Report: Gaps in development for young minority, Appalachian children in Ohio persist into adulthood

Young children of color or who live in rural Appalachia are more at risk of starting behind — and staying behind, well into adulthood — than their more-affluent peers elsewhere in Ohio, a new report shows (Source: “Minority, Appalachian kids at greater risk of remaining poor for life, report says,” Columbus Dispatch, July 25, 2018).

Groundwork Ohio released the Ohio Early Childhood Race & Rural Equity Report 2018 on Wednesday. Shannon Jones, executive director of the nonpartisan child-advocacy organization, said it was the most-comprehensive early childhood report in the state’s history. (Jones serves on the Board of Directors for the Health Policy Institute of Ohio)

The report used statewide and regional data collected from multiple state agencies to analyze 26 measures, ranging from prenatal care to post-secondary educational attainment. The data show that kids who have poor outcomes in one measure share the same profile as kids who have poor outcomes in another — whether the measure is education or health-related.

Ninety percent of brain development occurs between birth and age 5. Gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged children begin emerging as early as 9 months, and the gaps widen as kids grow older — leaving disadvantaged kids up to two years behind their higher-income peers by age 5, the report says.