Kids Count presents Warwick education data

WARWICK STUDENTS continue to make progress in reading, math and graduation, and showed fewer cases of child abuse or neglect, but also showed a high teen pregnancy rate and that fewer women are receiving early prenatal care, according to a presentation by Rhode Island Kids Count. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND KIDS COUNT
WARWICK STUDENTS continue to make progress in reading, math and graduation, and showed fewer cases of child abuse or neglect, but also showed a high teen pregnancy rate and that fewer women are receiving early prenatal care, according to a presentation by Rhode Island Kids Count. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND KIDS COUNT

WARWICK – At an event Wednesday at the Warwick Public Library, Rhode Island Kids Count Policy Analyst Stephanie Geller presented Warwick-centric data from the 2012 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook, showing the improvements and declines in the well-being of the city’s children and youth.

The “Warwick Data in Your Backyard” presentation was created in partnership with the Warwick Coalition to Prevent Child Abuse and showed that Warwick students continue to make progress in reading, math and graduation and showed fewer cases of child abuse or neglect, but also showed a high teen pregnancy rate and that fewer women are receiving early prenatal care.

Between 2005 and 2011, the percentage of fourth-grade students in Warwick that read at, or above, proficiency increased from 71 percent to 77 percent, higher than the overall Rhode Island rate of 71 percent.

The percentage of eighth-grade students in Warwick that read at or above proficiency improved even more dramatically, from 59 percent in 2005 to 84 percent in 2011, higher than the overall Rhode Island average rate of 77 percent.

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“Reading proficiency is critical for academic success. Prior to third grade children are learning to read; after third grade children are reading to learn,” Elizabeth Burke, executive director of R.I. Kids Count, said in a statement. “Students who have poor reading skills will have trouble completing coursework and graduating from high school. Early warning systems can help identify students who are struggling with reading and falling behind their peers.”

The Kids Count report also reported improvements in math proficiency, in which the number of Warwick’s fourth-grade students who were at or above proficiency in math increased from 63 percent to 70 percent from 2005 to 2011, and was higher than the state’s 2011 rate of 65 percent.

The percentage of eighth-grade students in Warwick at or above proficiency in math increased from 52 percent in 2005 to 58 percent in 2011, matching the overall state rate.

“Improvements in curriculum, instructional materials, assessments, classroom practice, teacher preparation, and professional development all can help to increase math proficiency among students,” said Gellar in a statement.

According to the presentation, high school graduation rates in Warwick improved “substantially” in recent years. In 2011, 82 percent of students graduated from high school in four years, an 18 percentage point increase from 2007. The four-year graduation rate for the state as a whole was 77 percent. “While Warwick has made great improvements in its graduation rate in recent years, the district’s graduation rate for low-income students (68 percent) continues to lag behind that of higher-income students (89 percent),” said Gellar. “Warwick can continue to improve its graduation rate for all students by identifying students at-risk for dropping out and providing individualized supports to keep them on the path to graduation, creating eighth to ninth-grade transition programs, and supporting personalized learning.”

The one real decline shown by the report was in the number of women receiving early prenatal care in Warwick. Between 2006 and 2010, 12.5 percent of pregnant women in Warwick received no or delayed prenatal care, a 6 percentage point increase from the 6.5 percent of women who received no or delayed prenatal care between 2001 and 2005. Statewide, the rate of delayed prenatal care was 15.6 percent between 2006 and 2010.

“Timely prenatal care is important for the health of mothers and their babies,” said Bryant. “Prenatal care allows caregivers to screen for and treat conditions that increase the risks for poor birth outcomes, such as having babies who are low birthweight or who die in infancy, and to educate parents on caring for newborns. It is especially important for women who face multiple risks for poor birth outcomes.”

Between 2006 and 2010, the birth rate among teen girls in Warwick was 21.3 births per 1,000 teen girls aged 15 to 19, lower than the state rate of 27.0 births per 1,000 teen girls ages 15 to 19. For teens aged 18 and 19, the birth rate in Warwick – 44.1 births to every 1,000 older teens – was slightly higher than the state as a whole – 37.5 births per every 1,000 girls.

In Warwick between 2006 and 2010, 28 births – or 11.8 percent of the 237 teen births during that period – were repeat teen births.

“Children of teen parents face a number of challenges,” stated Bryant. “They are more likely to have learning problems, live in poverty, enter the foster care system, drop out of high school, spend time in prison and become teen parents themselves.”

The report showed child abuse and neglect rates lower in Warwick than in the surrounding communities. The rate of abuse and neglect in Warwick was 9.8 victims per 1,000 children, versus a state rate of 14 victims per 1,000 children. Comparatively, the rate of abuse and neglect in neighboring towns was 17.1 victims per 1,000 children in Coventry, 11.1 to 1,0000 in Cranston and 12.2 to 1,000 in Johnston.

“It is critical that we continue to focus on ways to prevent child abuse and neglect in all of our state’s cities and towns,” stated Bryant. “Increasing access to health care, work supports, high-quality early learning programs and out-of-school time programs can help stabilize at-risk families and keep children safe.”

According to the report, immediate effects of child abuse include: isolation, fear, inability to trust, injury and even death. Long-term effects include: juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, mental health problems, teen pregnancy and low academic achievement.

“Effective home visiting programs help parents develop the skills to nurture and support their children’s development and improve the health of both the parent and the child,’ said Bryant.

To view the a full R.I. Kids Count fact sheet for Warwick, visit: www.rikidscount.org.

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