Before they are even born, many young children in the United States face unequal opportunity that can have a lasting impact on future academic, health, and economic outcomes. These disparities–known as the opportunity gap–are rooted in an unequal distribution of resources based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other factors. Today, the opportunity gap for young children manifests as poverty, food insecurity, inadequate access to health care and well-funded quality schools, and exposure to violence.
The unequal and inequitable distribution of resources and experiences on the basis of the following factors:
CONCLUSION
Differential experiences and access to resources in early childhood result in opportunity gaps, which lead to long term effects on outcomes in education, physical health, and social emotional development that are harmful to individuals, communities, and society.
Disparities were examined in three broad domains: education, physical health, and social emotional development and well-being.
Evidence shows that access to high quality early childhood education (ECE) is associated with positive outcomes spanning education, employment, and health. The lack of a coherent approach to ECE in the United States results in inconsistent and scarce access to programs of varying quality. Quality frameworks for ECE programs often do not address structural biases that disproportionately affect marginalized populations. During the critical developmental years prior to age five, children do not have the legally protected right to ECE. In the absence of systematic public investment in ECE in the United States, most families that wish to enroll their children in an ECE program must find and pay for the program on their own.
The following percentages of different demographic groups of families reporting difficulty finding ECE programs in 2016 or did not find a program at all (Corcoran and Steinley, 2017):
61% NON-ENGLISH-SPEAKING 57% ASIAN 54% HISPANIC 53% BLACK 47% WHITE
Children from low-income, marginalized racial or ethnic groups, and rural backgrounds are more likely to experience health problems due to differences in health care access and quality that are strongly rooted in structural racism and discrimination.
People of childbearing age who have lower income are less likely to have health insurance, which leaves them physically and financially vulnerable.
1 in 5 of all lower-income women * of childbearing age lack access to health insurance (Osterman and Martin, 2018).
Poverty, including food insecurity, is a pervasive problem in the United States. The consequences of poor nutrition may plague children throughout their life through stunting and poor cognitive development (Galler et al., 2021; Pizzol et al., 2021; De Sanctis et al., 2021).
1 in 6 children experienced food insecurity in the United States in 2016 (NASEM, 2019)
85% of counties with high child food insecurity were rural in 2016 (NASEM, 2019)
Another key component of young children’s physical health is safe and healthy environments—free from physical harm and danger. Children from marginalized populations are more likely to develop asthma or lead poisoning, be victims of violence, and die as a result of injuries.
1 in 7 children were affected by maltreatment (child abuse or neglect) in 2019 (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, and Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau, 2022).
Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children aged 1-19 in the United States (Goldstick, Cunningham, and Carter, 2022; Lee et al., 2022). Black children are four times more likely than their White peers to die from gun violence (CDC, 2020).
A lack of stable housing, quality education, health care, and job opportunities can impede parents’ readiness to care for their young children, which can lead to poor mental health outcomes for their children later in life.
Chronic poverty is associated with higher rates of mental health problems among young children. Young children from low socioeconomic and specific racial/ethnic groups are also less likely to have access to the resources and conditions to promote mental health.
Children and adolescents from low-income backgrounds are two to three times more likely than their middle-class counterparts to have mental health concerns (Reiss, 2013).
The opportunity gap has short-term and long-term costs borne not only by individuals, but by society more broadly.
To learn more, see Chapter 6 of the full report.
Rooted in history, many institutional and economic barriers continue to affect many children’s access to education and health care supports. The resulting opportunity gaps disproportionately affect people from marginalized populations across their life span.
CONCLUSION
Children of color, children with disabilities, and children living in poverty have been harmed by structural factors that have created and perpetuated gaps in opportunity for young children, including:
To learn more about the historical origins of the opportunity gap, see the Introduction of the report.
The federal government and states should establish early learning opportunities—accompanied by legal accountability guaranteeing access and inclusive, intentional quality standards that are aligned with scientific evidence—as a right afforded to all children and families who need and want services.
The federal government—in partnership with states—should fully implement a voluntary universal high quality public early care and public education system using a targeted universal approach. Such programs should be responsive to community needs, reflect the true cost of quality, and have strong monitoring and accountability systems that specifically address gaps in opportunity.
Federal entities and agencies and private philanthropic organizations that collect data and fund research related to child health and development should create and adequately support an effective equity-focused policy- and services-monitoring infrastructure (quantitative and qualitative data collection, data analysis, and program evaluation) that guides federal, state, and local policy decisions to close children’s opportunity gaps across income, race/ethnicity, disability, gender, language background, and immigrant status. This data infrastructure should also be made available for research and learning.
The federal government, states, local communities, and districts should adequately and equitably support elementary school education and out-of-school programs. Elementary school education should operate under a common quality framework, with quality benchmarks aligned with those in the early care and education system and based on evidence-based policies and practices.
The U.S. Department of Education should fully integrate Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) programming with general early childhood and K-12 education. The Department of Education, states, and districts should engage in specific reforms that explicitly address opportunity gaps.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should create, lead, and be accountable for coordinating an interagency group focused on children’s mental health and socio-emotional well-being that includes the HHS operating divisions, including the Administration for Children and Families, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, among others, as well as the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other relevant agencies, for the purpose of designing, implementing, and evaluating a comprehensive system of primary psychosocial care for young children and their families.
The U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with other relevant federal agencies, should review, update, and enforce existing labor standards and employment policies to address disparities that disproportionately affect working families with young children.
The federal government, in partnership with state and local governments, philanthropy, and relevant public and private organizations, should support policies and interventions to target social determinants of health that create and perpetuate opportunity gaps at the community level.
Early learning and K-12 education systems, health care systems, and employers should test and put in place policies and protocols to identify and address manifestations of institutional racism to reduce inequities in access to resources and quality services in education, healthcare, and public health.
Federal entities and agencies and private philanthropic organizations that collect data and fund research related to child health and development should create and adequately support an effective equity-focused policy research and monitoring infrastructure (data collection, data analysis, and program evaluation) that guides federal, state, and local policy decisions to close children’s opportunity gaps across income, race/ethnicity, disability, gender, language background, and immigrant status.
