Every day, 10 children are born in the Children’s Corridor. If things don’t change, 5 of them won’t graduate from high school. In this infographic, find out what data tells us about the lives of children in the Corridor.
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Data Notes and Sources:

Total Births

Data source: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, vital statistics birth data, 2007-2009.

From 2007-2009, the three-year birth average in The Children’s Corridor was 10.6 children per day.

Prenatal Care

Indicator Source: Alexander, G. and Kotelchuck, M. (2001). Assessing the Role and Effectiveness of Prenatal Care: History, Challenges, and Directions for Future Research. Public Health Reports, 116m 306-316. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1497343/pdf/12037259.pdf.

Although the direct health benefits of prenatal care are under-studied, this paper notes that, “For many primipara [first pregnancy] women, prenatal care may be their first adult contact with the medical system. The nature of that experience may well influence their future use of preventive services, as well as influence the use of those services by their children and partners.”

Data source: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, vital statistics birth data, 2009.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment collects information on the month prenatal care began in its vital statistics data. CDPHE recognizes two definitions of “late prenatal care”: “The more traditional definition, used by the National Center for Health Statistics, includes care started in the third trimester, care at delivery only, and no care. More recently, however, a new definition of ‘late prenatal care,’ based on the Health Status Indicator for the Year 2000. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was introduced as care beginning later than the first trimester.”

We are referring to care beginning in the first three months of pregnancy as “adequate” prenatal care. In 2009, of the 2,867 births recorded in the Corridor, 2,432 (63%) of the mothers reported that they began prenatal care in the first trimester.

Preschool Enrollment

Indicator Source: Schweinhart, L.J., Montie, J., Xiang, J., Barnett, W.S., Belfield, C.R., & Nores, M. (2005) Lifetime effects: The High/Scope Perry preschool study through age 40. (Monographs of the HighSchope Educational Research Foundation, 18) Ypsilanti, MI: HighScope. http://www.highscope.org/content.asp?contentid=219.

The HighScope Perry preschool study found that, “adults at age 40 who had the preschool program had higher earnings, were more likely to hold a job, had committed fewer crimes, and were more likely to have graduated from high school than adults who did not have preschool.”

Data source: American Community Survey 1-year estimates 2009, B14003 – sex by school enrollment by type of school by age for the population 3 years and over.

In Denver, there were 20,636 three- and four-year0olds in 2009: 5,021 attended a public preschool (24.3%); 4,258 attended a private preschool (20.6%); 11,357 (55.0%) were not enrolled in preschool.

*This data point represents the characteristics of the larger region in which the Corridor sits.

Third-grade Reading

Indicator Source: Hernandez, D J. (April 2011). Double Jeopardy: How Third-grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation. Retrieved from http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Topics/Education/Other/DoubleJeopardyHowThirdGradeReadingSkillsandPovery/DoubleJeopardyReport040511FINAL.pdf.

From the report, “Results of a longitudinal study of nearly 4,000 students find that those who don’t read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma than proficient readers.”

Data Source: Colorado Department of Education, CSAP scores 2011.

The percent of students in Denver Public Schools and Aurora Public Schools in the Corridor who received a score of proficient or advanced on the 3rd-grade reading portion of the CSAP was 47%.

Nutrition

Indicator Source: Gunderson, G. (2009). “The National School Lunch Program Background and Development.” USDA Food and Nutrition Service, National School Lunch Program. Retrieved from http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/AboutLunch/ProgramHistory_8.htm.

Studies have shown a connection between proper nutrition and a child’s ability to learn. For example, The National School Lunch Program cites, “In a New York City study of 50 malnourished children aged 2 to 9, it was found after improving their nutritional level over a one to three-and-one-half-year period that their IQs rose by an average of 18 points. No such change occurred in a well-nourished control group.”

Data Source: Denver Public Schools and Aurora Public Schools, October counts 2010.

Of the 36,755 Denver Public Schools and Aurora Public Schools students living in the Corridor, 78.7% – 28,940 kids – participate in the free and reduced lunch program. Free and reduced lunch participation breakdown by school district: 81.7% of APS students, 77.7% of DPS students.

Sixth-grade Performance

Indicator Source: Neild, R., Balfanz, R., & Herzog, L. (2008). An Early Warning System, Educational Leadership, 65(2), 28-33. Retrieved from http://www.every1graduates.org/balfanz/item/96-an-early-warning-system.html.

A study in Philadelphia found that sixth graders who had just one of four early-risk warning signs – a final grade of F in math, a final grade of F in English, yearly attendance below 80%, or a final behavior mark of “unsatisfactory” in at least one class – had at least a 75% chance of dropping out of high school.

Data Source: Colorado Department of Education, CSAP scores 2011.

The percent of students in Denver Public Schools and Aurora Public Schools in the Corridor who received a score of proficient or advanced on the 6th-grade math portion of the CSAP was 45%.

High School Graduation

Indicator Source: Chrissey, S.R. (2009). Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007. A report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/p20-560.pdf.

Income data is in Table 3: “Median Earnings for Workers Aged 25 and Over by Educational Attainment, Work Status, Sex, and Race and Hispanic Origin: 2007,” where they report the following results for “Full-time, Year-round Workers”:

Data Source: Colorado Department of Education, graduation rates 2009-2010 school year.

The district-wide graduation rate for Denver Public Schools is 52%. The district-wide graduation rate for Aurora Public Schools is 46%.

*This data point represents the characteristics of the larger region in which the Corridor sits.

Lifelong Effects

Indicator Source: Schonkoff J., Phillips D. (2000). From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. As quoted in Knudsen, E., Heckman, J., Cameron, J., & Shonkoff, J. (2006). Economic, neurobiological and behavioral perspectives on building America’s future workforce. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, 103(27), 10155-10162. Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/103/27/10155.full.pdf.

From the paper: “[V]irtually every aspect of early human development, from the brain’s evolving circuitry to the child’s capacity for empathy, is affected by the environments and experiences that are encountered in a cumulative fashion, beginning in the prenatal period and extending throughout the early childhood years.”