Research & Data

PROMOTING DATA-DRIVEN PUBLIC POLICIES

The Center for Social Measurement and Evaluation (CSME) supports the research and evaluation efforts across all of CHILDREN AT RISK’s issue areas. 

Children in Texas Public Schools

Economically Disadvantage Students in Texas Public Schools

children are in the emergent bilingual/English learner program

Center for Social Measurement and Evaluation

One in ten children in the U.S. is born in Texas. Providing 10% of our country’s population with a quality education is critically important to the future of our local, state, and national economies.

Primarily achieved through our Center for Social Measurement and Evaluation (CSME), CHILDREN AT RISK works to ensure all Texas children have access to quality education, so they have the skills necessary to thrive in our 21st-Century economy.

Through strategic partnerships, CHILDREN AT RISK researches trends, inequities, resources, and opportunities to improve public education. We use this research to educate policymakers and advocate for better education policies

The Center for Social Measurement and Evaluation (CSME) supports the research and evaluation efforts across all of CHILDREN AT RISK’s primary issue areas, centers, and policy initiatives.  CSME produces data tools to empower individuals with the information they need to drive and inform policy change.

Data-Driven Community Advocacy Tools

CSME designs and disseminates data-based research tools including:

  • Annual School Rankings
  • School data for parents
  • Early education data and interactive maps

Research & Evaluation

CSME assesses the impact of policies and programs, resulting in evaluations including:

  • Nonprofit program evaluation
  • Corporate social investment reports
  • Community health needs assessments
  • Fiscal evaluations

Publications 

CSME produces research-oriented publications including:

  • Growing Up in Houston
  • Growing Up in North Texas
  • The Journal of Applied Research on Children
  • The Journal of Family Strengths

Our Latest Research & Data Analysis

2019 State of Public Education

2019 State of Public Education

For the past thirteen years, CHILDREN AT RISK (C@R) has assigned A-F grades and ranked Texas public schools to help parents, educators, and community members better understand how their local schools are performing. C@R has used this annual “dive into the data” to spark conversations about the quality of our public schools and push the state to adopt more transparent and rigorous standards.

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Building Gold Ribbon Schools

Building Gold Ribbon Schools

To understand school quality, each year CHILDREN AT RISK (C@R) ranks and grades schools across Texas. C@R celebrates schools that rise beyond expectations and excel academically. Gold Ribbon Schools are an example of these campuses that outperform their peers. More...

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2019 School Food Rankings

2019 School Food Rankings

Across Texas, over 3 million low-income students qualify for free or reduced-price school meals through federal programs such as the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program. For many of these children, meals eaten at school are the only...

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Growing Up In Houston

Growing Up In Houston

From President & CEO of CHILDREN AT RISK, Dr. Robert Sanborn Data must be the catalyst and starting point to any conversation regarding the well-being of our children. While we can look at a multitude of indicators to gauge how we are doing as a city and state, we...

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