Enhanced Youth Data will Focus Community Efforts

Last year, the Ready by 21 National Partnership chose Northern Kentucky as the pilot site for the enhanced Gallup Student Poll, which enables communities to look specifically at the hope, engagement and well-being of youth. This week the Northern Kentucky Education Council released the results of the poll and discussed how it will help guide youth services and supports. "These results will help us ensure that our youth are prepared and ready for the future," education council chair Marianne Schmidt-Hurtt told the local news media, which covered the findings.

Gallup and the Forum for Youth Investment developed the enhanced features for the poll through the National Partnership (which includes Gallup.) Those features were designed to promote the use of data as community data rather than just school data. That means community leaders can administer the poll in community-based organizations as well as in schools, can track individual student progress and can analyze the data by neighborhood.

The release coincided with the education council's Fall Council Meeting, where Forum CEO Karen Pittman delivered the keynote address.