When the Annie E. Casey Foundation releases its annual report on the condition of children, the results are predictable.
Tennessee children, on average, have a lower birth weight, a higher death rate, a higher teen pregnancy rate and a higher school dropout rate. There are also more children here living in poverty and more single-parent families, among other things, than in most other states.
Heard it before? Indeed, the results in the Volunteer State have varied little over the quarter century of the report.
This year, the foundation also broke the data down by racial and ethnic groups. The results are no less predictable.
More Tennessee minority children have lower birth rates, are less proficient in reading and math, graduate from high school in smaller percentages, have more teen births, have fewer higher-education degrees, live in fewer two-parent homes and live in more poverty than children in most other states.