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Reporting on the state of education in your community and across the country.

Report: Black Children in Ohio Worse Off Than in Most States

State by state results for African American children. (Credit: Annie E. Casey Foundation)
State by state results for African American children. (Credit: Annie E. Casey Foundation)

Children of color in Ohio fair far worse than their white peers when it comes to well-being and opportunity in the state. The findings come from the latest Kids Count: Race for Results report.

The report from the non-partisan Annie E. Casey Foundation uses 12 indicators to compare childhood well-being across states. The indicators cover a range of outcomes in education, health, and economic areas, like 4th grade reading proficiency and teen pregnancy rates.

In Ohio, African American children score far lower than their white, Asian and Latino peers.

Ohio ranks 42 nd in the nation when it comes to well-being for black children out of the 44 states with available data.

The Casey Foundation did have recommendations for Ohio to take steps to improve outcomes for the group.

“Things like increasing access to early care and education and making sure that kids are primed for higher ed,” Associate Director for Policy Reform and Advocacy Laura Speer said, “tax credits for working families, access to food and childcare subsidies. All of these things can make a real big difference.”

Speer said Ohio is doing better than many states at providing necessary resources for immigrant children or children with immigrant parents.

Nationwide, seven out of 10 immigrant children live in low-poverty areas and eight out of 10 in two-parent households. Speer said those outcomes in Ohio are very similar.

The foundation ranks Ohio as 24 th in the nation when it comes to the well-being of all children in the state.