards; (16) high school graduation; (17) infant mortality; (18) exercise and physical activity; (19) suicide attempts; (20) smoking and tobacco use; (21) alcohol use; (22) sexual activity; (23) volunteering; (24) fighting; (25) driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs; and (26) juvenile apprehensions. The report card notes positive trends, specifically higher rates of on-time immunization, improved scores on elementary assessment tests, lower rates of infant mortality, fewer suicide attempts, reduced sexual activity, more volunteering, and less fighting. Negative trends noted are a greater proportion of low-income children, increased school transfers, increase in low birth-weight babies, and higher rates of juvenile apprehensions. (EV)