1. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Finding the Data You Need: The Texas KIDS COUNT Project Finding the Data You Need: The Texas KIDS COUNT Project March 2, 2007 Frances Deviney, Ph.D., Texas KIDS COUNT Director Center for Public Policy Priorities

2. www.cppp.org Why Do You Want Data? To describe a problem To answer a question To help set priorities To monitor changes

3. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org When Might You Use it? Press releases Interviews with reporters Committee testimony Floor speeches Speeches back in the district

4. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Texas KIDS COUNT Project

5. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org KIDS COUNT Data Population Family Economic Security Maternal & Infant Health Nutrition Child Abuse & Neglect Death & Vioence Early Care & Education Public Education

6. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org It All Begins Here: Texas KIDS COUNT Webpage www.cppp.org/kidscount

7. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org 2006 State Data Book Current State and County Data Profiles

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14. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Community-Level Information on Kids (CLIKS) All Texas KIDS COUNT Data from 1993-Present

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38. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Census Data by Legislative District Data for your State Senate or House District from the 2000 Census

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46. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org State-Level Data Examine data over time and across states

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49. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org What You Should Know to Use the Data Percentages Rates (Numerators, Denominators) “Problems” with Small Numbers Considerations when Making Comparisons

50. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Things to Remember When Looking at Rates Percentages are calculated as follows: # Babies at Low Birthweight (LBW) ÷ # Live Births = % of population Sometimes, useful to represent these numbers as rates: 35 babies born at LBW ÷ 5892 live births =.9% As a rate per 1,000 births,.9% = 9 LBW births per 1,000 live births Caution: Looking at rates alone can sometimes mask key information needed to fully understand the problem

51. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Things to Remember When Looking at Rates Hypothetical Scenario –Interested in developing a bill to promote outreach & education to reduce the incidence of low birthweight babies in your region 2 different approaches to the problem –Focus on the counties with the greatest need, regardless of differences between sub-populations –Focus on the sub-populations most in need across counties

52. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Low Birthweight Example

53. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Low Birthweight Example (cont.)

54. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Considerations when Looking at Rates

55. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org What’s Up With Chambers County?

56. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Juvenile Violent Crime (Numbers) 199319941995199619971998199920002001 Chambers (Number) 2161294347 Chambers (Pop 15-19) 310631593256327732663227318136143181 Harris (Number) 16131618147812041016869787745749 Harris (Pop 15-19) 356,465361,487366,356374,555379,898384,745390,116421,768390,116

57. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Things to Remember When Looking at Rates Rates can change dramatically for smaller counties or smaller categories with a small shift in raw number Depending upon your interest, you may be better served by examining: –the change in raw # over time –how current data compare to the state, nearby counties, or similar counties based on demographics & geography

58. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Things to Remember When Looking at Rankings Rankings are based on the Rates –Thus, they are subject to the same considerations as described above Ranking can change dramatically for smaller counties or smaller categories with a small shift in raw number

59. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Things to Remember When Looking at Rankings In a state with 254 Counties and varying demographics & geographies, what does it mean to be ranked 127 th on an indicator? –Depending upon your interest, you may be better suited to look at: the change in raw # over time how current data compare to the state, nearby counties, or similar counties based on demographics & geography

60. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Things to Remember When Looking at Rankings A very good ranking can give a false sense of confidence, and leave some feeling like there is no work left to be done A very poor ranking can give the feeling that the task is insurmountable, and funds are better spent in an area where improvement seems more likely

61. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Other Useful Websites Health & Human Services Commission (birth, death, vital statistics data) http://soupfin.tdh.state.tx.us/ State Demographer (population data) http://txsdc.utsa.edu/

62. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Presenter Contact Information Frances Deviney, Ph.D. –Texas KIDS COUNT Director & Senior Research Associate –512/320-0222, ext. 106 –deviney@cppp.orgdeviney@cppp.org

63. Center for Public Policy Prioritieswww.cppp.org Use of This Presentation The Center for Public Policy Priorities encourages you to reproduce and distribute these slides, which were developed for use in making public presentations. If you reproduce these slides, please give appropriate credit to CPPP. The data presented here may become outdated. For the most recent information or to sign up for our free E-Mail Updates, visit www.cppp.org.www.cppp.org © CPPP Center for Public Policy Priorities 900 Lydia Street Austin, TX 78702 Phone 512-320-0222 Fax 512-320-0227