Warren County Kids Know Math

The punch-line in American politics is that “It’s all about the children”.  An easy case can be made, however, to support the veracity of that statement.  Kids represent our future civic leaders, business owners, and will fill vacant positions in our laborforce.  The kind of people that our kids become and what they know matters greatly.  Thus, addressing our children's economic and social needs, as well as aiding their educational success, matters at an early age as well.

A recent report by the group National Kids Count, and funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, entitled Iowa Kids Count 2012: Trends in the Well-Being of Iowa Children, provides data on 20 different indicators of child and family well-being at the United States, Iowa, substate and county level.  

Here are a few notable statistics about the education of Warren County kids:

·         Math proficiency among Warren County 8th grade students increased 10% between 2003 and 2012.  Eight graders also ranked 7^th overall for math proficiency among Iowa’s 99 counties.

·         Warren County's high school graduation rate is 96.4% (an increase of 8.8% from 2000).

·         Among the population of 3-4 year olds, 27% more kids attended preschool in 2012 compared to 2000.  The rate of change in the statewide population increased by 7.8%.

·         Warren County’s 4^th grade student population ranked 13^th in reading proficiency among Iowa’s 99 counties.

Further, a few notable figures about the economic conditions of Warren County kids and their families:

·         Warren County has the 3^rd lowest rate of child poverty among Iowa’s 99 counties (only Grundy and Dallas are lower).

·         Warren County is tied for 5^th lowest among Iowa’s 99 counties for filers of the Earned Income Tax Credit.

·         The percentage of individuals qualifying for assistance from the Family Investment Program declined by 26.1% between 2000 and 2012. 

·         The percentage of individuals receiving Food Assistance is the 2^nd lowest among Iowa’s 99 counties (Sioux County is the lowest).

·         The percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunches ranked 5^th lowest among Iowa’s 99 counties.

These findings suggest that Warren County kids live in households which are economically "better off" than many other Iowa counties.  Children are fortunate in that regard, although access to higher paying employers in the Des Moines Metro no doubt helps (an in-depth analysis on this topic is better suited for a future blog post).  Further, Warren County’s pre-schools are accepting an increasingly higher rate of suitably aged children, are helping kids read and perform math at a higher level than many other Iowa counties, and graduating students from high school at an increasingly higher rate as well.