SC Children and Race: Report Shows African-American and Hispanic Children at a Greater Disadvantage
July 1, 2014
COLUMBIA, SC – A report analysis released today by Children’s Trust of South Carolina shows the state’s children, especially those of color, are falling behind important milestones and families across racial lines are struggling. Race for Results: Building Opportunity for South Carolina’s Children includes recommendations on how to ensure future success for all children.
“The deficits we are seeing across racial lines, but particularly for our African-American and Hispanic/Latino children, are eye-opening,” said Sue Williams, chief executive officer of Children’s Trust of South Carolina. “We have an urgent situation in South Carolina. Too many of our families struggle with poverty and too many children are missing important educational milestones. With education, families can lift themselves out of poverty and greatly reduce the stressors that lead can to child abuse and neglect.”
The findings include:
- Only 13 percent of African-American children have reading proficiency by grade four and math proficiency by grade eight.
- Only 44 percent of Hispanic/Latino children are enrolled in nursery school, preschool or kindergarten.
- One in every three SC youth is not graduating from high school on time.
“Research shows children who can read by grade four and are proficient in math by grade eight have a much greater likelihood of growing into the productive, employable citizens our future will require,” said Melissa Strompolis, coordinator of impact assessment and evaluation. “Without those skills in place, we are producing a generation of men and women who don’t have minimal educational attainment to secure a stable financial future for themselves or their families.”
The report offers recommendations and focus for future investments in children, including evidence-based programs and educational attainment, to focus on improved outcomes for all children and for youth of color.
Children’s Trust produced the analysis as the KIDS COUNT grantee for South Carolina. KIDS COUNT, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, recently released a national report, Race for Results: Building a Path to Opportunity for All Children. The national report unveiled the new Race for Results Index, which compares how children are progressing on key milestones across racial and ethnic groups at the national and state level.
The report is available on our website.
