NY PostWhite, Asian children more likely to succeed: studyBy Bob Fredericks and Post Wires
April 1, 2014 | 9:54am
White and Asian kids are better prepared to succeed than black, Latino and American-Indian children across the US, according to a new report released Tuesday by a child advocacy group.
The study uses 12 indicators to measure a child’s potential for success, including teen birthrates, reading and math proficiency, high school graduation rates, the number of parents in the home, family income and education levels and other factors.
The report — called “Race for Results,” produced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation — then uses the data to predict on a scale of 1 to 1,000 how well children from the five racial groups are prepared to succeed in life.
The numbers show that New York fared better than the national average in some cases and worse in others:
• Asians scored 776 nationally and 743 in New York.
• Whites scored 704 nationally and 768 in New York
• Latinos had a score of 404 nationally and 395 in New York.
• Blacks scored 345 nationally and 384 in New York.
• American-Indians scored 387 nationally and 537 in New York.
“Scores for Latino, American-Indian and African-American children are distressingly lower, and this pattern holds true in nearly every state,” said the report.
Patrick McCarthy, the foundation’s president, said the findings are “a call to action that requires serious and sustained attention from the private, nonprofit, philanthropic and government sectors to create equitable opportunities for children of color.”
The report was based on data from 2012, including census figures that put the number of US children under 18 at 39 million whites, 17.6 million Latinos, 10.2 million blacks, 3.4 million Asians, and 640,000 American-Indians, as well as about 2.8 million children of two or more races.
It described the challenges facing African-American children as “a national crisis.”
For black children, the states with the lowest scores were in the South and upper Midwest — with Wisconsin at the bottom, followed closely by Mississippi and Michigan. The highest scores were in states with relatively small black populations — Hawaii, New Hampshire, Utah and Alaska.
New York’s scores ranked sixth for whites, 29th for Asians, 21st for blacks, 24th for Latinos and fifth for American-Indians.
Among its recommendations, the report urges a stronger effort to analyze race-specific data on child well-being that could be used to develop programs to help bridge the racial gap.
It said special emphasis should be placed on expanding job opportunities as children in the disadvantaged groups enter adulthood.
“Regardless of our own racial background or socio-economic position, we are inextricably interconnected as a society,” the report concluded. “We must view all children in America as our own — and as key contributors to our nation’s future.”