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Government shutdown looms after Trump-backed bill fails; Environmental groups sue CA Air Resources Board over biogas credits; NY elected officials work to electrify municipal buildings; Need a mental health boost? Talking hot dog is here.

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President-elect Trump repeats his threats to jail Jan. 6th committee members, while also putting a stop-gap spending plan in jeopardy. A court removes Fani Willis from Trump's Georgia election interference case. The FAA restricts drones in New Jersey, and a Federal Reserve rate cut shakes markets.

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Rural folks could soon be shut out of loans for natural disasters if Project 2025 has its way, Taos, New Mexico weighs options for its housing shortage, and the top states providing America's Christmas trees revealed.

Report: PA ranks 23rd among states in child well-being

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Monday, June 10, 2024   

Pennsylvania ranks in the middle among states for the well-being of its children, at 23rd overall in the new Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The annual Data Book ranks states in four categories: economic well-being, education, health, and community and family.

Leslie Boissiere, vice president of external affairs for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said the report found significant dips in the percentage of children who were reading proficiently by the end of fourth grade and in the percentage of students who were proficient in basic math.

"We know both those skills are critically important not only to academic success, but to make sure that young people are prepared for the workforce," Boissiere emphasized.

Pennsylvania ranks 16th in education and showed improvement in high school students not graduating on time. From 2018 to 2019, it was14% and decreased to 13% from 2020 to 2021.

Boissiere noted the pandemic is not solely to blame for the country's worsening educational outcomes. Educators, researchers, policymakers, and employers who track students' academic readiness have been ringing alarm bells for a long time.

"For example the pandemic erased decades of increases in math scores," Boissiere pointed out. "However, if you look over those 35 years that we've produced the Data Book we've never seen a significant percentage of children who were either proficient in fourth grade reading or basic math."

The reported encouraged states and communities to examine several approaches to help improve the well-being of children and address some of the pandemic's effects.

"We know some of the things that work," Boissiere stressed. "Both in remediating or providing additional supports for kids who may have fallen behind such as high dosage tutoring, creating environments within schools where all kids feel like they can belong, and looking at evidence-based curriculum approaches."

Boissiere added some states have delayed spending their share of the $190 billion in critical federal pandemic funding known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, which could help boost achievement. The deadline to allocate -- not spend -- the funding is Sept. 30, 2024.

Disclosure: The Annie E. Casey Foundation contributes to our fund for reporting on Children's Issues, Education, Juvenile Justice, and Welfare Reform. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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