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Five issue areas that affect the well-being of children are graded in America’s Report Card 2012: Children in the U.S.: Economic Security, Early Childhood, K-12 Education, Permanency & Stability, and Health & Safety. To conclude this blog series we need to think about what we can do to raise these grades.Clearly, America can do better. This report indicates that while policies regarding children succeed in some areas, we need improvement in others. One of our nation’s greatest successes in 2012 comes from providing over 90 percent of children in the U.S. with health coverage of some kind. This...

In America’s Report Card 2012: Children in the U.S., report by First Focus and Save the Children to assess the state of children in the United States, America scores its highest grade with a C+ for Health & Safety. This grade was calculated based on factors involving children’s health insurance coverage, access to health care and preventative services, access to medical treatment, and environmental health. Although America performs relatively well when providing for children’s health and safety, there is still room for improvement.The biggest win for American children comes from the success of increasing children’s health coverage....

The presence of caring adults and stable and nurturing homes is critical to promoting healthy development in children. Yet according to America’s Report Card 2012: Children in the U.S., a report authored by First Focus and Save the Children, when it comes to the Permanency & Stability of children, America fails with a D grade. This grade, calculated based on our performance on policies affecting juvenile justice, child welfare, and children of immigrants, suggests that America can do more to promote the well-being, safety and security of America’s children.With respect to the juvenile justice system, the U.S....

The United States only earns a C- in education, according to America’s Report Card 2012: Children in the U.S. While we grade children in school all the time – from homework and quizzes to report cards and high stakes testing, this report by First Focus and Save the Children takes a comprehensive look at the state of American children and assigns grades to the nation as a whole on how children are faring. The education grade is based on math/reading/science levels, school resources, at-risk and disconnected youth, and educational attainment in the United States. This grade, which...

Early childhood is a time of growth and learning for children, with some of the most important physical, mental, emotional and social development taking place during the earliest years of a child’s life. This critical time provides us with an opportunity to invest in our children in a way that will benefit them throughout their lives. But according to America’s Report Card 2012: Children in the U.S., a report by First Focus and Save the Children that assesses the overall well-being of American children, we are not doing enough to invest in our kids during their earliest...

America’s Report Card 2012: Children in the U.S., a report by First Focus and Save the Children, assesses the economic security of children in the United States. The level of economic security of America’s children is based on factors such as the number of children living in poverty, in low-income families, with unemployed parents, in food insecurity, and in unstable housing situations. First Focus and Save the Children gave America a failing grade of D when it comes to the economic security of U.S. children. This grade mostly results from the extraordinary number of children living in...

On Wednesday, October 10, 2012, First Focus and Save the Children released America’s Report Card 2012: Children in the U.S., a report that grades America on how well it meets the needs of our children. Unfortunately, the report found that when it comes to children, America earns a grade of C-, which by our academic standards is barely passing. This reflects the view of a majority of American voters who believe that for the first time the lives of children will be worse off than their parents. They fear that the futures of American children today...

On Wednesday, October 10, 2012, First Focus and Save the Children released America’s Report Card 2012: Children in the U.S., a report that grades America on how well it meets the needs of our children. Unfortunately, the report found that when it comes to children, America earns a grade of C-, which by our academic standards is barely passing. This reflects the view of a majority of American voters who believe that for the first time the lives of children will be worse off than their parents. They fear that the futures of American children today may not be...

This blog post also appears on Huffington Post.By almost a 3-to-1 margin (56 to 20 percent), American voters are deeply concerned that the lives of American children have become worse over the last decade. And, by a 58 to 36 percent margin, voters are not confident that life for our children's generation will be better off. They recognize that American children are no longer the healthiest, the most educated, and best-prepared kids in the world. They feel that what once was the American Dream -- the knowledge that our kids would have opportunities we could never even imagine...

This blog post also appears on Huffington Post.When it comes to public policy issues of importance to our nation's children, female policymakers and women are more often supportive and active on children's issues than men, even as we all continue to work hard to enlighten more men so that children's needs will become a "national priority" that leaders of both genders and both political parties will more readily champion.That fact stood out when the First Focus Campaign for Children released its Champions and Defenders for Children awards for the 112th Congress this week. Since children cannot vote and...