The America’s Promise Index

1. The America’s Promise Index Kristin Anderson Moore, Ph.D. Senior Scholar and Senior Research Scientist Child Trends International Society for Child Indicators Conference

2. History of America’s Promise America’s Promise was founded at the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future in 1997, where Presidents Bush, Carter, Clinton, and Ford, and former first lady Nancy Reagan, challenged the nation to make children and youth a national priority.

3. Mission of America’s Promise Commitment to ensure that every child in America has the fundamental resources (promises) they need to succeed. The Five Promises are: • Caring adults • Safe places • A healthy start • An effective education • Opportunities to • help others

5. Every Child, Every Promise • America’s Promise commissioned the National Promises Study to examine the presence of the Five Promises in the lives of America’s children and youth • A comprehensive look at the state of America’s youth • Provides benchmark data to quantify the number of children receiving the Five Promises, including highlighting gaps in the delivery of the Five Promises

6. National Promises Study Purpose: How many young people have the resources essential for successful developmental trajectories through childhood and adolescence? Methodology: • Three surveys developed and administered by Search Institute, Child Trends, and Gallup (informed by the Alliance Research Council) • 2,000 12-17 year-olds • 2,000 parents of 6-11 year-olds • 2,000 parents of 12-17 year-olds • Oversamples of African Americans and Hispanic Americans • Best response rate Gallup has had in the past two years

7. Promise: Caring Adults • Caring relationships with parents • Caring relationships with adults in extended family • Caring relationships with adults at school • Caring relationships with adults in the neighborhood (formal and informal) • 90% of children (ages 6-11 years) and 76% of youth (ages 12-17 years) successfully experience Caring Adults (have 3 of the 4 indicators)

8. Promise: Safe Places • Safe family • Safe school • Safe neighborhood • Parental monitoring • Opportunity for involvement in high-quality structured activities • Frequency of participation in high-quality structured activities • 31% of children (ages 6-11 years) and 42% of youth (ages 12-17 years)successfully experience Safe Places (have 5 of the 6 indicators)

9. Promise: Healthy Start • Regular checkups and health insurance • Good nutrition • Daily physical activity • Adequate sleep • Health education classes • Positive adult role models • Peer influence • Emotional safety • 49% of children (ages 6-11 years) and 36% of youth (ages 12-17 years)successfully experience a Healthy Start (have 6 of the 8 indicators)

10. Promise: Effective Education • Positive school climate • School culture emphasizes academic achievement • Learning to use technology • Reading for pleasure • Friends value being a good student • School perceived as relevant and motivating • Parents actively involved • Adult sources of guidance • Opportunities to learn social skills • 79% of children (ages 6-11 years) and 39% of youth (ages 12-17 years)successfully experience an Effective Education (have 7 of the 9 indicators)

11. Promise: Opportunities to Help • Adult models of volunteering • Peer models of volunteering • Parent civic engagement • Family conversation about current events • Youth role in school and community • 55% of children (ages 6-11 years) and 53% of youth (ages 12-17 years)successfully experience Opportunities to Help (have 4 of the 5 indicators)

12. Promises experienced

13. Developmental outcomes • Children and youth who experience 4-5 Promises fare significantly better on 19 of 20 outcomes, including: • Thriving • Violence avoidance • Educational achievement • Volunteering

14. Thriving among 6-11 year-olds

15. Violence avoidance among 12-17 year-olds

16. Diverse groups of youth vary: • Girls experience more Promises than boys • White children and youth experience more Promises than Hispanic or African American children and youth • 12-14 year-olds experience more Promises than 15-17 year-olds • Higher family income and maternal education also are associated with more Promises

17. Promises experienced by gender

18. Promises experienced by race/ethnicity

19. Promises experienced by age group

20. Promises experienced by maternal education

21. Promises experienced by family income

22. Additional analyses Stepwise regression • Promises are more important predictors than demographic characteristics (i.e., contribute more to the variance of developmental outcomes). ANOVA • Experiencing the Promises is associated with greater equality across demographic groups in developmental outcomes. • When children and youth experience 4-5 Promises: • 60% of differences between demographic groups disappear • 18% of differences are reduced

23. Educational achievement: Attenuation of gender differences * p ≤ .05, **** p ≤ .0001

24. Volunteering: Elimination of racial/ethnic group differences **** p ≤ .0001

25. Thriving: Elimination of differences by age group * p ≤ .05

26. Thriving: Elimination of differences by maternal education **** p ≤ .0001

27. Violence avoidance: Attenuation of differences by family income ** p ≤ .01, **** p ≤ .0001

28. Conclusions • A minority of children and adolescents have the resources necessary for optimal development as indicated by a sufficient number of Promises. • Experiencing more Promises is consistently associated with better developmental outcomes. • Disparities in developmental outcomes and Promises experienced exist across groups that differ by gender, age, race, and parental income and education. • Disparities in developmental outcomes across demographic groups are attenuated or eliminated when children and youth experience 4-5 Promises.

29. Child Trends • www.childtrends.org • Databank: www.childtrendsdatabank.org • Search Institute • www.search-institute.org • America’s Promise • www.americaspromise.org • Every Child, Every Promise report and key findings: • www.americaspromise.org/APAPage.aspx?id=6584 Resources