1. Our Country’s Future is Here Today
Demographics of the U.S. and Michigan
Implications for Educational Reform

2. The 21st Century
Has education kept pace with the demographics and the needs for the year 2000?

3. The Basic Business Tenant is... Know Your Customer
You can’t deal with the customer if you don’t know who they are.
If you don’t know their language.
If you don’t know how and what they think.

4. The Economy is Driven by Education A global economy demands a well trained and technologically sophisticated workforce.
Ability to communicate.
Ability to think and solve problems.
Ability to understand and do quantitative analysis.
High self esteem, respect for others and the environment.

5. Half of America’s people - and half of America’s children - live in only nine states States by Rank
1. California 6. Illinois
2. New York 7. Ohio
3. Texas Michigan
4. Florida New Jersey
5. Pennsylvania.

6. 62.6 million school age children in the U.S. by the year 2010
32.4 million will live in the nine larger states -- half of all the kids in the U.S.

7. Almost half of the 32 million will be minority.

8. Michigan Population, 1970 to 2020 (millions)
SOURCES: U.S. Bureau of the Census and Michigan Information Center

9. Racial Distribution in Michigan and the U.S. , 1996
SOURCE: Calculations by Public Sector Consultants based on data from the US Bureau of Census

10. Distribution of the Population by Hispanic Origin, 1996
SOURCE: Calculations by Public Sector Consultants based on data from the US Bureau of the Census

11. For the nation as a whole, almost 40% of our youth will be non-anglo by the 2010.
If these 40% of our young people do not get a good education, it is difficult to see how the American economy will be able to function and continue to make pluralism work in this country.

12. What are the Implications for Schools When:
Over half of today’s new marriages are slated to end in divorce. There are 14 million children living with one parent -- the mother in over 80% of the cases.
The average income for female households with children is $12,000 and represents the major reason there is an increase in youth poverty in our nation, now totaling 23% of all young children ages 0-5 years.
Only 27% of the 91 million households in the U.S. are occupied by married couples with school aged children.

13. Aging Population The county in America with the highest percentage of Social Security recipients is not in Florida. It is Montmorency County in northeast Michigan. Michigan and Florida both have six counties in the Top 25" in number of retirees!

14. Age Distribution of the Michigan Population, 1996 and 2020
SOURCE: Calculations by Public Sector Consultants based on data from the US Bureau of Census

15. The Working Poor

16. A generalization that seems to hold through the end of the 1980's is that states, like families are getting more unlike each other in terms of income -- more rich, more poor, and fewer in the middle.
If school reform initiatives do not address the bottom third of students, we should question why we are pursuing them.
Education is the only variable that guarantees upward mobility.

17. Middle Cities Education Association 1997-98 Free and Reduced Price Lunch Participation

18. Middle Cities Education Association 1997-98 Free and Reduced Price Lunch Participation

19. About 4.5 million people work full-time, yet are eligible for poverty benefits.
The new jobs in the American economy have created many rich workers, many new poor workers and fewer in the middle.
The service workforce, now more than one-half of the jobs in our economy, is skewed to the lower end of the wage scale.

20. Our Children Deserve a Better Shake
Why Children Need Us to Stand For Them in America

21. 1 in 2 Lives in a single-parent family at some point during childhood.
Has a mother in the labor force while a preschooler.
Never completes a single year of college.

22. 1 in 3 5 to 17 year olds is behind a year or more in school.
Will be poor at some point during childhood.
Is born to an unmarried mother and father.

23. 1 in 4 Is born to a mother who did not graduate from high school.
Lives with only one parent.
Is born poor.

24. 1 in 5
Is poor now.
Is born to a mother who did not receive early prenatal care.
Lives in a family that receives food stamps.

25. 1 in 7 Has no health insurance.
Has a worker in his or her family but is still poor.

26. 1 in 8
Drops out of school.
Is born to a teen mother.
1 in 9
Is born into a family living at less than half the poverty level ($6,490 for three).
1 in 12
Has a disability.

27. 1 in 14
Is born at low birth weight.
1 in 21
Is born to a mother who received late or no prenatal care.
1 in 25
Is reported abused or neglected in any year.
Lives with neither parent.

28. 1 in 60
Sees his or her parents divorce in any year.
1 in 120
Dies before his or her first birthday.
1 in 610
Will be killed by a gun before age 20.

29. Stand for Children
Did You Know?

30. America ranks:
7th in science achievement of 13 year- olds among 15 nations.
12th among 15 nations in mathematics achievement of 13 year-olds. 1
6th in living standards of our poorest children.
18th among industrialized countries in the gap between rich and poor children.
18th in infant mortality.

31. Every Day in America: 15 children are killed by firearms.
1,407 babies are born to teen mothers.
2,660 babies are born into poverty.
2,833 high school students drop out of school.
6,042 children under 18 are arrested.
8,493 children are reported abused or neglected.

32. What does the demographic data suggest as being the most urgent educational needs of the nation?
Focus attention on the improvement of our bottom third of students. These students are typically poor, often minority, typically from one- parent households.
Reduce youth poverty, currently 40% of all the poor.

33. Prepare at-risk children for school by providing early childhood programs.
Get more young people to graduate from high school and college.
Enlarge the talent pool of high achieving minority and poverty children.
Develop programs for youth who are at risk from several causes simultaneously -- family background, school failure, drugs, pregnancy, and arrests.