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This year’s Kids Count in Nebraska Report featured a commentary debuting our new Index of Race & Opportunity for Nebraska Children. This blog post is the third in a series diving into the commentary. In the first post we introduced the commentary and detailed our methodology, and last week we looked at the indicators in the health section. This week we will continue to look at the sections data with a look at the three education indicators.

Voices believes that all families should have access to early education. With a strong healthy beginning, children can more easily stay on track to remain in school and graduate, pursue postsecondary education and training and successfully transition to adulthood.

The indicators in our education section of the Index of Race & Opportunity, chosen based on their ability to predict future health, success and overall well-being, as well as their proxy power – the indicators strength in representing the general direction and central importance of a variety of similar indicators, are:

1. 3- and 4-year olds enrolled in school: This is defined as the percentage of children, age three and four, who are enrolled in nursery school or preschool.
2. 3rd graders reading proficiently: This is defined as the percentage of children in 3rd grade who score proficient or better on the Nebraska State Accountability Reading Assessment (NeSA).
3. 16-24-year olds in school or employed: This is defined as the percentage of teens and young adults who are working or attending school.

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