Introduction

Welcome to the 2002 Children's Report Card online. The Children's Report Card was developed in 1994 to help the state and its 87 counties gauge the well-being of Minnesota's children and youth. The site includes state, county and school district data over several years for each of the 31 indicators. Maps and county rankings are some of the features that allow comparisons from county to county and with the state as a whole.

As a starting point, readers are encouraged to read the summary of the 2002 Children's Report Card. This document provides a brief history and background as well as an overview of how Minnesota is progressing toward each goal.

What's new?

This is the fourth update to the Children's Report Card. The 2002 version provides more interactive features that allow you to:

• Access school district and county data
• Compare data across a region or the state
• Create maps showing county comparisons
• Download data sets
• Search for data by geographic area, subject or indicator with the custom report function
• View updated data throughout the year as it becomes available
• Read detailed analysis for each indicator

A detailed user's guide is available to help explain all the features of the web site.

Minnesota Planning would like to acknowledge the contribution of the following state agencies in supplying data for the Children's Report Card.

• Department of Children, Families & Learning
• Department of Health
• Department of Human Services
• Department of Public Safety