Key Points
• The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) collects family structure data but fails to report them.
• Family structure is an important factor in student success. In this new analysis of the National Survey of Children’s Health, it is as or more predictive of key outcomes—such as fewer behavioral problems, higher grades, and lower rates of depression—than race, family income, and student sex.
• NAEP should regularly report family structure data to enable policymakers, educators, parents and the general public to better understand factors affecting student outcomes.
Thirty Years Later, Welfare Reform Is Still a Model That Works
August 8, 2026 | Matt Weidinger
The real lesson of the 1996 law remains that there is a better way for Americans in need, if only today’s lawmakers match their forebears in choosing it.
