Richard Laine Thursday, October 1, 2015 The New Minimum: Better Preparing Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Economy

Educational & Workforce Realities  Majority of U.S. students are underperforming academically  Skill demands are changing in the U.S. labor market  Employers complain that new hires lack workplace skills  U.S. workforce not keeping up with international competition  Limited urgency to act in a big enough way  More of the same but faster won’t fix the problem 2

Keeping the end in mind… High-quality postsecondary education (certification or degree) is the “New Minimum” for access to the middle-class and beyond and what employers need to grow and flourish

NAEP & State Proficiency Levels A Performance & Communication Problem 8 th Grade Math data NV

PISA: How U.S. Students Compare Internationally

Survey of Adult Skills & Competencies 6 in literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. 166 thousand adults… Representing 724 million year-olds in 24 countries/economies, including 5,010 Americans Took an internationally agreed assessment…

Score Skills of adults – Numeracy

Score Skills of adults - Literacy

PISA & PIAAC Mean mathematics score in PISA 2006 and numeracy score in the Survey of Adult Skills 2012 United States

PISA & PIAAC Mean mathematics score in PISA 2006 and numeracy score in the Survey of Adult Skills 2012 United States

Increasing Need for More Education Nationally Source: Current Population Survey, multiple years. % of U.S. Workforce by Educational Attainment

The U.S. Labor Market Percent Change in Employment by Educational Attainment Source: Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce

Low-Skill Occupations Service oriented, manual labor, security Traditional Middle-Skill Occupations Workers who perform routine tasks that are procedural and repetitive High-Skill Occupations Workers with analytical ability, problem solving, and creativity. New Middle-Skill Occupations Source: The Vanishing Middle: Job Polarization and Workers’ Response to the Decline in Middle- Skill Jobs, Didem Tüzemen and Jonathan Willis, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, New Skills Require New Credentials New High-skill Occupations

New Middle-Skill Occupations Bachelors Degree and Above High School Diploma or Less AA Degree or Certificate with Labor Market Value Low-Skill Occupations Workers with no formal education beyond high school. Source: The Vanishing Middle: Job Polarization and Workers’ Response to the Decline in Middle- Skill Jobs, Didem Tüzemen and Jonathan Willis, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, New Skills Require New Credentials

Urgency for Employees 15 Unemployment & Earnings Rates by Educational Attainment Unemployment RatesMedian Weekly Earnings

Urgency for Employers 16 Source: Accenture Middle Skills Survey, February 2014

Nevada’s Challenge Ahead

Having a Destination in Mind… …taking the first steps

Actions you can take… Use data to know the jobs available & skills needed to fill them Build partnerships and bridges between educators and employers Align education and training programs to knowledge and skills that prepare young people for choices and success in the workforce and beyond Advocate for policy and budget actions that address the alignment and quality issues at scale and create better incentives Use technology …and

Actions you can take…cont’d Change the perception of students and parents of what good jobs are…and elevate the notion of access into the middle-class through a credential vs. a 4-year degree Motivate/support students to identify their potential future and take ownership of the steps needed to move along the educational trajectory to achieve it