This year’s KIDS Count Data Book indicates poor educational outcomes continue to hurt the well-being of Delaware children.
Delaware was 30th in the nation in overall child well-being according to data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The states are ranked using 16 indicators in four domains – economic well-being, education, health and family and community factors.
Delaware has improved in half of the indicators since 2019, six have worsened and two have not changed.
The overall ranking is harmed by low proficiency rates in reading and math for First State students.
Those rates haven’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and Delaware ranked 37th overall in education, an improvement on last year’s ranking of 45 - but the report says Delaware must do more to prepare children to learn so they are ready to earn in adulthood.
Overall improvements have come in child poverty, teen births and parental employment, but education is a mixed bag according to Erin Nescott, a policy analyst for KIDS Count Delaware.
“We see increases in school enrollment. We see increases in high school graduation rate, especially since 2010. We see fewer dropouts across time, but pandemic had, unfortunately, a negative impact on that. There is an increase in dropout rates, post pandemic," said Nescott.
The report also shows fewer young children are in school, fourth grade reading and eighth grade math proficiency scores have plummeted and fewer high school students are graduating on time.
Delaware was 17th in economic well-being, down from 8th because of increases in childhood poverty rates and housing-burdened households.
The state was 27th in child health and 33rd in family and community,
Delaware’s 15% of children living in poverty is slightly better than the 16% national average, and the state is seeing fewer low birth-weight babies and teen births according to the report.
"We are working to meet people where they are,” said Nescott. “As for KIDS Count in Delaware, this year, we actually just invested in a promotional docu-mini, and it talks about what we can do for legislators specifically and what we can do for nonprofits, for different providers, child serving, family serving organizations."
Nescott notes the hope is that this will help amplify the message in a new way to improve outcomes in the state moving forward.
