Pre-School to Post-Secondary Educational Outcomes of Young People in Care in Ontario (Canada) Robert Flynn, Meagan Miller, Barbara Greenberg, Erik Michael, & Cynthia Vincent Ontario Looking After Children Project Centre for Research on Educational & Community Services (CRECS) University of Ottawa (Canada) Symposium on educational outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care, EUSARF 2018, Porto, Portugal, October 2-5, 2018

Outline Current educational outcomes of children and youth in care in Ontario, at all levels (all data are cross-sectional and drawn from data base of Ontario Looking After Children [“OnLAC”] project.) A preventable childhood cause and some preventable adult consequences of poor educational outcomes Three key conclusions

Current pre-school educational outcomes of young children in care in Ontario Our sample: 520 young children in care in 2010-2015, aged 12-47 months Standardized outcome measure: Motor & Social Development (MSD) scale, assessing young children’s motor, social, & cognitive development General population: Mean = 100.0; median (50th percentile) = 100; SD = 15.0 Our sample: Mean = 88.7; median = 89 (23rd percentile); SD = 15.7 Takeaway: Our sample mean was 0.75 SDs below the general population mean (i.e., a large effect size), or 27 percentiles below the general population median This helps explain why many children and youth in care have difficulty later in primary, secondary, or post-secondary education

Current primary-school educational outcomes of children in care in Ontario Our sample: 1,779 young people in care in 2016, aged 6-13 years Performance in reading (as rated by worker): Excellent (above current grade level) 11% Good (at grade level) 35% Fair (below grade level) 32% Poor (much below grade level) 22% Performance in math (as rated by worker): Excellent (above current grade level) 6% Good (at grade level) 36% Fair (below grade level) 35% Poor (much below grade level) 23% Takeaway: 54% in reading and 58% in math were rated as functioning below grade level in reading and math, indicating targets for intervention

Current secondary-school educational outcomes of young people in care in Ontario Our sample: 1,639 young people in care in 2016, aged 14-17 years Performance in reading (as rated by worker): Excellent (above current grade level): 14% Good (at grade level): 42% Fair (below grade level): 25% Poor (much below grade level): 19% Performance in math (as rated by worker): Excellent (above current grade level): 7% Good (at grade level): 34% Fair (below grade level): 35% Poor (much below grade level): 25% Takeaway: 44% in reading and 60% in math were rated as functioning below grade level, suggesting targets for intervention

Current post-secondary educational outcomes of young people in care in Ontario Our sample: 237 young people in care in 2016-2017, aged 18-21 years Current type of education or training in which youths were currently enrolled: University undergraduate program 6% Community college 13% Private career college 1% Secondary school 22% Alternative or adult high school 11% Other education or training 2% Not currently in school 46% Takeaway: Only 23% were enrolled in post-secondary education or training, at ages 18-21 years, and 46% were not enrolled in school at all

Current post-secondary educational outcomes of young people in care in Ontario (continued) Our sample: 268 young people in care in 2016-2017, aged 18-21 years Highest degree, diploma, or grade that the youths had attained: University degree <1% Community college/CEGEP/apprenticeship 4% Secondary school school diploma (grade 12) or equivalent) 46% Grade 11 33% Grade 10 7% Grade 9 3% Less than grade 9 7% Takeaway: 50% had < secondary-school diploma, at ages 18-21 years

A preventable cause and some preventable consequences of poor educational outcomes among young people in care A preventable cause in childhood: Poorly developed basic skills in reading and math Some preventable consequences in young adulthood (Forsman et al., 2016): Unemployment and economic hardship Illicit drug use Serious mental health problems

Three key conclusions regarding the education of children and youth in care Need to improve educational success on all four levels, from pre-school to post-secondary Financial support by governments of post-secondary educational opportunities Messaging by teachers, caregivers, and workers that young people in care: Belong in post-secondary education Will derive life-long economic benefits and well-being from completing secondary and post-secondary education (Statistics Canada, 2017; Finnie et al. 2017)

Thank you for your attention. Questions? For more information: •Robert Flynn, University of Ottawa (Canada), rflynn@uottawa.ca •OnLAC project: https://crecs.uottawa.ca/onlac