2024 KIDS COUNT Data Book: Spotlight on Education with a focus on Community Schools

MONTPELIER, VT–Vermont ranks 4th in child well-being again this year, according to the 2024 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, a 50-state report of recent data developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation analyzing how kids are faring.  Each year, the Data Book presents national and state data from 16 indicators in four domains — economic well-being, education, health, and family and community factors — and ranks the states according to how children are faring overall.  States are also ranked in each of the four domains: Vermont ranks 3rd, 5th, and 9th in the domains of Family and Community Context, Health, and Education, respectively, and 20th for Economic Well-being.  

This years’ report also puts a spotlight on education across the country, and emphasizes the need to strengthen public education to protect kids’ futures.  In Vermont, many communities have recently come through the school budget season acutely aware that they are navigating these same concerns against a backdrop of budget pressures as well as a state education finance system that is under scrutiny.  

“We know the broad range of supports that our schools are providing. The acute contexts—including but not limited to the Pandemic—that call for these supports mean that sometimes, both schools and students lack the resources to keep up with some of the measurable, academic pieces that have traditionally defined educational outcomes.”  says Sarah Teel, research director of Voices for Vermont’s Children, Vermont’s member of the KIDS COUNT network. 

The report flags a drop in NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) scores as a concern.  Both reading and math scores have changed for the worse at the national level between 2019 and 2022, continuing a longer-term picture of stagnant test scores, and Vermont has seen a drop as well.  Only 34% of 4th grade students in Vermont were proficient in reading in 2022, down from 37% in 2019 (similar to the national decline from 34% to 32%).  In math, a larger decline has emerged: 27% of 8th grade students were proficient, down from 38% in 2019 (US: 33% to 26%).   

Disaggregated by household income, Vermont’s NAEP results show 43% percent of kids not eligible for FRL at or above proficient in 4th grade reading, but only 19% percent of those eligible for FRL achieving proficiency.  This is a disparity very similar to what is seen in other states and nationally. (US 32/19/46) 8th grade math proficiency rates are similarly disparate - not eligible FRL rate was 34%, FRL only 15%.

The report includes a recommendation to invest in community schools, a public education model designed to support equitable outcomes for students in the context of their community. Natural homes for tutoring, mental health support, nutritional aid and other services, community schools use innovative and creative programs to support young learners and encourage parent engagement, which leads to better outcomes for kids.

It makes sense for schools to include things like wrap-around supports as they build upon the unique assets of their community,” Teel says, “because that is where children and youth spend so much time and form so many relationships.” She says that Voices for Vermont’s Children hopes community schools can continue to emerge as a strategy for tackling inequities that disadvantage children inside and outside of school, while considering each community’s unique strengths and needs.

Voices is a strong supporter of the growth of community schools in Vermont. In 2021, it established the Community Schools Coalition with the Public Assets Institute to advance equity in community schools legislation. The group celebrated the legislature's decision to include funding in this year's budget to continue the community school work started by Act 67 of 2021, as a step toward building a strong community school network across the state. Teel further highlighted the particular potential of the community school model in Vermont, which is flexible and designed to be implemented in response to the unique context of individual communities, to speak to the state's complex public education needs.

Other key findings from the most recent data year available (2021-2022) include: 

• 29,000 kids in Vermont (26%) live in families where no adult has full-time, year round employment, giving Vermont a rank of 29th in the country for this indicator.

• 25% of children live in households with a high housing cost burden, defined as housing expenses that are more than 30% of the household’s income.  This is better than the national rate of 30%, but still places Vermont 19th in the country.  

• The rate of births to females ages 15-19 is the lowest in the country. 

• The rate of low birth-weight births has jumped 7.6%, after never exceeding 7% for many years. 

• 41% of young people in Vermont have experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience, a factor which the report names, along with rates of chronic absence (34% in Vermont), as pressures that weigh heavily on education systems in all states and contribute to the drop in NAEP reading and math proficiency highlighted in the report.  

“Kids of all ages and grades must have what they need to learn each day, such as enough food and sleep and a safe way to get to school, as well as the additional resources they might need to perform at their highest potential and thrive,” said Lisa Hamilton, president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. 

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RELEASE INFORMATION

The 2024 KIDS COUNT® Data Book will be available at www.aecf.org. Additional information is available at www.aecf.org/databook. Journalists interested in creating maps, graphs and rankings in stories about the Data Book can use the KIDS COUNT Data Center at datacenter.aecf.org.

ABOUT VOICES FOR VERMONT’S CHILDREN

Voices for Vermont’s Children is a research-based, multi-issue advocacy organization focused on promoting public policies that center a systemic response to meeting the needs of children and youth. We apply research, analysis and the lived experience of Vermont’s children and families to the pursuit of equity for all kids. To learn more, visit www.voicesforvtkids.org.  

ABOUT THE ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION

The Annie E. Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for the nation’s young people by developing solutions to strengthen families, build paths to economic opportunity and transform struggling communities into safer and healthier places to live, work and grow. For more information, visit www.aecf.org. KIDS COUNT® is a registered trademark of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.