Study’s low marks on youths’ well-being irritates some states

Associated Press

A new report on child well-being, measured by state and race, has turned an unflattering spotlight on some places not used to being at the bottom of such lists, including Wisconsin, with a worst-in-the-nation ranking for its black children, and South Dakota, with abysmal results for its American Indian youths.

The report, released Tuesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, detailed nationwide racial disparities that put Asian and white children in a far more advantageous position than black, Latino and American Indian children. For some advocates for children, the state-specific results were stinging.

“Wisconsin is a state that claims to value opportunity and community and fairness,” said Ken Taylor, executive director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families. “That we are the worst in the nation when it comes to the well-being of our African-American children is unacceptable.”

The essence of the Casey report is a newly devised index based on 12 indicators measuring a child’s success from birth to adulthood. The indicators include reading and math proficiency, high school graduation data, teen birthrates, employment prospects, family income and education levels, and neighborhood poverty levels.

Nationally, Asian children had the highest composite score at 776, followed by white children at 704. Then there was a sharp drop-off: The scores were 404 for Latino children, 387 for American-Indian children and 345 for black children.

Wisconsin had the worst score for its black youth at 285, followed by Mississippi, then Michigan.

In the Casey index for American Indian children, the South Dakota score of 185 was the lowest of any racial group in any state — a result of the deep poverty on many of South Dakota’s Indian reservations.

The Casey report cited other initiatives around the U.S. that offered promise for improving the prospects of disadvantaged children. Among them:

An innovative school funding system in California that enables school districts to receive extra money based on such factors as child poverty and the number of children in the foster-care system.

The Family and Child Education Program launched by Parents as Teachers, a St. Louis-based advocacy and outreach group, to improve reading and math proficiency among American Indian children. Casey said the program is now offered in 45 Bureau of Indian Education Schools.