Data reveals educational challenges for U.S. children

Contents

What the data says Zooming in on Texas The impact on children of color What’s the solution? MORE FROM THE DEFENDER

Only one in three children in the U.S. meets reading standards in the fourth grade, one in four eighth-graders are proficient in math, and 30% of students are “chronically absent,” according to data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s “KIDS COUNT Data Book.”

Chronic absenteeism was attributed to causes that have been prevalent since before the pandemic — housing insecurity, poverty, unmet basic needs, health issues, and student disengagement. The pandemic made these conditions worse for some and caused new challenges, like rising anxiety and other mental health issues.

The foundation worries that a lack of readies may harm the U.S. economy and the country’s youth as they join the workforce. Another study says that students with low levels of math are 50% more likely to be unemployed than those with higher levels of math.

“The failure of the U.S. to prepare our kids to learn is setting up millions of young people to struggle through adulthood,” the report says. “If leaders don’t make sure students learn what they missed out on during the pandemic, it could cost our children hundreds of billions of dollars in future earnings and the U.S. economy trillions in lost activity.

States are also delaying the spending of $190 billion in allocated federal pandemic funds from Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER), which could be crucial for student achievement, the report said. States can still allocate, if not spend, this funding by Sept. 30, 2024, although certain districts in some states have requested and received extensions. Should they fail, “tens of billions of dollars set aside for schools will vanish forever.”

What the data says

In 2022, only 26% of eighth-grade students were at or above proficient in math, a decline from 33% before the pandemic.

Roughly one in four eighth-graders was proficient in Math in 2022. Credit: Houston Defender/Tannistha Sinha

One-third of fourth graders (32%) were at or above proficient in reading, also declining by 2% from 2019.

The reading proficiency rates for fourth-grade students in 2022 were 16% for Black children, 18% for American Indian or Alaska Native children, and 20% for Latino students, all of which are below the national average of 32%. Credit: Houston Defender/Tannistha Sinha

From 2018-2022, more than half (54%) of young children (aged 3 and 4) were not in school
Roughly 14.7 million students were chronically absent. The number has doubled since prepandemic times, from 16% in 2018-2019 to 30% in 2021–22. This means, students missed 10% or more days in the academic year. Such absences partly contribute to a drop in NAEP scores, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Two out of three of all U.S. students attended schools plagued by chronic absence.
Four out of 10 (10%) students experienced at least one adverse childhood experience, such as financial hardship, their parents’ divorce, separation, or time in jail.
With regards to economic well-being, 16% of all children in the country live in poverty, 26% of children’s parents lack secure employment, 30% live in households with a high housing cost burden, and 7% of teenagers are not in school and are also not working
In terms of health, 5% of children did not have health insurance in 2022, and 33% of children and teens (aged 10 to 17) were overweight or obese.

Such difficulties affected students of color, immigrant children, and kids from low-income families or attending low-income schools. In turn, their educational aspirations are also impacted.

“Kids of all ages and grades must have what they need to learn each day, such as enough food and sleep and a safe way to get to school, as well as the additional resources they might need to perform at their highest potential and thrive, like tutoring and mental health services,” said Lisa Hamilton, president, and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. “Our policies and priorities have not focused on these factors in preparing young people for the economy, short-changing a whole generation.”

Zooming in on Texas

Texas is one of the lowest-ranked states for overall child well-being, with a rank of 43 among all states. In children’s health, the state ranks 48.

Among the “worst” states, Texas is preceded by Alabama, South Carolina, Alaska, and Arizona. Following Texas are West Virginia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nevada, Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Mexico.

Based on the data:

The chronic absence rate in Texas is 28%,
During the 2021-22 school, 42% of the children in the state experienced one or more adverse childhood experiences, especially Hispanic or Latino children, and
Texas has not spent 34% of its ESSER funds as of January 2024.

The impact on children of color

The report says Black and brown children do not get the opportunities and support they need to address challenges they are disproportionately affected by while growing up to become adults.

Moreover, Black children scored the worst on the KIDS COUNT index. On the other hand, they are more likely to be in school as children than the national average, to have insurance, and to live in a household where the head has a high school diploma. However, Black children are more likely to live in single-parent families and in poverty and have the highest child and teen death rate, which increased between 2019 and 2022.

What’s the solution?

The Casey Foundation suggests the following:

Access to meals, internet, a space to study, and time to have social interactions, such as with friends, teachers, and counselors, to help children,
Access to tutoring for students who require extra assistance,
Usage of ESSER dollars by states for the well-being of students,
Strategies from states and school systems to address chronic absenteeism, such as data gathering, and
More investments into community schools and public schools that provide wraparound services, as well as natural homes for tutoring, mental health support, meals, and parent engagement.