New report: WV education outcomes still nearly last in country, fewer kids attending preschool
Inside a Kanawha County elementary classroom in West Virginia. (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch)
West Virginia's ranking for child well-being has made slight improvements, but the state is still struggling with students meeting basic academic benchmarks.
The new Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation said that in 2024, 75% of West Virginia's fourth graders were not proficient in reading, and 82% of the state's eighth graders were not proficient in math.
The annual report assesses childhood well-being in every state.
The data showed that, nationally, students are struggling with reading and math since the COVID-19 pandemic's interruptions to learning. Plus, chronic absenteeism has become a major challenge.
West Virginia ranks 45th in education, according to the report that was released earlier this week.
'State lawmakers have spent the last few years focusing on really a small sliver of the population by passing policies related to private school and home school,' said Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, which is West Virginia's member of the Casey Foundation's Kids Count network.
'We're always going to see most of our kids [receive] their education through public schools. So if we really want to boost these outcomes in education, we have to focus our efforts on where kids are, in our public school system,' she continued.
Additionally, the number of children attending early childhood education programs worsened. Around 70% of West Virginia children ages three and four are not enrolled in school pre-school or child care, which is the second-worst rate in the country.
The state is woefully short in child care programs, which Allen said has played a part in the decline of students attending preschool.
'Whether it's Head Start or pre-K or child care — and those are areas where we have seen backsliding or lack of investment from the state level — and we know early childhood education is so formative for children's future,' she said, adding that the state is spending less on child care than it did before the pandemic.
West Virginia moved to 41st in child well-being — up from 44th last year. In 2023, 20% of West Virginia's kids lived in poverty, an improvement over the previous year's rate of 25%.
The state is third best in the country for health insurance coverage, and only 3% of kids are uninsured. Many West Virginia children use the state's Medicaid Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, but potential federal cuts and changes to Medicaid could threaten that coverage.
'Children with health insurance are more likely to have a regular source of health care they can access for preventive services, developmental screenings and treatment for physical or mental health needs,' the report said.
However, nearly 10% of babies were low birth weight, placing the state at 45th in that category. Low birth weight is a leading cause of infant death in the United States, and these babies have a higher probability of developmental problems and disabilities.
The share of U.S. infants with a low birth weight has steadily worsened for more than 30 years, the report said, and the rate remains higher than most other peer nations.
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