Safiya Merchant

Battle Creek Enquirer

A new national report indicates that while overall childhood well-being has increased in Michigan, the state of education is worsening, with Michigan ranking 10th-worst in the nation for children's education.

According to the 2016 Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kids Count Data Book, released Tuesday, Michigan ranked 31st in the nation for child well-being, compared to 33rd in 2015. However, the state dropped to 40th place from 37th in education, according to a news release.

To measure overall child well-being, the foundation uses four metrics: health, education, economic well-being and family and community.

The education ranking is based on four criteria: 3- and 4-year-olds children not in preschool; fourth-graders not proficient in reading; eighth graders not proficient in math; and high school students not graduating on time.

In Michigan from 2012-14, a little more than half of 3- and 4-year-olds were not in preschool, about the same rate as in 2007-09. In 2015, 71 percent of fourth-graders were not proficient in reading, compared to 68 percent in 2007. Seventy-one percent of eighth graders were not proficient in math in 2015, the same as in 2007. The percentage of high school students graduating on time has improved from 2007-08 to 2012-13, to 78 percent from 76 percent.

About the same percentage of young children were not in preschool nationally as in Michigan, according to the report. Nationally, 65 percent of fourth-graders were not proficient in reading and 68 percent of eighth-graders were not proficient in math. About 18 percent of high school students nationwide did not graduate on time in 2012-13.

All of the other Great Lakes states -- Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana and Minnesota -- ranked higher than Michigan in both education and overall child well-being.

Although education has shown to be on the minds of state legislators, Michigan League for Public Policy Kids Count in Michigan Project Director Alicia Guevara Warren said Monday there is more work to do when it comes to addressing poverty in Michigan, which has a direct impact on education.

"I would say that we have seen a lot of energy and movement in the Legislature -- they understand that we have an issue in this, so we've seen some expansions in 4-year-old preschool programs, we have some legislation currently in a conference committee between the House and the Senate to address third-grade reading," Guevara Warren said. "There is some recognition from our state leaders that this is an issue and hopefully we'll continue to work on that. One of the things that's really connected to education, though, that we are not addressing very well is really looking at our high poverty rate. We have more kids living in poverty than we did in the last year of the Great Recession."

Guevara Warren said Michigan also has more parents who are struggling to find full-time work and really high numbers of kids living in concentrated poverty, and that these types of economic factors can affect a child's ability to learn.

"What we see is the impact of living in poverty, especially over time, it really has an impact on brain development, on really just development, period," Guevara Warren said.

In 2014, about 23 percent of children lived in poverty, up from 19 percent in 2008, according to the foundation's report. That's about 493,000 kids.

Nationally, 22 percent of children lived in poverty in 2014, or about 15.7 million kids.

Guevara Warren said the state can look at increasing opportunity by continuing to expand access to high-quality pre-kindergarten and early childhood programs, such as more efforts directed toward 3-year-olds.

She said we also need to be looking at how to expand access to higher education and training, and that another way to improve overall well-being for kids is rewarding responsibility by increasing the state-earned income tax credit. Providing paid family leave time is also important, she added.

"A lot of times you hear about moms having to go back to work within a couple of weeks of giving birth because they don't have paid time off and they can't afford to lose their jobs," Guevara Warren said. "So that really diminishes that bond between the mother and the child and really those early developmental things that are going on with the child."

Contact Safiya Merchant at 269-966-0684 or smerchant@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter: @SafiyaMerchant