Hawaii Kids Count releases new data on youth

The University of Hawaii’s Center on the Family’s recent newsletter included a number of reports including new data on Hawaii youth including a Public School Graduates and Dropouts Report,  Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance 2009 Report and  2009 State Preschool Yearbook.

1. Public School Graduates and Dropouts Report – This report was published in June 2010 by the National Center for Education Statistics. It presents the number of high school graduates, the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR), and the dropout data for grades 9 through 12 for public schools in school year 2007–2008. The following are some key findings pertaining to the State of Hawaii:

> Hawaii’s most recent public high school AFGR, based on reporting year 2007–2008, was 76.0 percent, a 4.7 percentage point improvement from 71.3 percent in reporting year 2002–2003. The corresponding National AFGR for reporting years 2002–2003 and 2007–2008 were 73.9 percent and 74.9 percent, respectively.

> Hawaii’s 2007–2008 public high school event dropout rate was 5.4 percent, or 2,922 students, compared to the national rate of 4.1 percent.

> The high school dropout rate was higher among males (5.8 percent) than among females (4.9 percent).

The full report is available at the NCES website, http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010341.

2. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance 2009 Report – This document contains results for the September 2008–December 2009 reporting period for the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which monitors priority health-risk behaviors and the prevalence of obesity and asthma among youth and young adults. The system includes a national school-based survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other surveys conducted by state, territorial, and local education and health agencies and tribal governments. The student sample size for Hawai’i was 1,511, out of which 47.8 percent of the respondents were female and 52.2 percent were male. Data highlights for Hawaii include the following:

> Hawai’i had the highest percentage of female high school students who did not go to school because they felt unsafe at school or on their way to or from school, 9.1 percent. The national average was 5.3 percent.

> Hawaii had the highest percentages of high school students who made a suicide plan, 16 percent, and who attempted suicide, 12.8 percent, during the 12 months before the survey. The national averages were 10.9 percent and 6.3 percent.

> Hawaii had the second highest percentage of high school students who drank alcohol on school property during the 30 days before the survey, 7.9 percent. The highest was New Mexico at 8.0 percent and the national average was 4.5 percent.

> Hawaii had the highest percentage of high school students who drank alcohol or used drugs before their last sexual intercourse, 30.2 percent. The national average was 21.6 percent.

> Hawaii had the lowest percentage of high school students who used a condom during their last sexual intercourse, 47.7 percent compared to the national average of 61.1 percent.

> Hawaii had the second highest percentage of female high school students who vomited or took laxatives to control their weight, 8.7 percent. The highest was Arkansas at 10.7 percent and the national average was 5.4 percent.

The full report, trend data interpretation guide, and other related interactive content are available at the CDC website, http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/index.htm.

3. The 2009 State Preschool Yearbook – This publication is the seventh in a series of annual reports by the National Institute for Early Education Research and provides key indicators for state-funded pre-kindergarten programs in the United States during the 2008–2009 school year. The state data component of the Yearbook includes profile pages for each of the 50 states and DC, including those for Hawaii and 11 other states that currently do not have state-funded preschool initiatives meeting the criteria set forth in the report. Based on the available data, key findings on early education for Hawai’i and the U.S. are as follows:

> The percentage of Hawaii 4-year-olds enrolled in preschool special education and federal and state Head Start programs was 14.3 percent compared to the 50 States average of 38.9 percent.

> The national average pre-kindergarten spending per child enrolled – including state, local and federal contributions and TANF spending at states’ discretion – was $4,711. No comparable data was available for Hawaii.

> Head Start spending (federal contributions) per child enrolled in Hawaii was $8,856; the national average was $8,369.

> K-12 spending (including state, local and federal contributions) per child enrolled in Hawaii was $13,906; the national average was $12,039.

All sections of the Yearbook, state profiles, appendices, and an interactive, customizable dataset are available on the NIEER website:  http://nieer.org/yearbook/.