A study released yesterday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation has found that black and Hispanic children in Texas have significantly more barriers to success than white and Asian students. These barriers include poverty, health care availability, and access to a good education.
For example, notes the Dallas Morning News, 34 percent of Texas fourth graders are able to understand reading materials at a proficient level. But when it comes to Hispanic fourth graders in Texas, the number drops to 22 percent.
For African-American children, the number is even more troubling. Only 17 percent of black fourth graders in Texas are reading at a level judged as at or above proficient. The study also found that, in Texas, one in three children is being raised as part of an immigrant family. And half of those immigrant kids live in poverty.
The study suggested multiple solutions, including increasing health care access and increasing school funding.
