The Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy releases the 2016 KIDS COUNT data book last week showing areas of progress and slippage for kids. This publication, found at oica.org provides statistical analysis of 16 key factors relating to children’s well-being in our state and the nation. The good news is Oklahoma moved up two spots to 37th in the nation compared to our last review from the 2014 publication.
Much of the progress made in Oklahoma’s ranking is based on other states slipping. Of the 16 factors, the state progressed slightly in most of those. There are four categorical domains: economic well-being, education, health and family & community.
Oklahoma saw improvements compared to other states with economic well-being (improved from 29th from 30th), family & community (improved to 38th from 41st) and health (improved from 34th from 39th), but remained locked at 42 overall in the education domain.