Priorities for Montgomery County’s Children

     
Healthy Children   Healthy Children
     
Young Children Ready for School   Young Children Ready for School
     
Young Children Ready for School   Success for Every Student
     
Young Children Ready for School   Young People Prepared for the Workplace
     
Young Children Ready for School   Young People Making Smart Choices
     
Stable and Economically Secure Families   Stable and Economically Secure Families
     
Children Safe in their Home, School and Community   Children Safe in their Home, School and Community
     
Communities that Support Family Life   Communities That Support Family Life
     
The Children’s Agenda

> Guiding Our Work: The Children’s Agenda

The foundation of the Montgomery County Collaboration Council’s work and decision making process is rooted in the vision and framework outlined in The Children’s Agenda’s eight outcomes:

  • Healthy children
  • Young children ready for school
  • Success for every student
  • Young people prepared for the workplace
  • Young people making smart choices
  • Stable and economically secure families
  • Children safe in their home, school and community
  • Communities that support family life

The Collaboration Council uses key indicators to track each outcome to gauge the community’s success or failure in the area. For example:

For a fuller understanding of each outcome-and how it is measured by key indicators-visit its link.

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Healthy Children

Adults and children who feel well, physically and mentally, are more able to work, play and learn. With sufficient health care resources that are accessible and affordable, children and families can be healthier.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Infant Mortality
  • Low Birth Weight
  • Child Injury
  • Child Deaths
  • Asthma Hospitalization

Young Children Ready for School

The experiences and relationships that occur in the first years of children’s lives have a lasting impact on their present and future development, as well as on their readiness to learn.

Key Indicator measured:

  • Kindergarten Readiness

Success for Every Student

High expectations for academic achievement for all students, combined with skilled teachers, sound curriculum, adequate instructional materials, and family involvement, are essential for student learning.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Academic Performance in Reading and Mathematics
  • School Attendance and Truancy
  • High School Academic Achievement

Young People Prepared for the Workplace

School success includes preparation for life after high school. Partnerships between schools, businesses, higher education institutions, social service agencies and after-school programs can ensure that teens transition to young adulthood successfully.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Graduation
  • Dropouts
  • High School Attainment
  • Post-Secondary Expectations

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Young People Making Smart Choices

Adolescence is a time of experimentation and testing of limits to prepare for mature decision making as adults. It is critical that we listen to our youth, hear their fears and concerns, and provide the support and skills they need to make smart choices.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Suspensions
  • Substance Use
  • Births to Adolescents
  • Sexually Transmitted Disease

Stable and Economically Secure Families

A home environment with nurturing adults who love, care for and protect their children is a cornerstone of healthy child development. Children with special challenges-physical, emotional or developmental-have a substantially better likelihood of achieving their potential if raised in their family homes, or in their home communities, rather than in distant residential facilities.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Unemployment
  • Homelessness
  • Out-of-Home Placements
  • Permanent Placements

Children Safe in Their Home, School and Community

In safe environments, children thrive, learn dream and explore. However, if children live in unsafe environments and it is left unaddressed, it will create community issues that only serve to undermine the system’s ability to offer its children every opportunity for success.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Child Abuse and Neglect
  • Juvenile Violent Deaths
  • Child Victimization
  • Juvenile Offenses
  • Department of Juvenile Services’ Intakes

Communities that Support Family Life

Resources and services create a community of people committed to the well-being of its children and families. An array of services should offer prevention for all, with early intervention at the first sign of problems and intensive intervention for those children for whom prior efforts have not been enough.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Prenatal Care
  • Affordable Housing Supply

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