In light of a changing economy, America’s education system and its relationship with the workforce are in need a of jolt of innovation nationwide, chairwoman of the National Governors Association Gov. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.) stated at the National Press Club in Washington on Tuesday.
At a sold-out luncheon, Fallin discussed her initiative, America Works: Educational Training for Tomorrow’s Jobs, a program designed to ensure that tomorrow’s workers have the preparation they need and employers have the type of talent they demand.
“I’m working to establish a national dialogue between business, education and the public sector about how we can best prepare students, men and women to get good paying jobs and for our nation to be able to keep pace and be competitive in a global economy,” Fallin said. “My initiative is about making significant changes, significant improvements in education systems, in workforce training systems, and also to align those systems with the needs of our businesses and our markets.”
America Works will specifically focus on five key elements to help states overcome the gaps between their education and training systems and the workforce those systems are preparing young people to enter. These include a statewide vision, an integrated and improved data system, high-quality public-private partnerships, alignment of federal and state funding, and other resources and state incentives to support cross-system integration.
Fallin argues that the measures are needed because of a dramatically changed landscape in education and labor from the 20th century. Nearly 50 years ago, for instance, more than three out of every four jobs required a high school diploma or less, and most paid a good wage. Today that number has dropped to roughly 40 percent for jobs available to high school graduates and dropouts. Fewer than a third of those jobs pay more than $25,000 a year.
“It’s clear that a high-school degree is no longer adequate to guarantee a good job and access to the middle-class life,” Fallin said. “We must understand that a post-secondary degree — either a two-year degree or a four-year college degree or some type of career technology work certificate — is the new minimum in America for economic success.”
Fallin said the efforts to make sure that individuals have such credentials requires not only national attention, but gubernatorial leadership state-by-state.
“These efforts will engage education, business and government leaders in a dialogue about the actions governors can take to more closely align these systems to better prepare our young people,” Fallin said. “Our economic security depends on it.”
