Rhode Island ranked 12th in an annual national survey of child well-being, but ranked lower than every other New England state except Maine, according to a report released Monday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Although Rhode Island ranked highly overall, performance varied across the four categories that determine the overall score.
Ocean State also ranked sixth in health and ninth in economic well-being, but did not fare much better in the remaining two areas, coming in 20th in family and community and 29th in education.
“While we have made significant progress in reducing the rate of children living in poverty in Rhode Island, we should not become complacent,” Paige Clausius Parks, executive director of Rhode Island Kids Count, said in a statement.
“Federal funds are available to help end severe child poverty in Rhode Island, and I’m pleased that the Legislature has proposed eliminating blanket sanctions against families and increasing monthly benefits to end the harm to children living in poverty.”
The foundation compiles national and state data on child welfare and policy from all 50 states to compile the KIDS COUNT Data Book, now in its 35th year. It ranks states in four major categories using 16 indicators, including the number of children living in poverty, literacy rates, teen births and the number of children without health insurance. An overall ranking is calculated based on a state’s performance in the four categories.
Rhode Island’s economic and health scores were due to its strong performance on several indicators. Only 2% of the state’s children, or 5,000 people, had no health insurance. The state’s child and teen death rate was low, at 14 deaths per 100,000 youth in 2022. Some states, such as Alaska, Louisiana, and Montana, had more than 45 deaths per 100,000 youth.
In 2022, the majority of 3- and 4-year-olds (55%) in Rhode Island were not attending school. That same year, 66% of fourth graders in the state were deficient in reading and 76% of eighth graders were deficient in math. In the 2020-2021 school year, 16% of high school students did not graduate on time.
“While Rhode Island’s fourth-graders have improved in reading rankings at their grade level, we know there is still room for improvement,” said Clausius-Parks. “I am gratified that the Governor and the House of Representatives have invested $5 million to improve reading and math proficiency.”
Below-average achievement in education is a national trend and a major theme in this year’s Data Book, which begins with a letter from Lisa M. Hamilton, president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
“Today’s children will be this nation’s mid-21st century workforce, and We the People are failing to prepare them,” Hamilton wrote, noting that nationally, 32% of fourth graders will be proficient in reading in 2022. That’s up from 28% in 2000 but down from 34% in 2019. Math is even worse, with only 26% of eighth graders being proficient in math.
Two other trends in education have shown less recent improvement nationwide: The number of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in school is at 52% in 2022, down 2% from 2018. As of 2021, the number of high school students graduating on time has stagnated at 14% for two years.
Chronic absenteeism has also been cited as a long-standing problem, exacerbated by the pandemic: While the data book doesn’t use absences as a metric, it notes that in 2021-2022, 30% of students nationwide, or about 15 million students, missed at least 10% of school days during the school year.
According to a Rhode Island KIDS COUNT survey, the overall chronic absenteeism rate for Rhode Island K-12 students for the 2022-2023 school year is 31%. 2024 Fact BookHigher rates were seen in kindergarten and first grade, as well as middle and high school. The absentee rate was 39% for some groups, such as Hispanic and low-income students, some of whom have been hit hardest by the pandemic, the Factbook noted.
In his letter, Hamilton argued that the trend toward declining basic literacy and math skills could have lasting effects on the economy: In 2021, there were 36.8 million people working in STEM fields, but the workforce could be eroded by future job seekers who don’t have the necessary skills.
“High-paying jobs in fast-growing fields like software developer, data scientist, and industrial mechanic will open up to job seekers with a knack for math,” Hamilton wrote. “Not all of these jobs require advanced degrees or bachelor’s degrees, but they demand skills that too few students in America are acquiring.”The full national report is available at: KIDS COUNT Data Center Website.
Get morning headlines delivered to your inbox
