Intellectual and Social Development
A critical challenge facing any region is the ability to attract, retain, and develop talented workers. The emergence of the knowledge economy increasingly places more emphasis on mental competencies rather than physical strength and manual competencies. This is true across all sectors from manufacturing to health and business. In short, educational attainment is increasingly important to the success of local businesses to traverse changing markets by adopting new technologies and practices, and to enter a promising emerging economy.
For this section, there are seven key indicators that measure the intellectual and social development of Midland County, which are interrelated. Understanding the factors that predict the successful adaptation of children and young adults is a fundamental interest of parents, teachers, and agencies whose work is to guide the youth through a positive developmental path. Although the performance indicators of Midland County remain well above Michigan averages in most data collected; and are comparable to federal standards; the seven key indicators in this section when contextualized with other indicators point to some interesting trends in Midland County:
For this section, there are seven key indicators that measure the intellectual and social development of Midland County, which are interrelated. Understanding the factors that predict the successful adaptation of children and young adults is a fundamental interest of parents, teachers, and agencies whose work is to guide the youth through a positive developmental path. Although the performance indicators of Midland County remain well above Michigan averages in most data collected; and are comparable to federal standards; the seven key indicators in this section when contextualized with other indicators point to some interesting trends in Midland County:
- Poverty is incredibly important to development and success, and increasing number of children qualifying for poverty programs points to an increasing number of persons qualifying for poverty programs. School rankings of poverty showed that Midland School Districts improved across the state rankings although individual percentages of students in poverty remained the same or increased slightly.
- Differing measurements used at different stages of a student's educational career create a problem in providing consistent services through their educational journey (Great Start and K-12 have different thresholds for poverty). There was a slight increase in the number of children qualifying for Free and Reduced Lunch.
- Federal poverty statistics do not account for the widely varying regional differences in non-food costs such as housing, transport, and utilities leading to a wide range in poverty for children under 5 and poverty rates for each school. For example, costs of food, transportation, and utilities are an increasing part of a families' household budgets leading to an invisible/ unseen level of poverty among persons in the community. A valuable set of measures are listed under Homelessness in the Economy Section that allows us to see the number of residents who are receiving FIP, FAP, SDA, CDC, and SER benefits. Examining these numbers allows the community to predict the number people who are on the edge of poverty.
- Other related information that impacts the intellectual and social development of a community is the number of children in welfare programs (e.g., WIC), wealth distribution (See Economy), and health statistics (See Health) of a community.
- In the Michigan Merit Exam, Midland County Schools continue to perform better than the state averages. However, in the MEAP, there is a decrease in scores across most districts across subjects in the upper elementary grades.
- Understanding of the County's population and access to education beyond the classroom will impact the ability to coordinate and re-think program delivery. For example, as state budgets continue to shrink, educational programs in schools such as the arts, health, music, and physical education are underfunded. How can the broader Midland Community fill this gap in education?
This section contains seven key indicators that measure the intellectual and social development of Midland County.
Click on each section to access the information.
School Readiness
High School Graduation Rate
Student Performance
Education Beyond High School
Teen Pregnancy
Juvenile Delinquency and Crime
Click on each section to access the information.
School Readiness
High School Graduation Rate
Student Performance
Education Beyond High School
Teen Pregnancy
Juvenile Delinquency and Crime
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