Idaho ranks 22nd for child welfare in latest KidsCount report

Idaho ranked No. 22 nationally in a new report that examines a range of child welfare issues, reports Idaho Education News, but the same study, KidsCount, gave Idaho lackluster scores on education issues, largely because of the lack of preschool.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation released its 2016 edition of the KIDS COUNT Data Book today, reports EdNews reporter Kevin Richert. Titled “State Trends in Child Well-Being,” the report ranked the states on 16 social, economic and education criteria. On many social and economic criteria, Idaho compared favorably to the national average . Examples include the percentage of the state’s children living in poverty in 2004, which came in at 19 percent compared to the national level of 22 percent.

But when the foundation ranked the states on four education metrics, Idaho’s ranking dropped to No. 37 nationally. Among Idaho’s poor rankings: 69 percent of its 3- and 4-year-olds are not in school, a figure that’s risen since the economic downturn, compared to a national rate of 53 percent. Idaho is one of just a handful of states without a state-funded pre-K program.

Idaho also fared poorly on reading scores for 4 ^th graders, and slightly exceeded the national average on math scores for eighth-graders. Richert’s full report is online here .