More children will live in poverty this year. More will have two parents who are unemployed. Fewer children will enroll in prekindergarten programs, and fewer teenagers will find jobs. More children are likely to commit suicide, be overweight, and be victimized by crime. This is all according to a report released Tuesday by the Foundation for Child Development that measures the impact of the recession on the current generation.
These are the children of the Great Recession, a cohort that will experience a decline in fortunes that erases 30 years of social progress, the report contends. Known as the Child and Youth Well-Being Index, the report predicts that in the next few years, the economy may recover and the unemployment rate may drop, but the generation growing up now could feel the harsh impact of the recession for years to come."These are the lasting impacts of extreme recessions," said Kenneth Land, a professor of sociology and demography at Duke University and the author of the report.
Schools will be hit particularly hard by the aftershocks, Land said. As more families enter the ranks of the poor, more children will arrive at school behind their wealthier peers, yet fewer will have the benefit of high-quality early education to help them catch up. The children who miss out on prekindergarten now will likely have lower reading and math scores in five years, when they enter fourtth grade, the report says. In another decade, they'll be more likely to drop out of high school. Read the free premium access article in Education Week
online.
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