Our Picture of Health 1998:
Focusing on Community Health to the Year 2000CHAPTER 6: EDUCATION
Education provides people with the knowledge and skills to make healthy choices.
Value
- Education provides people with the knowledge and skills to make healthy choices and to sustain a viable lifestyle.
Goals
- A. The citizens of Mesa County will have a literate population; competent in language, mathematics, computers and citizenship.
- B. The citizens of Mesa County will nurture and support lifelong learning.
- C. The citizens of Mesa County will support educational systems that prepare and support a well-trained labor force.
- D. Mesa County will have neighborhood family learning and recreational centers that foster learning for all ages including options for after-school tutoring, parenting skills, mentoring and other services.
- E. Mesa County will provide access to technology for learning and communication regardless of economic status.
- F. The citizens of Mesa County will focus on early childhood education.
- G. The citizens of Mesa County will develop a communication plan to provide information about community services.
Introduction
Mesa County School Districts
- De Beque School District #49 covers 165 square miles between Grand Junction and Rifle. The district's students are divided between an elementary school (92 students in 1997) and a secondary school (76 students in 1997).
- Plateau Valley School District #50 encompasses 796 square miles and has 578 students. About 175 of the high schoolers attend Grand Mesa High School, the site of the Collbran Job Corps Center. Students at Grand Mesa come from around Colorado and other Western states.
Because students in Job Corps come and go at different stages as they finish personalized degree programs, graduation and drop out rates for Plateau Valley are affected. About 30-50% of Job Corps students are from Mesa County.
- Mesa County Valley School District #51 covers 203 square miles and encompasses the cities of Grand Junction, Palisade, and Fruita.
District #51 has a total of 18,995 students. There are 20 elementary schools, with total enrollment of 8,557; seven middle schools with 4,546 students, five senior high schools with 5,456 students and 3 other schools with 436 students.
Education Indicators
While the education of young people is a major part of the study of education in Mesa County, it is not the only facet covered in this report. This chapter looks at adult literacy, preschool education (readiness for first grade), higher education and continuing education. Education is a lifelong process, especially in this era of high tech industry.
Impact of Literacy on Health
"The direct relationship between literacy and health, long evident to service providers, has been demonstrated in national and international studies. One study of Medicaid-eligible patients in Arizona found that patients with poorer reading skills had higher health care costs than those with better reading proficiency. Similarly, in a study of students in an adult literacy program, persons with extremely poor reading skills had poorer health status as compared with better readers." — Adult Literacy in America, National Center for Education Statistics, 1992
17. Adult Literacy and Educational Attainment
The U.S. Department of Education commissioned a literacy study in 1992, Adult Literacy in America. The study determined that the following population groups can read only at the most basic level, meaning they are able to perform simple, routine tasks involving brief and uncomplicated texts and documents.
Examples are summing totals on a deposit slip, locating the time of a meeting on a form, and identifying a piece of specific information in a news article.
- 75-80% of adults with 0 to 8 years of education
- 16-20% with a high school diploma
- 4% of adults with four year college degrees
Mesa County Population Reading at the Most Basic Level
Based on these findings it is possible to estimate the number of people in Mesa County that are likely to be reading at only a very basic level. These estimates are calculated using the 1997 adult (25+) population of 71,393.
- Adult Mesa County population with only basic literacy — 15,121
- Percent of adult population with only basic literacy — 21%
May link to . . .
- Skilled Work Force
- Social Environment
- Economy
18. Computer Literacy and Access
Recognizing the importance of technology in today's world, three computer-related questions were asked as part of the 1997 Risk Behavior Survey.
Percent respondents who have a computer at home
- Less than HS education — 34.6%
- More than HS education — 63.3%
- Below poverty level — 24.8%
- 100-200% of poverty — 42.8%
- 200+% poverty — 59.3%
- Caucasian — 53.3%
- Hispanic — 43.9%
- Other Minorities — 38.8%
Percent respondents who consider themselves computer literate
- Less than HS education — 39.6%
- More than HS education — 65.9%
- Below poverty level — 53.5%
- 100-200% of poverty — 46.7%
- 200+% poverty — 61.2%
- Caucasian — 55.7%
- Hispanic — 60.1%
- Other Minorities — 60.2%
Figure 6-1: Computer Use in Mesa County
Source: 1997 Risk Behavior Survey
Next