EDUCATION

HELPING CHILDREN AND YOUTH ACHIEVE THEIR POTENTIAL

WE ARE WORKING TO ENSURE CHILDREN AND YOUTH SUCCEED

From preschoolers to high school students, United Way of the Wabash Valley is working to ensure that the next generation is equipped with the skills to succeed in school and in life.

Our work is designed to intervene early to prevent the kinds of problems that cause children to fail and to provide the resources necessary to encourage our youth to remain productive and engaged.

We are working to maximize early learning so our children enter kindergarten prepared for school and we are working to make sure more of our youth graduate from high school well-prepared for their future.

Preparing Children to Succeed
      We all win when our children stay in school, graduate, find work and build lives. When our children aren’t prepared and supported they drop out, lack the skills to keep a good, steady job, and many turn to substance abuse or crime. Everyone in and around their community pays a hefty price as a result.

We will affect this with the following initiatives:

EDUCATION INITIATIVES
  • Implementing Success By 6 to provide every child the opportunity to enter kindergarten ready to learn.
  • Improving access to quality, affordable child care.
  • Providing after-school and mentoring programs for at-risk youth.
  • Working with schools and parents to improve graduation rates.
DID YOU KNOW THAT NATIONALLY?

 –  46% of children start school without adequate language, literacy, social and emotional skills

 –  67% of fourth-graders can’t read proficiently

 –  Only 20% of 8th graders are ready for high school

 –  Some 25% of high school students don’t graduate on time

 –  15% of 18 to 24 year-olds aren’t working or in school

    United Way is working to cut in half the number of high school dropouts by 2018.  It’s central to our mission to improve education. It’s a big job. 

     We have to start long before school does.  Disadvantaged children come to school years behind their peers, but rarely catch up. The same children struggling to read in 3rd grade are getting suspended in middle school — and dropping out a few years later.

     High school graduation is a critical building block for a good life. That’s why United Way has put a stake in the ground and is putting energy, focus and resources behind meeting this ambitious goal.
 In Vigo County:
# of Licensed Child Care Centers (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
8 9 8 8 8
# of Licensed Child Care Homes (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
155 147 146 156 166
# of Registered Child Care Ministries (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
9 10 6 9 10
# of Slots Available for Children in Licensed Child Care (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
2,436 2,491 2,460 2,580 2,716
# of Licensed Child Care Slots per 100 Children, Age 0-4 (Rate per 100)Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
37.5 39.1 38.7 40.3 43.1
# of Children Receiving Child Care Vouchers (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
1,734 1,654 1,741 1,772 1,800
# of Monthly Average of Children on Waiting List for Child Care Vouchers(Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
309 308 232 129 159
# of Public High School Graduates (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
1,001 922 907 886 978
# of Public School Student Dropouts (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
Grade Level 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
7 th 1 0 3 2 0
8 th 2 0 3 2 0
9 th 12 13 25 9 0
10 th 28 26 53 22 8
11 th 44 34 43 28 12
12 th 26 31 48 24 19
Secondary Ungraded 0 0 0 0 0
Total 113 104 175 87 39
Public School Enrollment (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
16,228 16,201 16,258 16,082 15,959
# of Home Schooled Children (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
335 359 373   762
# of Alternative Education Enrollment (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
458 311 567 600 587
# of Non-Public School Enrollment (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
681 602 597 725 501


DID YOU KNOW THAT IN CLAY COUNTY?
Child Population Under 18 (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
Age Group 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Ages 0-4 1,698 1,773 1,759 1,737 1,686
Ages 5-9 1,862 1,811 1,826 1,700 1,719
Ages 10-14 2,049 2,079 2,008 1,932 1,868
Ages 15-17 1,221 1,218 1,256 1,167 1,164
Total Under 18 6,830 6,881 6,849 6,536 6,437
% of Children in Poverty, Age 0-17 (Percent) Showing most recent 5 years
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
13.7% 15.7% 19.9% 18.4% 16.4%
% of Students Receiving Free Lunches (Percent) Showing most recent 5 years
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
29.2% 27.2% 28.3% 29.8% 33.0%
% of 10th Graders Passing ISTEP (GQE) (Percent) Showing most recent 5 years
Subject 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Language Arts 64.7% 70.2% 65.5% 65.2% 66.8%
Math 61.7% 63.8% 66.6% 60.7% 67.9%
Both Math and Language Arts 51.8% 57.9% 56.4% 52.7% 59.8%
% of Low Birthweight Babies (Percent) Showing most recent 5 years
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
7.0% 9.2% 7.1% 6.5% 5.7%
Teen Birth Rate per 1,000 Females Age 15-17 (Rate per 1,000) Showing most recent 5 years
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
44.4 16.4 21.7 26.0 17.8
Child Abuse and Neglect Rate per 1,000 Children Under Age 18 (Rate per 1,000) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
11.3 8.9 10.1 5.5 5.0
# of Public High School Graduates (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
297 247 271 286 287
# of Public School Student Dropouts (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
Grade Level 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
7 th 0 0 0 1 0
8 th 1 2 3 0 0
9 th 3 3 8 0 0
10 th 2 13 4 1 0
11 th 5 14 18 10 6
12 th 13 16 13 22 10
Secondary Ungraded 0 0 0 0 0
Total 24 48 46 34 16
Public School Enrollment (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
4,708 4,717 4,661 4,626 4,535
# of Home Schooled Children (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
177 185 171   272
# of Alternative Education Enrollment (Number) Showing most recent 5 years
2004