|
Return to Publications
Issue Briefs
- Children's Agenda Overview
- Developmental Assets
- Third Grade Reading Scores
- Early Childhood Social Emotional Development
- Childhood Hunger
- Child Abuse & Neglect
- Routine Access to Health Care
- Healthy Lifestyle
- Community Values Youth
- Positive Behavior Supports
- High School Graduation Rates
The Children's Agenda
Past Articles
|
The Issue Briefs currently available (click the links below to download):
Volume 1 - Number 1: Revised April 2009 - Every child safe, healthy, successful in learning, successful in life. The goal of the Santa Clara County Children’s Agenda is to improve the lives of children by focusing on improving thirteen indicators of child well-being. The Children’s Agenda is a focused, integrated initiative that engages all segments of our community and provides a common vision for our community’s children. It forces us, as a community, to move from data to action and to be accountable for how our children are faring. By working together with common goals, we are acting intentionally rather than reactively to current demands and problems. These outcomes guide our work.
Volume 1 - Number 2: March 2008 - Developmental Assets are the experiences, values, relationships and opportunities that all children and youth need to thrive. They are the building blocks of healthy development. As young people experience more assets, they make more positive healthy choices. To achieve the first goal of the Children's Agenda - Children are physically, socially and emotionally healthy - we need to work to increase the number of youth who have 31 or more of the 41 developmental assets and are in the "thriving zone".
Volume 1 – Number 3: April 2008 - This issue brief looks at Third Grade Reading scores and how Santa Clara County children are faring. Third grade reading scores are impacted by a variety of factors starting at birth, through the early years, kindergarten entry and on through third grade and are linked to the other goals and indicators of the Santa Clara County Children's Agenda. The story the data tells us is mixed. When looking at all students, Santa Clara County fares better than the state with 48% of our children scoring "Proficient" or "Advanced" in the English Language Arts STAR test. However, when you look at how different groups of children fare, there is reason to be concerned. Economically disadvantaged, Latino, African American and Native American children fare poorly.
Volume 1 - Number 4: June 2008 - This issue brief looks at early childhood social-emotional development and its importance for children's later success in school and adult life. The issue brief defines early social-emotional development, examines the challeges that may hamper healthy social-emotional development including maternal depression, and reports local data on early childhood social-emotional development. The brief concludes with recommendations to establish systems to identify children and parents struggling with issues that may affect children's early social-emotional development.
Overview: This issue brief looks at food insecurity and hunger, its impact on children’s social-emotional and academic development and the federally funded programs that can address the problem of food insecurity and hunger. In Santa Clara County and nationally, these federal programs are underutilized. This results in low-income children going without vital financial support and the loss of federal funding to our county. In 2009, Child Nutrition Programs and Special Supplemental Nutrition Support for Women, Children and Infants (WIC) will be reauthorized by Congress. This reauthorization presents an opportunity to improve these programs by simplifying processes, improving access and participation rates, and improving nutrition quality
Overview: This issue brief looks at the issue of child abuse and neglect, its impact on children and steps we should take to address this issue. In 2007, 1,301 children (ages 0-17) in Santa Clara County were removed from their families due to child abuse and neglect. The rate of removal of African American and Hispanic children is significantly higher than White and Asian children. More than 70% of children are removed for “neglect”, a broad category that can include substance abuse, mental illness, absent parent, and medical neglect. It is important that we, as a community, develop strategies to prevent child abuse and specifically neglect in order to prevent children from entering the child welfare system and remain safely with their families.
Overview: This issue brief looks at the importance of routine access to health care to the overall well-being of children. To measure routine access to health care, we used both measurements of facilitators to health care such as health insurance, and health care utilization measures such as immunization rates, early prenatal care and dental care. Santa Clara County has implemented the Children’s Health Initiative which has improved access. Additional steps can be taken to improve access to health care. We also must act to prevent state budget cuts from negatively impacting the gains we have made in access to health care.
Volume 2 - Number 3 | November 2009:This issue brief looks at the issue of healthy lifestyle of children in Santa Clara County. For the purposes of this issue brief, we will be looking at good nutrition and physical activity and fitness. Good nutrition is essential for physical and mental growth and development. Physical fitness and physical activity increases memory, concentration, and energy levels that assist in learning. In Santa Clara County, 54.1% of fifth-graders, 64.1% of seventh-graders and 67.4% of ninth-graders achieved at least 5 out of 6 fitness standards. No group of children reports eating behaviors that meet the Healthy People 2010 goals.
Volume 2 - Number 4 | November 2009: It is important that we create a community where young people feel valued. However, the 2005 Project Cornerstone survey of Santa Clara County youth indicated only 35% of 4th–6th graders and 18% of middle and high school students perceive that adults in the community value children and youth. This issue brief provides a list of simple things adults can do to help young people feel valued.
Volume 2 – Number 5 | December 2009: School-wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) has great potential to decrease the number of children and youth referred to the office, suspended or expelled from school. SWPBS utilizes data to identify and address challenging behaviors, creates a consistent, safe, positive school environment and teaches behavioral expectations in the same manner as any core curriculum subject. SWPBS is currently being implemented in the Campbell Union School District and the San Jose Unified School District.
Volume 2 – Number 6 | December 2009: High School Graduation Rates are an important indicator of overall child well-being as well as a predictor of how youth will fare as they enter adulthood. In Santa Clara County, the overall graduation rate is 81.9%, with Latino, African-American and Native American youth graduating at much lower rates than Caucasian and Asian youth. There is no single reason why students get off track for graduating from high school and it will take a community-wide effort to improve Santa Clara County’s graduation rates and address the disparity in graduation rates for Latino, African American and Native American youth.
|