What constitutes quality in early childhood settings, and how can it best be measured with today's widely used tools and promising new approaches? Find authoritative answers in this book, a must-have for high-level administrators and policymakers as more and more states adopt early childhood Quality Rating and Improvement Systems. The most…

Fertility rates have fallen dramatically around the world. In some countries, there are no longer enough children being born to replace adult populations. The disappearance of children is a matter of concern matched only by fears that childhood is becoming too structured or not structured enough, too short or too long, or just simply too different…

This annual report presents data on the health status and needs of American children from infancy through adolescence. The report's first section gives general population data, providing context for sections two and three, which present data on health status and service utilization for American children. The fourth section contains state-specific…

This book presents information on the current health status of children and adolescents in the Netherlands. Chapter 1 discusses demographic factors, including population trends and life expectancy. Chapter 2 focuses on children's health status, reporting on child mortality rates, abortion, birth rate, family planning, perinatal health problems,…

This book discusses the demographic, cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and educational characteristics of Hispanic children and youth. Chapters cover: (1) historical and demographic overview (history of Hispanic presence in the United States, geographic distribution, population size and growth, migration, social and cultural patterns, parent…

This report on the well being of the children of Wisconsin is motivated in part by growing evidence of the adverse circumstances of many children today. The report is descriptive, rather than analytic, and does not attempt to explain relations among variables. Section 1, the introduction, is followed by county-based information in section 2 on a…

This book provides a national and state-by-state (including the District of Columbia) compilation of benchmarks of the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of children in the United States. Ten indicators of children's well-being are taken from government sources: (1) percent low birth-weight babies; (2) infant mortality rate;…

One of every five children under age 18 living in the United States is an immigrant or has immigrant parents. The majority of these children are of Hispanic or Asian origin and, as such, are contributing to the growing racial and ethnic diversity of the U.S. child and youth population. Because of the long-term importance of children in immigrant…

Social scientists are concerned that many measures of children's physical and emotional health are inadequate, misleading, or outdated, leaving policymakers ill-informed. This book provides an inquiry into current efforts to monitor children from the prenatal period through adolescence. Working with the most up-to-date statistical sources, experts…

This Kids Count report details statewide trends in the well-being of Vermont's children. The statistical portrait is based on 30 indicators of well-being: (1) population; (2) racial and ethnic diversity; (3) median family income; (4) working mothers; (5) single-parent families; (6) child poverty; (7) children receiving ANFC; (8) children receiving…