Education Said to Trail Most Other Gauges of Child Welfare

Washington

A new report concludes that, judging by most indicators of well-being, life has improved over the past 10 years for the nation’s children—except when it comes to their education and health.

According to the Foundation for Child Development’s “2006 Child Well-Being Index,” released last week, children’s educational achievement levels have largely “flat-lined” since 1975, while measures of their overall health have fallen since the mid-1980s.

The foundation, a New York City-based philanthropy that works to improve social conditions for children, has contracted with researchers from Duke University over the past five years to compile an annual index giving a single measure for gauging...