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Mesa County Sees a Decline in High School Graduation Rates

by KREX News Room
by John Dias

Story Created: Sep 24, 2012 at 12:16 PM MDT

Story Updated: Sep 24, 2012 at 12:16 PM MDT

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.- As most of the state sees a slight rise in residents with high school and college degrees, that may not be the case for Mesa County.

According to the latest American Community Survey by the US Census Bureau, the number of adults ages 25 and over who have high school degrees has dropped by nearly .5 percent since 2007. Meanwhile, all other Colorado counties similar in size saw some kind of increase.

These numbers don’t reflect School District 51 rates, which have seen a steady increase in the number of students graduating, but rather a reflection of the community as a whole.

Officials from the Mesa County Workforce Center believe the drop means more people without high school diplomas could be moving to the area, and have seen a similar correlation of people coming to their center to look for jobs.

“If we run a report over the last three years, the overall number of job seekers has declined slightly,” said Suzie Miller, business services manger at Mesa County Workforce Center. “There’s a slight decline of nearly one percent in people with diplomas.”

The survey also shows the number of Mesa County residents with college degrees has risen almost a half percent, but that rate is lower than the state’s average rise of nearly one

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Fruita Dad said on Monday, Sep 24 at 6:17 PM

Could part of the issue be the stupid "new math" that the teachers don"t even know how to teach? Why has the 8-9 school gone to this? "your child will understand it atthe end of the year" but right now none of them do, asked for help and teacher says she can't help because she is learning it with the students. Ask a senior at the High School for help (Honor student) and they look at it and don't get it either. Smart move District 51

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