The Fordham Institute is not connected with Fordham University.

While this is the first year the Fordham Institute has published an index on children's social health, for the last several years it has published similar figures for the nation as a whole.

A study by the Fordham Institute found that some labor agreements with teachers' unions may restrict the ability of school systems to implement merit pay and other reforms.

"It certainly complicates the Bloomberg administration message, because the state test is completely unreliable," said Michael J. Petrilli, a researcher with the Fordham Institute, a Washington-based research group.

The Fordham Institute said "No one has been more successful in providing a comprehensive reform plan for a system that is failing America's children."

According to a recent report from the Fordham Institute, social studies now accounts for less than eight percent of instructional time.

Today, just thirteen states include history or social studies as part of a high school exit exam, according to the Fordham Institute.

What's Happening in the States (Fordham Institute, January 2010)

The analysis, the Index of Social Health, is produced by the Fordham Institute for Innovation in Social Policy in Tarrytown, N.Y.

Dr. Miringoff, an associate professor of social policy at Fordham University, founded the Fordham Institute for Innovation in Social Policy in 1985.