According to the national KIDS COUNT program, North Dakota ranks eighth best in the nation on child well-being indicators. This high ranking is largely due to low rates in the areas of idle teens, children living in single-parent families, high school dropouts, children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment, and low birth weight babies.

“Every year since the KIDS COUNT program research began, North Dakota has ranked in the top 10,"" says Richard Rathge, North Dakota KIDS COUNT executive director. ""Despite the high national ranking, challenges do exist for children and families throughout the state.”

This month’s edition of the “Population Bulletin,” released from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University, presents selected indicators from the 2007 ""North Dakota KIDS COUNT Fact Book"" (available at http://www.ndkidscount.org). The 2007 edition marks the 13th year the publication has been produced by the North Dakota KIDS COUNT program. The program is part of a nationwide network founded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to collect information about the status of children.

Data included in the annual publication covers issues affecting children from birth through adolescence and offers a road map to better understand the challenges facing North Dakota’s children.

Despite the fact that the majority of North Dakota children continue to live with both parents, the proportion of children living with a single parent rose from 14 percent in 1990 to 19 percent in 2000 and 21 percent in 2005. This is cause for concern because, according to the 2005 American Community Survey, the poverty rate for North Dakota children living with a single mother (50 percent) was nearly 12 times the rate for children living with two parents (4 percent).

In 2006, North Dakota reported 1,624 licensed child-care programs. Large centers and group child-care facilities comprised 13.6 percent of these programs. A recent analysis conducted by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral concluded that North Dakota is among the top 10 states with the best child-care center health, learning and safety standards.

However, North Dakota does not rank as well in terms of oversight, largely due to the fact that there are no educational or experience requirements for child care center teachers in the state.

Composite scores for 2006 North Dakota public high school graduates taking the ACT averaged 21.4 out of a possible 36, which is slightly higher than the national average of 21.1.

ACT Inc. has developed benchmarks to measure what it takes to be successful in standard, first-year college courses in the areas of English, math, reading and science. Based on these benchmarks, 70 percent of the 2006 ACT-tested North Dakota high school graduates were ready for college English, 47 percent for math, 55 percent for reading and 30 percent for science. Twenty-three percent were ready for all four courses, which is a percentage that has remained relatively unchanged during the past several years.

NDSU Agriculture Communication