Common Good Forecaster
Interactive Tool to Map Education Attainment in America
Access the tool here.
United Way and the Measure of America joined forces in 2008 because both organizations focus on the building blocks of a good life – a quality education that starts from birth and ultimately leads to a stable job, enough income to support a family through retirement, good health, and the ability to achieve one’s full potential. Out of this partnership came the Common Good Forecaster™, a tool that shows how vital economic and social issues in your community might change if educational outcomes were better.
This is a forecasting application that uses statistical models drawn from peer-reviewed studies to predict the effect increased levels of educational attainment are likely to have on other important variables. For the vast majority of indicators included, we start from official federal data for particular locations broken out by education level. When adjustments are made in the “mix” of educational attainment, we are assuming that current relationships between education and all other factors in a given geographic area remain the same. Extreme adjustments to the sliders can produce unrealistic results in other factors (ie. unemployment, poverty, and murder rates falling to zero).
A snapshot of the Common Good Forecaster™ tool as applied to Nassau County in New York
For more information: contact@measureofamerica.org