Maryland Ranks 22st Nationally in Measures of Child Well-Being As Students Test Scores Drop Amid Rise in Chronic Absenteeism  

Maryland children, particularly those living in poverty and children of color, are facing significant challenges, which prior to the COVID-19 pandemic had been trending in the wrong direction but has been markedly exposed in its aftermath. A precipitous fall in fourth grade reading and eighth grade math proficiency among students in Maryland between 2019 and 2022 indicates the urgent need for Maryland leaders and policy makers to do more to prepare children to learn and prepare them for success later in life. Chronic absenteeism along with adverse childhood experiences are also factors that are impacting the current and future wellbeing of children in the state. Maryland ranks 22^st in child well-being, according to the 2024 KIDS COUNT® Data Book just released by The Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The Data Book, released annually, is a 50-state report of recent household data developed by the Foundation that analyzes how children and families 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.

The data in this year’s report are mostly from 2022. New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Utah rank first, second and third in overall well-being in the 2024 Data Book; Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico ranked 48th, 49th and 50^th, respectively. The report this year focuses on students’ lack of basic reading and math skills and highlights how chronic absenteeism along with adverse childhood experiences are factors impacting current learning with future negative consequences

Learning Loss Creates Barriers to Work and Higher Income

The Data Book shows that, even prior to the pandemic, educational outcomes were not trending in the right direction and had barely budged for decades, especially in basic reading and math skills. Compared to peer nations, the United States is failing to equip its children with the high-level reading, math and digital problem-solving skills needed for many of today’s fastest-growing occupations in a highly competitive global economy.

About 69% of 4^th graders scored below proficient in reading in Maryland, with the State ranking 28^th nationally, while 75% of 8^th graders scored below proficient in math, ranking the State 24^th nationally. Maryland is near the national average of 68% and 74% respectively. Black and Latino students faced more challenges in reading and math with 80% of Black 4^th graders and 85% of Latino 4^th graders scoring below proficiency in reading while 91% of Black 8^th graders and 90% of Latino 8^th graders scored below proficient in math.

This lack of readiness will result in significant harm to our economy and to our youth as they join the workforce. Up to $31 trillion in U.S. economic activity hinges on helping young people complete learning delayed by the pandemic. Research indicates that students who don’t advance beyond lower levels of math may be 50% more likely to be unemployed after high school. One analysis calculates that the drop in math scores between 2019 and 2022 will reduce lifetime earnings by 1.6% for the 48 million pandemic-era students nationwide, for a total of $900 billion in lost income.

At the same time, some states have delayed spending their share of the $190 billion critical federal pandemic funding (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER) that could help boost achievement. Just over one-quarter of the statewide funds in Maryland are still available, according to the latest publicly available report. The deadline to allocate – not spend – this funding is September 30, 2024. Tens of billions of dollars set aside for schools will vanish forever if states do not act immediately.

Another consequence of the pandemic’s impact on educational achievement is the number of children who are chronically absent from school. The data shows that in Maryland a third of students during the 2021-2022 school year (33%) are chronically absent meaning that meaning they missed at least 15 days of school in a year.

Children may not come to school ready to learn, or come to school at all, if they are experiencing instability. According to the National Survey of Children’s Health, in 2021–22, nearly 4 in 10 children in Maryland (38%) had undergone an adverse childhood experience. About 49% of non-Hispanic Black or African American children and 31% of non-Hispanic white children say they have experienced one or more adverse childhood experiences. These experiences included family economic hardship; a child’s parents having divorced, separated, served time in jail or died; witnessing domestic violence; experiencing neighborhood violence; living with someone with a mental illness or substance use problem; and being treated unfairly due to race or ethnicity.

To tackle these issues the Foundation made the following recommendations:

• To get kids back on track, we must make sure they arrive at the classroom ready to learn by ensuring access to low- or no-cost meals, a reliable internet connection, a place to study and time with friends, teachers and counselors.
• Expand access to intensive tutoring for students who are behind in their classes and missing academic milestones. Research has shown the most effective tutoring is in person, high dosage and tied directly to the school.
• States should take advantage of all their allocated pandemic relief funding to prioritize the social, emotional, academic and physical well-being of students. As long as funds are obligated by the Sept. 30 deadline, states should have two more full years to spend them.
• States and school systems should address chronic absence, so more students return to learn. While few states gather and report chronic absence data by grade, all of them should. Improving attendance tracking and data will inform future decision-making. Lawmakers should embrace positive approaches rather than criminalizing students or parents due to attendance challenges, because they may not understand the consequences of even a few days missed.
• Policymakers should invest in community schools, public schools that provide wraparound support to kids and families. 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.

The KIDS COUNT Data Book also shows that Maryland policymakers must continue to prioritize measures that increase basic economic security for Maryland families. Children living in poverty or in a household facing financial difficulties are never immune to the stress of their environment, which affects their overall well-being. Key findings from the report show that Maryland fares better than most states on measures of income but families here still face significant housing costs along with other challenges

The report finds that in Maryland in 2022:

• 155,000 or 12% of children lived in households with income below the poverty line. In 2022, a family of two adults and two children lived in poverty if the family’s annual income fell below $29,678. (rank: 6th)
• 294,000 or 22% of children lived with parents who lack secure employment. These are children under age 18 who live in families where no parent has regular, full-time, year-round employment. For children in single-parent families, this means the parent did not work at least 35 hours per week for at least 50 weeks in the 12 months prior to the survey. For children living in married-couple families, this means neither parent worked at least 35 hours per week for at least 50 weeks in the 12 months before the survey. Children who live with neither parent are included as not having secure parental employment because they are more likely to be economically vulnerable (rank: 11th)
• 402,000 or 30% of children lived in households with high housing cost burdens, meaning that the households spent than 30% of their monthly pretax income on housing-related expenses, including rent, mortgage payments, taxes and insurance. (rank: 37th)
• 60,000 or 4% of children under the age of 19 did not have health insurance (rank: 17th) .
• Between 2018 and 2022, 46,000 or 3% of children lived in high-poverty areas. High poverty areas are census tracts where the poverty rates of the total population are 30% or more, in 2021 this would be a family of two adults and two children with an annual income below $29,678. (rank: 9th)

While this year’s Data Book makes clear that the work is not yet done, Maryland has taken a number of positive steps in the last few years to improve economic security for families and strengthen public schools, and it is too soon for the benefits of those investments to be reflected in available data. In particular, this report emphasizes the need to continue fully funding the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, which, among other measures, directs additional resources to students facing additional barriers to learning, like living in a high-poverty community. At the same time, we must continue efforts to reduce childhood poverty and increase financial security for families, like expanding the state’s child tax credit, ensuring all children can get free school meals, and preventing evictions that can lead students to miss school and face other challenges.