Community Education Measures

Education is one of the most significant forces shaping a person’s health, economic mobility, and overall wellbeing. Many children and students of all ages in our community are not failing school—our systems are failing them.

Affordable Housing, Mental Health & Wellbeing, Physical Health, Disproportionate Discipline, Teacher Effectiveness, Educator & Staff Diversity

When a child is hungry, experiences instability at home, or when their family lacks the income to meet basic needs, these are not individual shortcomings—they are symptoms of systems that have failed to provide equitable opportunity and support. To truly understand our community’s educational outcomes, we must look not only inside classrooms, but at the conditions surrounding them.

Many children and students of all ages in our community are not failing school—our systems are failing them. Longstanding inequities in housing, healthcare, transportation, and wages determine whether a child arrives at school ready to learn. These structural barriers, rooted in both current and historical policies, continue to shape who has access to opportunity and who does not.

Graphic that displays Thriving Together Forsyth's Seven Vital Conditions

Success in education is connected to every other part of a child’s life.

When a child is hungry, when they are living without stable housing — when their basic needs are not being met — they face disadvantage before they ever set foot inside a classroom. To support children and families to thrive in education, Forsyth Family Power’s work must extend beyond the classroom to address peoples’ holistic needs. Through our partnership with Thriving Together Forsyth, we are aligning with the Seven Vital Conditions framework—interconnected essentials that every person needs, all the time, to live healthy, joyful, and connected lives.

Affordable Housing

When a significant portion of a household’s income is devoted to housing expenses, there is less money available to cover other basic needs such as food, health care, and transportation — a situation which may result in financial insecurity. Housing cost burden measures housing expenses as a percentage of household income. The threshold for housing cost burden is when a household spends more than 30% of their income on housing expenses. Expenses include rent payments, mortgage payments, utilities, insurance, and other fees. The data below represents the percent of children who are living in households experiencing housing cost burden. View data notes for this measure.

Data Visualization

Child/Youth Housing Cost Burden (2015-19)

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Key Takeaways

Disparities were present in housing cost burden by race/ethnicity.

Black and Hispanic/Latino children were disproportionately living in households experiencing housing cost burden compared to White children.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Mental health and wellness is a critical factor in student success. To measure youth mental health and wellness we are using a self-report survey that is administered by the Forsyth County Department of Public Health every few years called the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The most recent year of data available is for high school students from 2019. View data notes for this measure.

Data Visualization

Mental Health and Wellbeing (2019)

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Key Takeaways

One in five students reported having considered suicide.

Females reported experiencing depression and considering suicide at higher rates than males.

Physical Health

Physical health is a critical factor in student success. To measure youth physical health we are using a self-report survey that is administered by the Forsyth County Department of Public Health every few years, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The most recent year of data available is for high school students from 2019. View data notes for this measure.

Data Visualization

Physical Health (2019)

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Key Takeaways

There are differences in reported physical health behaviors and outcomes by race/ethnicity.

Black and Hispanic/Latino high school students reported poorer health behaviors and outcomes compared to White high school students.

Disproportionate Discipline

Time that students spend out of the classroom for disciplinary reasons can disrupt learning. Unfortunately, students of color are more likely to receive a suspension which contributes to disparities in educational outcomes.

The measure used here is the risk ratio. The risk ratio is the likelihood a child of a given race/ethnicity is to be referred for an incident compared to the average referral for a white student (group with the lowest referral rate for an incident). Incidents can lead to different types of discipline including in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, parent conference, etc. View data notes for this measure.

Data Visualization

Discipline Referral Risk Ratio (2017-25 School Years)

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Key Takeaways

Black students were 3 times more likely than White students to be referred for an incident while Hispanic/Latino students were 1.82 times more likely than White students in the 2024-2025 school year.

Teacher Effectiveness

Highly effective teachers and teachers who have more experience can have a dramatic impact on student performance and success in school.

The two measures included here are teacher effectiveness and teacher experience. Teacher effectiveness is determined by an evaluation of teachers across five standards: teacher demonstrates leadership, teacher establishes a respectful environment for a diverse population of students, teacher knows the content they teach, teacher facilitates learning for their students, and teacher reflects on their practice. A rating of ‘needs improvement’ signifies a teacher did not meet proficiency on at least one of the five ratings; a rating of ‘effective’ means they were at least proficient on all standards, and highly effective means they met ‘accomplished’ or ‘distinguished’ on all five standards.

Teacher experience defines beginning teachers as teachers who are in their first three years of teaching. View data notes for this measure.

Data Visualization

Teacher Effectiveness and Experience (2018-19 School Year)

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Key Takeaways

There are fewer highly effective teachers at Title I and lower letter grade schools.
There are more beginning teachers at Title I and lower letter grade schools.

Educator & Staff Diversity

A diverse school staff that is representative of the student body is one important way to help equalize opportunities for students of color. View data notes for this measure.

Data Visualization

WS/FCS Staff Diversity (2024-25 School Year)

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Key Takeaways

Administrators have the highest levels of diversity and teachers have lower levels of diversity.
White Teachers are overrepresentative when compared to the student demographics.

The school district has about a third of students each of Black, Hispanic/Latino, and White students, while 67% of Teachers are White.