Report: Well being of Iowa children improving but families still struggle economically

CEDAR RAPIDS — The health and well-being of Iowa's children continues to improve, according to 2014 data released by the Child & Family Policy Center, but the economic well-being of their families has not.

The annually released Iowa Kids Count report studies 20 indicators of child and family well-being, such as child deaths, teen birthrates and child poverty, at a county, state and national level, using information from state agencies and the U.S. Census Bureau.

'The good signs come from the health and education areas,' said Michael Crawford, Child & Family Policy Center senior associate who assembled and analyzed the data and that can be found at cfpciowa.org. 'The not so good news comes from some of those economic indicators.'

HEALTH

The report, which studied data from 2014, showed that of eight health related measurements, Linn County saw an improvement in five since 2000, including fewer cases of child abuse and neglect and fewer teen births.

Key findings:

Teen births (%) from 2000 to 2014

SOURCE: 2014 Kids Count Report. Chart by John McGlothlen / The Gazette, based on code by James Curley.

• Cases of child abuse and neglect fell 4.9 percent from 2000 in Linn County, the report shows, compared to a decrease of 20.9 percent statewide. In Johnson County, cases fell 49.8 percent from 2000.

• Teen birthrates continue to fall in Iowa, the data shows, with a 42.2 percent decrease since 2000. In Linn County, as of 2014, teen birthrates fell 43.6 percent since 2000 while in Johnson County, it fell 42.9 percent.

Addie Rasmussen with the Iowa Department of Public Health said teen birthrates have declined in Iowa and the U.S. mostly because of greater access to birth control and reinvented education programs that incorporate decision making, goal setting and anatomy and sexual health into its curriculum, she said.

More students living in poverty, attending preschool

According to the data, poverty rates in schools in Linn County, measured by the eligibility for free or reduced-price lunches, jumped from 21 percent in 2000 to 34.8 percent in 2014. In Johnson County, the number of students eligible for free or reduced-priced lunches was 30.7 percent in 2014, an increase from 16.4 percent in 2000.

'People are recovering from the recession, but it's been a slow recovery,' Crawford said.

More Iowa families are enrolling their children their 3 and 4-year-olds in preschool, data shows. In Linn County, 54.3 percent of 3 and 4-year-olds were enrolled in preschool in 2014 compared to 50.3 percent in 2000. In Johnson County, 61.3 percent of preschool aged children were enrolled in those programs in 2014, an increase from 57.3 percent in 2000. Statewide, that percentage has actually declined to 47.4 percent from 49.3 percent in 2000. Advocates at the Child & Family Policy Center say preschool participation increases the likelihood a child will be socially and cognitively ready for kindergarten. Likely attributable to that bump is the Statewide Voluntary Preschool for Four-Year-Old Children program, established in 2007, which requires participating school districts and community preschool partners provide at least 10 hours of free preschool per week in exchange for state funding.

However, Crawford said, there's still room for improvement.

Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility (%) from 2000 to 2014

SOURCE: 2014 Kids Count Report. Chart by John McGlothlen / The Gazette, based on code by James Curley.

'The bad news is the fact that we still have less than all 3 and 4-year-olds in preschool,' he said. 'It's essential to being ready to learn and succeed in school, and we'd like to see that as high as possible.'

Other key findings:

• 76.6 percent of Linn County fourth-graders were reading proficient in 2014 compared to 72.9 percent in 2003. In Johnson County, reading proficiency among fourth-graders dropped to 76.7 percent from 80.8 percent in 2003.

• 76.3 percent of eighth grade students were math proficient in 2014 in Linn County, the data shows, which is comparable to 2003. In Johnson County, however, that percentage dropped slightly to 75.8 percent in 2014, data shows, from 82.4 percent in 2003.