Dena Jo Squyres, like a typical 16 year-old girl, enjoys hanging out with her friends, shopping and playing softball. But Dena — a student at the Cherokee Nation’s Sequoyah High School in Oklahoma — can add entrepreneur, saver and spokeswoman to her list of after-school activities.

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To present a revealing portrait of each state economy and to make it possible to see the "big picture," CFED has developed 67 measures organized into a three-index framework: Performance, Business Vitality, and Development Capacity.

Graded Indexes

The DRC grades all states in three indexes-Performance, Business Vitality, and Development Capacity-that measure different aspects of economic health. Each index is composed of two or more subindexes, also graded, that provide a more detailed understanding of a state's economy. Subindexes are made up of anywhere from two to 10 measures for a total of 67 measures.

The relationship between these three indexes is dynamic: public policies affect the levels and priorities of investments in capacity; economic resource capacity inevitably affects the vitality of businesses; and the vitality of businesses determines, in large measure, overall economic performance.

Trend Indicators

Starting in 1999, the DRC added graphs tracking the grades of each of the three indexes over a five-year period. The response was positive and significant. In 2004, the report card added even more depth and historical perspective by providing five-year snapshots of a number of individual measures. Of the existing 67 measures which indicate relative progress between the states, 15 have been carefully selected to assess how the states measure up to their own past performance. These 15 trend indicators gauge the direction and magnitude of the states' economic development efforts in the context of their own political and economic environment. In addition to measuring the absolute or percent change over a five-year period, the trend indicators track change from year to year.

DRC Survey

As part of an effort to gather feedback from DRC users, CFED has developed a seven-question survey.

Take the 2007 DRC survey