Research shows that the education level of a child’s mother goes a long way toward predicting that child’s prospects. Some experts say the advantage is simply financial, and that better-educated mothers can afford to give their children material advantages that poorer mothers cannot. Others say the qualities and personality traits that enabled the mother to achieve a good education are passed on, and that those are more important than the money. Either way, children born to well-educated mothers have an advantage.

Source: American Community Survey, 2005

Indianapolis presents a mixed picture, with some good news and some not-so-good. First, 26.3 percent of child-bearing women in Indianapolis in 2005 had a bachelor’s degree or higher. That is a larger share than in Indiana or the United States. That is the good news.

But 25.7 percent of child-bearing women in Indianapolis were poorly educated. Mothers with less than a high school diploma – including both teenage mothers and older dropouts – make up a much greater share of mothers in Indianapolis than in the state or nation.

In the suburban counties, only 5.8 percent of mothers are poorly educated, and 38.7 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher.