Education

Children & Families

March 20, 2002 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Children’s Well-Being

Although the child-poverty rate in the United States declined slightly during the 1990s—from 18 percent to 17 percent—many states actually experienced an increase in the percentage of children living in poverty, according to an analysis of a survey that was conducted along with the 2000 U.S. Census.

View the report, “Children at Risk: State Trends 1990-2000,” posted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. (Requires Adobe’s Acrobat Reader.)

“Children at Risk: State Trends 1990-2000" is a special report from Kids Count, a project of the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation. The report presents findings from a supplemental survey of 700,000 households conducted in 2000.

The data show that child-poverty rates declined in 29 states and rose in 16. Alaska had the highest increase, with a 30 percent jump, but its rate of 13 percent in 2000 was still below the national average. Colorado, South Dakota, and Minnesota had the largest decreases—each exceeding 30 percent.

“Despite the enormous wealth in the United States, our child-poverty rate is among the highest in the developed world,” the report says.

The report also focuses on 10 other indicators of children’s well-being, including the percentage of children living with the head of a household who is a high school dropout and the percentage of children with limited English skills.

Overall, eight of the indicators improved, but in some cases, the change was small. Only one of the indicators grew worse in all 50 states and the District of Columbia: the percentage of children living in single-parent families. Nationally, the proportion rose from 24 percent in 1990 to 30 percent in 2000.

The report notes the current effort among policymakers to bolster marriage rates.

“Much of the public interest is linked to the fact that children growing up in single-parent households typically do not have access to the same economic or human resources as children growing up in two-parent families,” the report says.

The survey shows large drops during the 1990s in the percentage of children living in households without telephones—a decline of 50 percent—and the percentage of children living in households without motor vehicles, which decreased by 22 percent.

In 2000, 4 percent of children lived in homes without phones, and 7 percent lived in households without cars. “Such isolation,” the report says, “leaves families disconnected from economic opportunity, meaningful support systems, and the services and institutions that help families succeed.”

—Linda Jacobson ljacobs@epe.org

A version of this article appeared in the March 20, 2002 edition of Education Week

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Classroom Technology Webinar
How to Leverage Virtual Learning: Preparing Students for the Future
Hear from an expert panel how best to leverage virtual learning in your district to achieve your goals.
Content provided by Class
English-Language Learners Webinar AI and English Learners: What Teachers Need to Know
Explore the role of AI in multilingual education and its potential limitations.
Education Webinar The K-12 Leader: Data and Insights Every Marketer Needs to Know
Which topics are capturing the attention of district and school leaders? Discover how to align your content with the topics your target audience cares about most. 

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education From Our Research Center What's on the Minds of Educators, in Charts
Politics, gender equity, and technology—how teachers and administrators say these issues are affecting the field.
1 min read
Stylized illustration of a pie chart
Traci Daberko for Education Week
Education Briefly Stated: August 30, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 23, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 16, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read