August 28, 2013  Subscribe
DataBank
Kids who work

As you fire up the grill for Labor Day, don't forget to honor youth who work - many of whom have the type of job that asks them to work on Labor Day. Nearly 97 percent of young adults in the U.S. held a job between the time they left high school and age 22. While early employment can provide valuable experience and income for youth, it can have negative effects on academic achievement if work hours are too often or too long. Some studies show that longer work hours are more prevalent among minority students.

The Kindergarten Class of 2013

Ready or not, here they come!
About four million U.S. kids will start kindergarten this fall. Out of any given 100 of them, 98 usually or always smile or laugh a lot, 94 show interest and curiosity in learning new things, and 48 were read to by a family member every day during the last week. Two live with their father only, and 1 was the victim of substantiated neglect or abuse during the past year. A hypothetical entering class of kindergarteners, based on the best available data, by Child Trends' David Murphey and P. Mae Cooper.
Parents in Prison
Why keeping low-level drug offenders in prison hurts kids, and what the U.S. Justice Department is doing to help

This month, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department will no longer pursue mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenders. A 10 percent decrease in the number of inmates incarcerated for drug offenses (most of them men) would make about 15,000 fathers available to support their children. Child Trends' Nicholas Carrington blogs about the impact of prison reform on the nation's youth.

 

Resources

Programs that work for male children and adolescents

Males tend to be more likely than females to drop out of school, use alcohol, engage in delinquency, smoke cigarettes, act out, and not go to college. Using the What Works database of experimental evaluations of social intervention programs, Child Trends' Tawana Bandy reviews what works, and what doesn't, to help young men. Read it here.

Copyright � 2013 by Child Trends, Inc.