EDUCATION & LEARNING
INTRODUCTION

Why is this important?

Quality education, from pre-school through college and beyond, remains a central concern throughout the community. Educational opportunity and a wide variety of programs help fuel a more accomplished workforce, an increasingly diverse economy, and a stronger commitment to the many civic and volunteer activities that sustain our quality of life.

What is the measure?

The needs of early childhood education are measured in terms of access to licensed childcare spaces in childcare centers and family care homes, along with a snapshot of kindergarten enrollment figures.

From kindergarten through community college, data are readily available regarding standardized test scores, college entrance exams, and the offerings and levels of enrollment in a wide variety of adult education programs. In addition to formal educational opportunities, our literacy rate can be measured by evaluating the reading habits nourished by our county libraries.

How are we doing?

The overall trends in education continue to improve at all levels, although a changing population has led to some problematic gaps. We also see a disturbing trend of declining public school enrollment from kindergarten through high school.

Although the number of children potentially needing childcare decreased slightly over the past three years, the number of available childcare spaces increased substantially. While this uptick in supply helps working parents overall, the data show that worrisome shortages remain as to some locations and preferences.

Data regarding the county's high school students confirm that while tenth graders continue to increase their math scores on the California High School Exit Exam, their English/Language Arts scores have remained virtually unchanged. Additionally, the percentage of high school students taking the most popular college entrance exam, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), steadily increased although the percentage of test takers remained below the state average.

The depth and breadth of adult education offerings continue to expand to meet the demand from people interested in lifelong learning. At Columbia College, the local community college, enrollment significantly increased in both credit/no credit courses and community education selections. Reflecting changing demographics, new adult English language learners have enjoyed a more than tenfold increase in classes teaching English as a Second Language (ESL).

County residents of all ages exhibit growing reading activity through increasing use of local libraries, despite limited growth in the number of books available.