Journals > Journal: School Readiness: Closing Racial and Ethnic Gaps > Article: Low Birth Weight and School Readiness
Journal Issue: School Readiness: Closing Racial and Ethnic Gaps Volume 15 Number 1 Spring 2005
Introduction
In the United States, black women have for decades been twice as likely as white women to give birth to babies of low birth weight—those weighing less than 2,500 grams, or about 5.5 pounds. Not only is low birth weight a leading cause of infant mortality, but infants who survive are at elevated risk for many long-term health conditions and developmental disabilities that can impair school readiness. The black-white disparity in low birth weight is so large and so persistent that it raises the question of whether it contributes to racial disparities in children's cognitive abilities and in readiness.
This article, which focuses on the effect of low birth weight on the racial gap in test scores, consists of six sections. The first provides a brief overview of low birth weight in the United States—definition, trends, and associated rates of survival and child disability. The second discusses disparities in low birth weight by race, ethnicity, and nativity, as well as survival rates by race. The third section, the heart of the paper, examines the link between low birth weight and school readiness. It reviews the cognitive and behavioral problems that beset many low birth weight children, noting that the problems are greatest for the smallest babies and that black babies are much more likely than white babies to be very small. It also explores the effect of birth weight on the black-white gap in readiness and confirms earlier findings that the racial disparity in birth weight explains only a few percentage points of the aggregate gap. The fourth section looks at the determinants of low birth weight, focusing on those that vary by race. The fifth considers past efforts to tackle the problem of low birth weight through prevention or through amelioration of its adverse consequences. It highlights early intervention programs that have been shown to improve cognitive outcomes among low birth weight children and thus close at least a small portion of the readiness gap. The final section summarizes the article's key findings, highlights important implications, and offers recommendations.
