High school Achievement

Over 1 in 10 (11.9%) of Monmouth county youth ages 18 to 24 are neither enrolled in school nor working. This represents 6,242 young adults who have not successfully transitioned from high school to either higher education or employment. By ensuring all students graduate from high school with the skills and tools they need to either begin work or continue on to college, we can improve not only their economic opportunities but also their health and well-being. For example, by just working to ensure everyone in our county completed high school by increasing the number of people who hold at least a high diploma from today’s rate of 28% to 38%, we can decrease the poverty rate from 5.2% to 4.3% and increase median personal earnings from $47,199 to $48,036. This increase would also result in an increased life expectancy for county residents from 78.7% to 78.9%. The research shows that higher levels of educational attainment are also related to greater access to quality healthcare. (Common Good Forecaster, United Way Worldwide and the American Human Development Project).