Editor’s note: The Star-Advertiser asked the Hawaii KIDS COUNT project for insight into poverty and education after receiving the "My Two Kids" essay on today’s cover. This commentary was written independent of that essay.

In Hawaii, we greatly value the ohana and the well-being of all our children. Compared to other states, Hawaii ranks somewhere in the middle in overall child well-being, and we are doing well on some health indicators and in the family and community context. However, too many of our families are struggling and their children are not thriving.

About 13 percent of children under the age of 18 in Hawaii live in poverty (i.e., an annual household income in 2013 below $23,624 for a two-parent household with two children), and a third live in families that are low-income (annual income less than $47,248 for a family of four). The high cost of living in Hawaii amplifies the hardship of sustaining a family on these incomes.

Decades of research have documented the link between poverty and low academic achievement for children and youth. Compared with children from more affluent families, children growing up in poor families are more likely to have lower school attendance, and reading and math scores, and experience behavioral problems, grade failure and drop-out. These outcomes are especially likely for children whose families experience deep poverty, who live in poverty during early childhood, and who live in poverty for a long period of time.

The pathways by which poverty affects child development and educational outcomes are complex and often indirect. For example, children growing up in poor families are at risk for inadequate nutrition which in turns affects brain development and overall health. At the family level, parents experiencing ongoing economic hardship exhibit higher levels of stress, depression and increased risk of substance use, which may lead to less supportive parenting practices affecting children’s development and learning.

There are also community influences at play, including living in disadvantaged and high-risk neighborhoods with under-resourced schools and supports. The research documenting how poverty affects learning and educational outcomes is extensive, and these are but a few examples illustrating the various factors and relationships.

The effects of poverty build over time, with consequences at one stage impeding progress at a later stage. When the risks occur during early childhood, the consequences can be long-lasting. For example, school readiness in the early years is critical to later academic success, and most children who start kindergarten significantly behind their peers never quite close the readiness gap. Thus, these children tend to hold low-wage jobs or be under-employed as they transition into adulthood, many times perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

Childhood poverty clearly presents economic costs to all of us through an unprepared workforce and reduced productivity, and well as through increased crime and health expenditures. Reducing childhood poverty not only improves outcomes for children and their families, but also has implications for the state’s economy.

Until recently, this country’s approach to poverty focused separately on poor children and poor adults, rather than their interrelated needs. Increasing investments are being made in two-generation approaches that support both parents and their children in an effort to break the cycle of poverty.

Two-generation strategy recommendations therefore include strengthening policies that expand job-training, education and career opportunities for poor and low-income parents; adopting policies that give parents more flexibility at work, such as paid time off; increasing the Child Tax Credit for low-income parents; and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to noncustodial parents as well as implementing a state EITC (demonstrated to increase family income and improve education outcomes for children).

Equally as critical is providing low-income families access to high quality and reliable child care and education. The research is clear that quality early care and education programs targeting poor and low-income families indeed minimize the achievement gaps caused by poverty.