West Virginia KIDS COUNT Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

National Analysis Of W.Va. Children Offers Solutions To Declining Math, Reading Scores

National academic assessments have shown the pandemic students across the nation lost ground in both reading and math. One study is pinpointing the investments needed to be made in education to ensure future success.

The Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation indicates West Virginia kids fared worse than their counterparts in most other states. Their annual assessment ranks West Virginia as having the third worst educational outcomes for children in the country based on the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress. According to the data, 78 percent of the state’s fourth graders are not proficient in reading, while 85 percent of eighth graders are not proficient in math.

In its 35th publication, the Kids Count Data Book focused on ensuring kids have what they need to be ready to learn, and on the impact of chronic absences and adverse childhood experiences.

“In West Virginia, I think we are seeing – and even prior to the pandemic have seen – that poverty and educational outcomes have that inextricable link,” said Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, which is the state-level partner of Kids Count.

According to the Data Book, 45 percent of West Virginia students have experienced one or more adverse childhood experiences, and more than a third were chronically absent from the 2021-22 school year.

In the midst of statewide staffing shortages, Allen said educators and policymakers are struggling to get students back to a pre-pandemic baseline. One possible solution she and the report both point towards is set to expire in the coming months. By Sept. 30, 2024, states must draw down funding from the $190 billion federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) program authorized by several pandemic-era relief bills. Allen said the funding could jump-start new initiatives or sustain existing endeavors.

“It’ll be really important for state lawmakers, and hopefully federal lawmakers as well, to recognize that we haven’t overcome the challenges related to the pandemic,” Allen said. “We really need to make sure we’re not going backwards as this funding expires. If we have fewer social workers, if we have fewer school psychologists, fewer support staff that’s helping get kids back up to speed in reading and math and other things, we’re gonna really see some negative consequences in the long term.”

The data book also presents a focus on community schools as a way to accomplish many of the necessary interventions to ensure student success. Community schools are defined as public schools that not only focus on academics but also provide wraparound support to kids and families, are natural homes for tutoring, mental health support, nutritional aid and other services.

Allen said that most school districts in West Virginia have seen a decline in enrollment over the past several years, leading to fewer state dollars.

“We’re seeing in Harrison County three schools close,” Allen said. “There’s a lot of consolidation happening, and it’s happening in other places as well. That’s kind of the inverse of community schools, kids having to be bussed further. This is not a time to reduce resources for schools, because kids have more needs than they did a few years ago.”

Annual Report Shows Good News, Bad News In W.Va. Children’s Health

When it comes to several different measures of overall well-being, a new report shows West Virginia’s children rank 44th nationally. But there are some important improvements.

When it comes to several different measures of overall well-being, a new report shows West Virginia’s children rank 44th nationally.

But there are some important improvements, particularly in the health category where this year’s data shows the state ranks 35th. That’s up four places from last year’s report in the Kids Count Data Book, an annual 50-state report developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to analyze how children are doing in post-pandemic America.

The most recent data available is from 2022 and indicates improvements in the number of children covered by health insurance, considered obese and the number of deaths among children and teens.

The same assessment shows an increase in the number of low birth-weight babies.

Other categories included in the overall ranking are economic development, education, family and community.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.

Child Care Access A Barrier To Improving Child Well-Being In W.Va.

West Virginia ranked 42nd in the nation for child well-being in this year’s KIDS COUNT Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Each year, the foundation chooses a specific hurdle to improving child well-being, and this year’s focus is the state of child care.

West Virginia ranked 42nd in the nation for child well-being in this year’s KIDS COUNT Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The data book is a 50-state report of analyzing how children and families are faring. The analysis is based on metrics, such as education, health, family and community.

Tricia Kingery, executive director of West Virginia Kids Count, said the biggest factor in the state’s ranking is its economic outlook.

“The underlying factor as to why we’re 36th in economic well-being, 47th in education, 39th in health, and 34th in family and community is the economic landscape of our state,” Kingery said. “We have to invest in working families. And that does mean jobs. It does mean benefits, it does mean child care.”

Each year, the foundation chooses a specific hurdle to improving child well-being, and this year’s focus is the state of child care.

Tiffany Gale, owner and director of Miss Tiffany’s Early Childhood Education House in Weirton, as well as the family child care chair for the West Virginia Association for Young Children, said a lack of accessible and affordable child care is holding back West Virginia.

“It is such a huge issue not only for child care in general, but also for business and economic development and for workforce participation,” Gale said. “Families cannot get to work without access to child care, and businesses cannot thrive without workers and workers need child care.”

Gale said there isn’t enough child care in the state of West Virginia to support the businesses that already exist, nor to support the businesses that are coming. Gale and Kingery both said many people who want to work cannot because they do not have reliable child care.

Beyond the immediate impact to the workforce, Gale said there is also a long-term impact from the lack of access to child care.

“Early childhood education is extremely important, because 80 percent of brain growth happens before kindergarten,” she said. “We can change the trajectory of a child’s life, and really the trajectory of communities in the first five years of care.”

West Virginia Kids Count plans to publish a more detailed, county by county report of child well-being in the fall.

West Virginia Improves 4 Spots on Child Well-Being Rankings

West Virginia has improved from 43rd to 39th among all states in a foundation’s rankings for overall child well-being.

The group West Virginia KIDS COUNT announced the change in the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2016 national rankings of child well-being.

West Virginia KIDS COUNT says the Mountain State tied with five other states for the second-largest improvement since the 2015 marks.

The group says West Virginia ties for third for percentage of children covered by health insurance.

The foundation measures well-being through four metrics.

West Virginia ranked 31st in economic well-being, 46th in education, 41st in health and 33rd in family and community.

Report: More than 1 in 4 W.Va. Kids Living in Poverty

A new report says more than one in four West Virginiachildren are living in poverty.

The annual KIDS Count report says the number of children living in poverty grew from 87,000 in 2008 to 100,000 in 2013, an increase of nearly 15 percent.

The report says 38 percent of children, or 144,000, were living in families whose parents lacked secure employment in 2013, compared to 32 percent in 2008.

Several other child well-being indicators improved during the same period. The death rate for children and teens declined from 36 per 100,000 to 34. The teen birth rate fell from 47 per 1,000 to 40.

Overall, the report ranks West Virginia 43rd for child well-being, down from 37th in 2014.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation released the report on Tuesday.

Low-income Kids at Risk of Falling Behind in School Report Says

A report says one-third of West Virginia schoolchildren under age 6 live in poor households and are at risk of falling significantly behind their classmates’ achievements.

The West Virginia KIDS COUNT’s annual report on children’s wellbeing says the vocabularies of children as young as 18 months from low-income families are already several months behind their peers, and that continues throughout their educations.

The report released Tuesday says there’s a 24 percent reading proficiency gap between low-income fourth-graders and their wealthier classmates, and a 23 gap in math proficiency for low-income eighth-graders.

The report suggests continued investments in high-quality child care can help close the achievement gap.

Overall, the report ranked West Virginia 37th in the nation for child wellbeing. That’s unchanged from a year ago.