Kentucky has one of the top high school graduation rates in the country, but more than two-thirds of its eighth grade students are not proficient in math and more than half of Kentucky’s fourth graders are not on grade level in reading.

Those findings and others were highlighted Monday with the release of the 2019 Kids Count Data Book by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The annual report uses 16 indicators to rank each state across the four areas of health, education, economic well-being and family and community.

Kentucky ranked 34th in the nation in overall child well-being, the report said. Kentucky Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis responded to the report Monday in a statement sent to the Daily News.

“Clearly, the results show that we have work to do to. Investment in child welfare, well-being, and learning must continue to be a priority for our state. As important, however, is our commitment to better using resources and services already available, identifying and applying innovative strategies for meeting children’s needs, further building the capacity of professionals who serve children, and raising our collective expectations for what our children can achieve. Some of this work has begun, but much more is required,” Lewis said in the statement. 

While the state did see some gains in economic well-being, child health care coverage, fewer births by teenage mothers and stronger parental employment, the report made clear there’s still a lot of work to be done.

More than one in five Kentucky children (22 percent) live in poverty, for example. That amounts to 223,000 children, according to the report.

“That should keep us all up at night,” said Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates.

While Brooks noted that there are fewer Kentucky children living in poverty than in 2010, he sees the report’s findings as an invitation for legislative action next year.

Kentucky Youth Advocates wants lawmakers to invest in a refundable state earned income tax credit and more support for child care to help low-income families lift themselves out of poverty. There’s also room for lawmakers to invest more in early childhood education, Brooks said.

The report said the percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds not in school rose from 57 percent between 2009 and 2011 to 59 percent between 2015 and 2017.

The solution isn’t complicated, he said.

“It boils down to dollars and cents,” Brooks said. “We’re either going to invest early or we’re going to do remediation later.”

Elisa Beth Brown is director of instructional programs for the Bowling Green Independent School District. When it comes to boosting students’ proficiency in reading and math, Brown said recent cuts to state funding for textbooks and teacher training haven’t helped.

“I think there’s a lack of resources for the classroom teacher,” she said, adding her school district has had to pick up the slack for those cuts.

The report said 71 percent of the state’s eighth graders were deemed not proficient in math in 2017.

The percentage improved slightly from 73 percent in 2009. That indicator is based on data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which measures student ability across the areas of number properties and operations, measurement, geometry, data analysis, statistics and probability and algebra.

As for reading, 62 percent of Kentucky’s fourth graders were not proficient in 2017, down from 64 percent in 2009.

The full 2019 Kids Count Data Book is available online at aecf.org/databook. The 2019 Kids Count County Data Book, which includes county-level child well-being data, will be released in November.

– Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @BGDN_edbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.