The Child Trends DataBank: History and Prospects ISCI Conference Presentation July 26, 2007 Brett Brown Director of Indicators Research Child Trends

History Prior to the 1990s, national data on children scattered across many federal reports. –Data hard to find (good libraries and a lot of research time) –Access to the whole picture was effectively restricted to specialists Early efforts to pull the data together –Occasional congressional reports –Child Health USA (MCHB) –Youth Indicators (Dept of Education)

Rise of the National Reports Trends in the Well-Being of America’s Children and Youth (Child Trends and ASPE) America’s Children (Interagency Forum and Child Trends)

Limits of the Printed Page Timeliness Access Size Connectivity

The Promise of the World Wide Web Continuous updating Larger Capacity Growing ability to link to other content Growing audience

Developing the Child Trends DataBank

Content Why is this indicator important? What are the trends and disparities? What can be done? (NB not what should be done) Where to go for more information?

Design Easy to incorporate into user’s work Easy to understand Easy to navigate

Funding Multiple Private Foundations –Foundation for Child Development –William and Flora Hewlett –David and Lucile Packard –John S and James L Knight –Edna McConnell Clark –William T Grant –Russell Sage

Content More than 100 Key Indicators of Well-being National Trends and Subgroup Comparisons Continuous Updating Design Plain Text Reporting Attractive and Downloadable Figures Online and PDF Connection State, Local, and International Estimates Current Research and Government Reports Original Source Documents National Goals

Plans for the Future Comprehensive mid-course review Likely Future Developments Include –New Features Analyze-it-yourself, Measure-it-yourself –Enhancements to Existing Content Expanded research links, make-your-own PowerPoint, Flashmedia tour –Marketing, Marketing, Marketing