According to a new study, Native American children join black, immigrant and Latino children as lagging behind white children.
BALTIMORE-According to an Annie E. Casey Foundation's 2017 Race for Results report, American Indian kids join children in immigrant, African-American, and Latino families as lacking in opportunities for success and well-being.
Among the findings:
• Thirty-eight percent of American Indian children live in households with incomes of 200 percent above the federal poverty level, compared to 69 percent of white children and 69 percent of Asian children.
• Among fourth-graders nationally, 22 percent of American Indian students scored at or above proficient in reading in 2015, compared to 53 percent of Asian and 46 percent of white students.
• Among eighth-graders nationally, 19 percent of American Indian students scored at or above proficient in math in 2015, compared to 58 percent of Asian and 42 percent of white students.
The report reveals the reach of chronic poverty: children of immigrants account for 30 percent of all low-income kids in the United States, but represent less than one-fourth of the nation's overall child population.
"The nation's vitality and prosperity depend on the success of every child in this country," said Casey Foundation President and CEO, Patrick McCarthy. "Like generations before them, immigrants have helped further the nation and its economy. We will lose a great deal if policymakers don't expand existing policies that work and implement new legislation to support children in immigrant families, as well as millions of U.S.-born children of color."
Race for Results measures children's progress on the national and state levels in key education, health and economic milestones by racial and ethnic groups. The report's index uses a composite score of indicators on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 1,000 (highest) for comparison. The index shows persistent, significant disparities among African-American (369), American Indian (413) and Latino children (429) compared to white (713) and Asian and Pacific Islander children (783).
• In nearly all states, African-American children face some of the greatest barriers to success, especially in the South and the Midwest. American Indian children also encounter significant obstacles to success. The 220 index score for American Indian children in South Dakota is the lowest of any group in any state.
• White children represent 51 percent of the U.S. child population and have among the highest index scores across the states, especially in the Northeast. States in the South and Southwest are among the lowest-scoring for white children.
The full report is available at http://www.aecf.org/resources/2017-race-for-results/.
