Progress on County Education Goals

By Kenneth Young

Superintendent Young has put forth great effort to refocus our county's public school system onto student educational outcomes that are relevant to the real world they will enter after high school.

High School Graduation - Over the past 7 years, Riverside County's high school graduation rate has risen from 6th in the state to 3rd (83.8%)in 2013.

Employable After High School - By restructuring the county's former high school Regional Occupation Programs into today's Career Technical Education classrooms, Riverside County is now preparing nearly 75,000 high school students each year for current and emerging careers (2nd highest in the state.)

Education After High School - Riverside County Ranks 2nd in California in increasing our students API scores on state tests. Over 56% of the county's students are enrolling in postsecondary education following high school. However, we must continue to improve those numbers.

Superintendent Young and his staff provide the leadership, service and support needed to help our county's schools and districts realize these important outcomes.

Safe Schools - Each year, schools across the county undergo rigorous state inspections covering teacher credentials, instructional materials and campus safety and maintenance. Riverside County schools consistently receive among the highest ratings.

Taxpayer Funds - Our public education system recently faced the longest and deepest national recession since the 1930s. Under Superintendent Young `s financial oversight, all school districts in Riverside County were able to weather the recession and avoid bankruptcy.

Dropout Recovery - In 2009, Superintendent Young established the highly successful Come Back Kids (CBK) charter school dropout recovery program. CBK graduates hundreds of students each year--helping them have a better future.

Military Charter School - In 2011, Superintendent Young formed the Riverside County Educational Academy--a military themed charter school to prevent struggling high school students from dropping out. The highly successful school will have it's first graduating class in June of 2014.