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Archive for the ‘Demographics’ Category

Antidote to an Aging Workforce: Pre-k Excellence

Posted in Achievement gap, Business and economy, Demographics on May 7, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Photo: Caroline Silber for Strategies for Children

Photo: Caroline Silber for Strategies for Children

In 20 years, children who are currently digging in sandboxes and hanging upside down from the monkey bars will have the chance to apply for high-tech jobs in Massachusetts. Sadly, however, what many of these children may not have in 20 years are the skills to fill the state’s future jobs.

It’s already a “war for us in terms of recruiting,” Tom Leighton, CEO of Akamai Technologies, said recently of finding skilled workers at this year’s Early Childhood Summit.

This skills gap is growing now, choking off the pipeline of future workers, and threatening the state’s economic well-being. It’s a problem that makes a powerful case for improving preschool programs and K-12 education across the state.

A new report — “Closing the Massachusetts Skills Gap: Recommendations and Action Steps” — released by the Commonwealth Corporation provides demographic details, noting that, “Although the Commonwealth’s workforce is the best-educated of all the states, … a very high concentration of our most educated workers are 45 years or older.”

“Our younger workforce is neither large enough, nor well educated enough, to replace those who will soon retire, and young workers between the ages of 16 and 24 are disproportionately unemployed,” the (more…)

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China, India and USA: Human Capital in a Global Economy

Posted in Business and economy, Demographics, International, Research on September 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

A new report  from the Center for the Next Generation and the Center for American Progress — “The Competition that Really Matters: Comparing U.S., Chinese, and Indian Investments in the Next Generation Workforce” – raises provocative questions about the United States’ global competitiveness. And early education is among the issues the report addresses.

“Half of U.S. children get no early childhood education,” the report notes, “and we have no national strategy to increase enrollment.”

In China, 51% of 3- and 4-year-olds have at least a year of publicly funded preschool, up from  9% in 1980. And China has set an ambitious national goal of enrolling 40 million children in preschool by 2020 – or 50% more than are currently enrolled. It also aims to provide 70% of its young children with three years of preschool by 2020, according to the report.

“Total state funding for pre-k programs (in the U.S.) decreased by $60 million in 2011, after decreasing by $30 million the previous year,” the report states. “So just as China is ramping up its investments in early childhood education,… the United States is reducing investment in preschool learning and has set no clear national goals to counter China with a bold plan to increase access and improve quality of early learning in our country.”

To be sure, India and China have large numbers of families living in deep poverty, and there are questions about the quality of programming in both countries. Yet, the report notes, the sheer size of the population in India and China should give U.S. policymakers pause and reinforce the urgency of ensuring that all of our children have the tools they need to participate in an increasingly sophisticated global economy. (more…)

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Report Offers Snapshot of 2010-11 Kindergarten Class

Posted in Demographics, K-12 on September 10, 2012 | 3 Comments »

Photo: Kate Samp for Strategies for Children

The federal National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has launched a longitudinal study of the kindergarten class of 2010-11 that will run through their expected completion of fifth grade in 2016. The first report is a profile of the nation’s 3.5 million first-time kindergartners, drawn from the study’s nationally representative sample of 18,200 children enrolled in 970 schools.

The recently released profile of kindergartners includes both demographic and educational information.

First the demographics:

  • One-quarter of first-time kindergartners live in households with incomes below federal poverty levels.
  • Three-quarters (76%) live in two-parent households.
  • Almost two-fifths (38%) have parents who have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher.
  • A small majority (53%) are white, 24% are Hispanic, 13% are black, 4% are Asian and 4% are two or more races.

The new study from NCES, which is part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the third in a series of longitudinal studies of young children.

In the recently released profile of kindergartners, NCES also assessed children’s early reading and math skills (more…)

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Half of 3- and 4-Year-Olds Not Enrolled in Preschool

Posted in Demographics, Pre-kindergarten on August 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Photo: Michele McDonald for Strategies for Children

The proportion of the nation’s 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in preschool has risen since 2005-07, but more than half (53%) still are not enrolled, according to the recently released Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2012 KIDS COUNT Data Book. In 2005-07, by comparison, 56% of U.S. children were not enrolled in preschool. KIDS COUNT bases its estimates of preschool attendance on the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which measures enrollment in preschool or nursery school in the two previous months.

KIDS COUNT also gives a racial and ethnic breakdown of the 2008-10 data. The figures below indicate the proportion of 3- and 4-year-olds nationally who are not enrolled in preschool:

  • Asian and Pacific Islander: 48%
  • Non-Hispanic white: 50%
  • African-American: 50%
  • American Indian: 59%
  • Hispanic: 63%

Here in Massachusetts, 41% of 3- and 4-year-olds are not enrolled in preschool, according to 2008-10 data, compared with 44% in 2005-07. Only two states – Connecticut (38%) and New Jersey (36%) – ranked better than the Bay State. “New Jersey has invested heavily in its public prekindergarten programs, especially in the state’s poorest cities where large numbers of African-American and Latino children are benefiting,” Ed Week’s Early Years blog reports.

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Children Across MA Need Support in Reading

Posted in Demographics, Reading proficiency, Research on May 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Third grade reading in Massachusetts. Taking a closer look at race/ethnicity (click to enlarge chart) and income (click to enlarge chart). Source: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Take a closer look at third grade reading proficiency in Massachusetts, and one thing is clear, as the charts on race and ethnicity and income shown here demonstrate. We must address troubling achievement gaps and at the same time help support children across all racial/ethnic and income groups become strong readers by the end of third grade.

To give every child the strong start they deserve, we must recognize that the path to reading success begins at birth. So do research-based strategies to support children’s early language and literacy development.  An Act Relative to Third Grade Reading Proficiency, which is now making its way through the Massachusetts Legislature, offers one important way to address the problem. It establishes an Early Literacy Expert Panel that would make recommendations to the state’s education agencies, focused largely on five research-based strategies: curriculum, instruction, professional development and training, assessment, and family partnership.

The charts included in this post are on our Maps & Charts page, which also contains additional charts on reading and other issues.

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Young Children in MA are More Diverse than Adults

Posted in Demographics on March 8, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Massachusetts snapshot: Young children and adults, 2010 (Click on image to enlarge.)

Massachusetts snapshot: Young children, 2000 and 2010 (Click on image to enlarge)

Politics is in the air, and for those of us concerned about young children, we must ensure that their needs are on the election year agenda. One look at data from the 2010 U.S. Census highlights the demographic differences between the voting age population and the population of young children, birth to age 5, in Massachusetts.

Almost four-fifths (79%) of the 5.1 million Massachusetts adults, age 18 and older, are non-Hispanic white. Less than two-thirds (63%) of the commonwealth’s 442,592 young children, birth to age 5, are non-Hispanic white, down from 74% in 2000. As the first chart  shows, a substantial increase in the proportion of Latino or Hispanic young children is the driving force behind the difference between the adult and young child populations in the commonwealth.

Massachusetts is home to a sophisticated, innovation-based economy that depends on an ongoing pipeline of skilled, well-educated workers. We also have an aging population, with a median age of 39.1, up from 36.5 in 2000. This means voters have a shared interest in preparing all of our children — of all races and ethnicities — to contribute to our economic prosperity and civic vitality.

(For demographic and educational information on your Massachusetts city or town, check out Fast Facts. See more maps and charts.)

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Census 2010: Fewer Young Children in MA, More Urban

Posted in Business and economy, Demographics on December 8, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Strategies for Children charts

A quick look at the 2010 U.S. Census findings for Massachusetts tells a compelling story about the need to invest in our youngest residents. In an aging state whose prosperity depends on a pipeline of skilled, well-educated workers, the burden of sustaining the commonwealth’s future prosperity is resting on fewer small shoulders.

Increasingly, the state’s youngest residents live in Boston and two dozen Gateway Cities, communities with high numbers of children in lower-income families.*  These are communities where gaps in opportunity lead to gaps in achievement – and where almost 40% of Bay State children under age 6 now reside.

Here are some highlights: (more…)

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Fast Facts Demographic and Educational Data Updated

Posted in Demographics, Infants and toddlers, K-12, Pre-kindergarten on November 8, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Photo: Alessandra Hartkopf for Strategies for Children

Are you curious about the number of low-income children in your community? The high school graduation rate? Third grade reading? Preschool enrollment? Check out our Fast Facts for these and other demographic and educational tidbits. Fast Facts is a Web-based tool, with a drop-down menu that makes it easy to find data on every city and town in Massachusetts, with side-by-side comparisons to statewide statistics. We recently updated Fast Facts to include information from the 2011 MCAS and 2010 federal decennial census.

Milton, home of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, has two public school pre-kindergarten programs, a dozen center-based programs and  31 licensed family child care providers. In the town’s public schools, 14% of students are from low-income families, and English is not the first language for 5% of children. Worcester, home of Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, has 24 public school pre-kindergarten programs, 42 center-based programs and 354 licensed family child care providers. In the city’s public schools, 70% of children are from low-income families, and English is not the first language for 43% of children. In Milton, 92.5% of young people graduate from high school in four years; in Worcester, 71% graduate in four years.

In Plymouth, home of Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray, 65% of third graders scored proficient or above in English language arts on the third grade MCAS. In Winthrop, home of Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo, 13.5% of children under age 6 are Hispanic/Latino, as are 9% of children age 6-18. In Boston, home of Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education, more than two-thirds of children under age 6 have all parents in the workforce, compared with half in Wellesley, home of Representative Alice Peisch, the other education committee co-chair. In Boston, 63% of preschool-aged children are enrolled in an early education program, compared with 79% in Wellesley.

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Children’s Well-Being Stagnant Since 2000

Posted in Business and economy, Demographics, Research on August 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

The well-being of children in the United States has stagnated since 2000, after improving over the mid- to late 1990s, and the economic downturn affects millions of children, according to the 2011 KIDS COUNT Data Book released last week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. One in five children lives in poverty, with 2009 income for a family of four falling below $21,756. This is up from 17% in 2000. And 11% of the nation’s children had at least one unemployed parent in 2010.

Massachusetts, overall, fared better than most of the nation, ranking third behind New Hampshire and Minnesota. In the Bay State, 13% of children live in families with incomes below the poverty line, the fifth lowest in the country, compared with 14% in 2000, and 9% of children had at least one unemployed parent in 2010. The lowest ranking states, (more…)

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Census Shows Diversity of MA Children and Youth

Posted in Demographics on April 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

The population of children and youth, under 18, in Massachusetts is increasingly diverse, according to newly released data from the federal 2010 decennial census. While we await the detailed age breakdown that will provide data on our youngest residents, from birth to age 9, to inform our work around early education and reading proficiency, the results released so far, nonetheless, provide valuable insights.

Two-thirds of Bay State children, under age 18, are white, down from three-quarters in 2000. Meanwhile, 14.9% are Latino (up from 10.5% in 2000), 7.3% are black (up from 6.5% in 2000), and 5.5% are Asian (up from 4.0% in 2000). The rest are other races.

In addition, more than one-third (33.6%) of Latinos in Massachusetts are under 18, compared with (more…)

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