Definitions & Sources
Third Grade Reading Proficiency: The percentage of Montgomery Public Schools third graders who did not meet third-grade reading benchmarks on their end-of-year reading assessment.
Alabama State Department of Education, Second-Grade Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP) Reading Scores, 2022-2025
Long-Term Impacts of Third-Grade Reading Struggles:
Source: The Alabama Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (ACGLR), Recommendations to Governor Kay Ivey, 2020
Kindergarten Readiness: The percentage of Montgomery County kindergarten students who did not meet Alabama's Language, Literacy, Mathematics, Cognitive, Physical, and Social-Emotional school readiness standards. Data are reported by domain for public schools only.
Source: Alabama State Department of Early Childhood Education, AlaKids Kindergarten Skills Assessment, 2023-2024
Females Receiving Adequate/Adequate-Plus Prenatal Care: The percentage of births wherein prenatal care was begun by the fourth month of pregnancy and 80% or more of the recommended prenatal visits were made. The data reported herein represent the sum of the “adequate” and “adequate plus” categories of the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Index, which is comprised of the following categories:
Adequate-Plus Care: prenatal care begun by the fourth month and 110% or more of the recommended visits were made.
Adequate Care: prenatal care begun by the fourth month and 80-109% of the recommended visits were made.
Intermediate Care: prenatal care begun by the fourth month and 50-79% of the recommended visits were made.
Inadequate Care: prenatal care that did not occur, began after the fourth month, or in which less than 50% of the recommended visits were made.
Source: VOICES for Alabama’s Children, 2024 Alabama Kids Count Data Book
Low Birth Weight Babies: A weight at birth of less than 5.5 pounds or less than 2,500 grams. This number is expressed as a percentage of births with low birth weight out of all births where the birth weight is known.
Source: VOICES for Alabama’s Children, 2024 Alabama Kids Count Data Book
Preterm Births: The percent of all live births that occurred at a gestational age of less than 37 weeks. This percent includes only births where the gestational age is known.
Source: VOICES for Alabama’s Children, 2024 Alabama Kids Count Data Book
Early Intervention Services: The number of children aged 0-3 receiving services through the Alabama Early Intervention System. Included are both children with developmental delays and children with diagnoses that increase the risk for developmental delays.
Source: VOICES for Alabama’s Children, 2024 Alabama Kids Count Data Book
Licensed Child Care Programs: The number of child care facilities that are licensed by the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR). This indicator encompasses family care homes (serving six children or less), group child care homes (serving 7-12 children), and licensed child care centers (serving more than 12 children).
Source: Special tabulations provided by the Alabama Department of Human Resources, Child Care Services Division
Children Participating in First Class Pre-K: The number of Montgomery County children (four years of age) participating in Alabama’s state-funded, voluntary pre-k program, First Class Pre-K, divided by the estimated number of all children of that age.
Source: Special tabulations provided by the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, Office of School Readiness
Chronic Absenteeism: The percentage of Montgomery County students who miss ten or more school days in a given school year for any reason – including excused or unexcused absences. Data are reported for public schools only.
Source: VOICES for Alabama’s Children, 2024 Alabama Kids Count Data Book
First Grade Retention: The number of Montgomery County students enrolled in the first grade who were not promoted to the second grade. This number is expressed as a percentage of all students enrolled in the first grade. Data are reported for public schools only.
Source: VOICES for Alabama’s Children, 2024 Alabama Kids Count Data Book