The 2024 California Children’s Report Card
A Review and Roadmap to Improve the Well-Being of California’s Kids
California’s kids face a host of unique challenges. The support the State provides is critical in overcoming them.
The 2024 Report Card grades the State on its performance supporting better outcomes for kids, from prenatal to age 26, across 33 wide-ranging issues affecting them. It then outlines Pro-Kid recommendations to California’s leaders on how we give kids their best chance to thrive.
California’s kids hold the future in their hands. But their present is in ours.
The 2024 California Children’s Report Card: A review of kids’ well-being & roadmap for the future reflects the collective effort of the entire organization. If you’d like to support the important research on children and young people that goes into the Report Card, please contact us at [email protected]!
Research, data analysis, and editorial leadership and support provided by: Kelly Hardy, Ted Lempert, Jurnee Louder, and Vincent Stewart.
Writing, policy analysis, and additional support provided by: Leticia Casillas-Sanchez, Fatima Clark, Colleen Corrigan, Tamira Daniely, Eileen Espejo, Lishaun Francis, Sara Fung, Susanna Kniffen, Stacy Lee, Alex Matias, Rob Manwaring, Amanda Miller McKinney, Mike Odeh, Matt Roman, Jessica Sawko, Laine Wherritt, and Danielle Wondra.
The contributions of our cherished late colleague Josefina Notsinneh Ramirez were integral to the Report Card, especially regarding issues related to early childhood and English Learners.
Design by: Nima Rahni and José Murillo.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the following foundations for their support of our California research: The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Joseph Drown Foundation, The California Endowment, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Hurlbut- Johnson Charitable Trusts, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Silver Giving Foundation, the May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust, Skyline Foundation, and the Hellman Foundation.
Many thanks to Blue Shield of California, a 2024 California Children’s Report Card presenting sponsor.
Special thanks to all of Children Now’s generous individual supporters who help make our work possible.
Children Now acknowledges that the findings and conclusions presented in this report are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of our funders, sponsors, or donors.
We are grateful to the following for advice and counsel on the research contained within this
report: Jared Call, Melissa Cannon, and Tia Shimada, Nourish California; Alissa Anderson, California Budget & Policy Center; Beth Jarosz and Alicia VanOrman, Population Reference Bureau; Katie Layton, Children’s Specialty Care Coalition; Kristi Donaldson, National Center for Education Statistics; Erica Yee, CalMatters; Nichole Watmore, California Department of Public Health, Injury and Violence Prevention Branch; Caroline Danielson, Public Policy Institute of California; and Daniel Webster and Bill Dawson, California Child Welfare Indicators Project.
Special thanks to the following for data resources: California Child Welfare Indicators Project; California Commission on Teacher Credentialing; California Department of Education; California Department of Finance, State Population Projections; California Department of Health Care Access and Information; California Department of Health Care Services; California Department of Social Services; California Legislative Analyst’s Office; Policy Analysis for California Education; Public Policy Institute of California; The RAPID Survey Project, Stanford Center on Early Childhood; US Census Bureau; and WestEd.