America Works: Education and Training for Tomorrow&apos;s Jobs. Achieving Better Results for Individuals, Employers, and the Economy. An Action Guide for Governors
Author: Groves, Garrett
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Education Work Relationship,Job Training,Labor Force Development,Postsecondary Education,Academic Standards,Educational Attainment,Alignment (Education),Credentials,Labor Demands,State Policy,Educational Policy,Labor Market,School Business Relationship,Information Utilization,Progress Monitoring,Partnerships in Education,Educational Objectives,State Action,Economic Factors,Policy Formation,Information Dissemination,State Government

Governors are increasingly aware that the emerging economy will provide few well-paying jobs for workers who have not earned a postsecondary degree or a relevant workforce certificate. Fifty years ago, nearly 80 percent of all jobs required only a high school diploma or less and most paid a good wage. Fast-forward to data from 2013 and that number drops to 35 percent for jobs available to high school graduates and dropouts, with more than two-thirds of those jobs paying less than $25,000 a year. So it is clear that a high school diploma is no longer adequate to guarantee a person a good job and economic success. Over the same period, jobs that demanded some education beyond a high school diploma have more than tripled. Based on those facts, it is clear that education past high school, either a two- or four-year college degree or relevant workforce certificate, is the &quot;new minimum&quot; to access a middle-class life or beyond. Thus, the challenge and the path forward is clear. We must get more students to meet higher standards by the end of high school and then create opportunities for those students, as well as for returning adults, to successfully complete a degree or career-training program that prepares them for a well-paying job and career. Through the America Works initiative, the National Governors Association (NGA) has identified a set of actions that governors can take to improve the educational attainment of their citizens and the alignment of those credentials with employer demand. The following four policy components, undertaken in an integrated approach, suggest a way governors can improve and better align state education and training institution results with industry demand to provide a more talented workforce. Governors can: (1) Articulate and implement a strong vision connecting a state's education and training pipeline with the needs of its economy to have more Americans achieve the &quot;new minimum&quot; of a postsecondary degree or certificate with labor market value; (2) Integrate and use education and workforce data to inform policy, track progress, and measure success; (3) Support and scale industry and education partnerships to get results; and (4) Modify the use of resources and incentives to support the attainment of the integrated vision. Based on information gathered since the initiative launched last summer, this report describes four policy components and lays out key elements within each component that governors can use, providing examples from various states to illustrate best practices. That information is supplemented by guiding questions for state policymakers to help them set priorities. [Richard Laine provided additional writing and editing for this report.]