The percent of? Kentucky kindergarten students who begin school ready to learn dropped by about 3 points from pre-pandemic years to the 2023-2024 school year, according to a report on child welfare released Wednesday.?(Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd)

LOUISVILLE — The percent of? Kentucky kindergarten students who begin school ready to learn dropped by about 3 points from pre-pandemic years to the 2023-2024 school year, according to a report on child welfare released Wednesday.?

The KIDS COUNT County Data Book was compiled and released by Kentucky Youth Advocates. Kids Count is part of a national initiative by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and measures child well-being based on a variety of measures — education, family life, trauma, incarceration and more.?

In the school year ending in 2019, the book shows, about 51% of Kentucky’s kids were kindergarten-ready. For the 2023-2024 school year, that was down to 48%.?

Terry Brooks,? executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, explained that small things — like letter magnets on the fridge — can help introduce young children to written language and prepare them to read.?

“It’s as simple as reading to your kid,” he told the Lantern. But, once children reach the school, educators need to be willing to meet them where they are as well, he said, because not all children will learn to read the same way.

“I think the primary school experience in Kentucky looks a lot more like an assembly line than a personalized menu,” Brooks said, “and we need to get back to that personalized menu.”

Not all education data was negative, though. The number of fourth graders who are proficient in reading, eighth graders who are proficient in math and high school students graduating on time have all improved.?

Adverse childhood experiences

In 2024, Kids Count says, “more Kentucky children are experiencing adverse childhood experiences than ever before.”?

Adverse childhood experiences, more commonly known as ACEs, refer to traumas or stressors in a person’s life before their 18th birthday. They include, but are not limited to experiencing or witnessing violence, abuse or neglect; living in a home where someone has a substance use disorder or other mental health issues; living through a parental separation and more.?

ACEs have a far-reaching impact on adulthood, too, as survivors are more likely to have chronic health conditions including cancer, diabetes and heart disease; experience poverty; have pregnancy problems; be involved in sex trafficking; suffer from stress; and some may even go on to perpetuate ACEs, feeding a reciprocating spiral of illness and violence. The more ACEs a child lives through, the greater their chance of having long- term complications.?

Almost 1 in 4 — 23% — of Kentucky’s children have experienced at least two ACEs. That’s significantly higher than the national average, which is about 17%.?

“If today is a typical day in Kentucky, one out of five kids woke up living in deep poverty,” Brooks said during a Wednesday press conference to launch the book. “And tonight, if today is a typical day in Kentucky, one in five kids are going to go to bed hungry.”

The state has made some strides over the last decade, according to Kids Count, including passing laws to ensure educators learn about ACEs and “closing gaps” in the background check process for people working with children.?

But gaps remain.?

“Minimal legislative progress” has been made to “teach youth to protect themselves by providing age-appropriate information on healthy boundaries and relationships,” according to the report, which also points out the legislature cut funds for the? Health Access Nurturing Development Services program (HANDS), a voluntary home visitation program for any new or expectant parents.?

To combat ACEs, children need access to positive childhood experiences (PCEs), which can include having supportive and safe family, feeling a sense of belonging, feeling supported by friends, having at least two non-parent adults who care about them and more.

“We emphasize each? year that what gets measured, gets changed,” Brooks said, “and this year, I’m urging our policymakers to hear: what? can be predicted can be prevented. Understanding ACEs and PCEs creates that opportunity to measure? risk and pave the way for prevention.”?

Two youth advocates spoke alongside Brooks and others, detailing how positive experiences have helped them succeed in life.

Aleah Stigall, a Boyle County High School sophomore, said being involved in pageantry helped connect her to mentors and friends that she felt she lacked as an only child. She also founded an initiative called Disconnect to Connect – Let’s Get Real, which she said “strives to teach students how to have real relationships with real people without technology.”

“This goes hand in hand with developing strong connections with mentors so one can learn new skills throughout childhood and even adulthood,” said Stigall, 16.

Another youth advocate, Issabella Cornett from Graves County, said support she’s felt through health challenges helped her develop “resilience.”

“Throughout my childhood, positive experiences have been made by access to reliable health care and the conflict support my teachers, friends, family and my medical team,” Cornett said. ” These positive resources have been essential in allowing me to navigate major health challenges, including chronic migraines, kidney disease and various allergies.”

Shannon Moody, KYA’s chief policy and strategy officer, said everyone can help create a better future for young people.

“What we know is while the prevalence of PCEs, or positive childhood experiences, are just not quite as documented or heavily studied, we do know that they are common, and with these stories that you heard today, I think you can see them on a day to day basis in your community,” she said. “Stable housing, access to health services and safe family and community environments can set young people up for a lifetime of health, stability and success.”

Solutions recommendations?

The book recommends several policy “solutions” to address Kentucky’s child well-being gaps. They include:?

• Implement a state survey on ACEs and encourage screenings on ACEs within social and health services that regularly interact with children.?
• Increase support for programs that mitigate ACEs.?
• Incentivize health care providers to work with underserved communities and accept Medicaid.?
• Prioritize relative and fictive kin placement for children being removed from their home. Increase support given to kinship caregivers. About 55,000 Kentucky kids lived in kinship care between 2021 and 2023, but support for those families is insufficient.?
• Invest in affordable and rural housing trust funds and support programs that help homeowners remove hazardous materials like lead paint. Kentucky is short about 200,000 housing units, and no county in the state has enough housing to meet demands.?
• Encourage schools and other community-based organizations to include mentoring in their programs so youth have access to mentorship. Many youth lack mentorship, which can impact their ability to enroll in college, be a leader and volunteer in their community.?

“The question that I have about all the work that went into Kids Count is really simple: will we see the General Assembly match its rhetoric with action on behalf of kids in 2025,” Brooks said. “I’m both hopeful and scared to death to answer that question.”

To read the whole Kids Count book, go here.?