8/21/2013

About four million U.S. children will start kindergarten this fall. We know that learning begins long before children start school. What else do we know about these youngsters?

Child Trends, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center on issues pertaining to children and youth, examined a range of available statistics to provide a portrait of the kindergarten class of 2013.

“Overall, these kids are happy, eager to learn, resilient, and have affectionate relationships with their parents,” said David Murphey, a Child Trends senior researcher and co-author of the report with Research Assistant Mae Cooper. “Comparing this year’s kindergarten class to one ten years ago, we find that they are much more diverse, more than twice as likely  to be receiving food assistance, more likely to have seen a dentist in the past year, and more likely to live in safe neighborhoods.”

Source: Child Trends

Available at: http://www.childtrends.org/news/news-releases/ready-or-not-here-comes-the-kindergarten-class-of-2013/