The overall economic and educational conditions for young people in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. are pretty good, when compared to the rest of the county, and appear to be improving incrementally.
That’s according to an annual report released Tuesday from the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The nationwide report looked at indicators in four specific domains: economic well-being, education, health and family and community.
Virginia ranked 13th nationally overall. Maryland is 21st.
Since D.C. is not a state, it was not ranked against the other states. But the report showed some encouraging trends in the District, especially relating to child poverty declining and the percentage of young people with health insurance increasing — that number is substantially better than the national average.
Poverty
In D.C., Maryland and Virginia, there’s been an improvement in the economic well-being of families, said Leslie Boissiere, the vice president of external affairs at the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
“There are fewer children who are living in families as of 2023 that lack secure employment,” Boissiere said.
According to the report, 13% of young people in Virginia live in poverty; the percentage is the same as it was in 2019, but that’s better than the national average of 16%.
In Maryland, 11% of children live below the poverty line. In D.C., the figure is 17%, but that’s down two percentage points from a 2019 pre-pandemic survey.
Education and health
When it comes to education, only 11% of Virginia high school students do not graduate on time in four years. That’s an improvement from the pre-pandemic 2018-2019 school year report when it was 13%.
In Maryland, the percentage ticked up one percent to 14% from 13% in 2018-2019.
D.C. showed an improvement in this area, as the percentage declined to 24%, which is still above the national average. But it was down seven percentage points from 31% of students in the 2018-2019 school year.
The two states and D.C. appear to be doing a good job when it comes to making sure that young people have health insurance.
In Virginia, 5% of children are without insurance and that figure has remained constant the last six years; it is in line with the national average. In Maryland, the figure is also 5%.
But in D.C., only 1% of children are without some form of health insurance and that was an improvement from 2% in 2019.
Overall rankings
The top state in the country overall for children when it came to the areas surveyed was New Hampshire, with New Mexico coming in at the bottom, ranking 50th.
Other states at the top of the report include Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Vermont and Utah.
The report said these states are still facing the greatest challenges in all four: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia.
While the report shows economic trends have improved for young people, nationally there is still much work to be done when it comes to education, especially now that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, and schools have had several years to return to normal.
“We’re certainly seeing trends across the country where pandemic era losses have not corrected themselves,” Boissiere said. “I believe we’re seeing the same in the region as well, in D.C. and Maryland and in Virginia, and it shows the need to pay attention to interventions like quality tutoring that’s provided in schools and things that will help kids in school who have fallen behind to make up the gaps that they’re experiencing.”
Among all four domains, education saw the biggest decline, with three out of four education indicators worsened since 2019.
- Preschool participation hasn’t yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.
- Reading and math scores declined.
- Chronic absenteeism has become a major challenge.
- But the percentage of high school seniors graduating on time showed improvement
“The headline is that on economic well-being, families are doing better than they have been in 2019 that there continues to be a need to invest in education to ensure that kids are doing well,” she said.
The report added the progress since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is incremental, but significant, giving policymakers a clear road map to improve outcomes.
“We know what helps kids thrive: stable homes, strong schools, nutritious food, supportive relationships and real opportunities to learn and grow,” the report said. “These aren’t luxuries, they’re basic needs, shared by all children in all communities, and meeting them is a shared responsibility.”
The full report can be found online.
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