Report Card

UPDATE: Partnership for Children no longer produces the annual Report Card & Data Briefing. However, we are now collecting data on new indicators through the Annie E. Casey KIDS COUNT Initiative.

History

Partnership for Children issued its first Report Card on the Status of Greater Kansas City's Children and Youth in 1992 and continued to publish this document annually each fall through 2006. The Report Card summarized the well-being of children and youth in Greater Kansas City, and encouraged community actions to improve children's lives.

The grades Partnership for Children issued in the annual Report Card were based on data for 18 different benchmarks widely regarded as reliable measures of children's well-being. These benchmarks were grouped in five categories: Safety & Security, Health, Early Education, Education, and Teen Years.

These benchmarks, as well as the grading system, were analyzed each year to determine:

• Whether the situation in metropolitan Kansas City was improving, stabilizing, or getting worse, based on data from the past three years
• Whether the situation in metropolitan Kansas City was better, the same as, or worse than the national or state average

When the first Report Card was released in 1992, the well-being of children in Greater Kansas City received an overall grade of "D". In our 14th Report Card, released September 2006, the overall grade was a "C".

As a community which cares for its children, Greater Kansas City should not be satisfied until the overall grade for children's well-being reaches an "A" and stays there. When we reach that milestone, we will know that the metro area is truly a great place to be a child.

Previous Years' Report Cards

2006 Report Card & Data Briefing (pdf)
2005 Report Card & Data Briefing (pdf)
2004 Report Card & Data Briefing (pdf)
2003 Report Card & Data Briefing (pdf)

Abobe Acrobat Reader is required to view the Report Cards. Click here to download it free.