Education and Workforce Committee
As CEOs of the world’s leading companies, Business Roundtable members understand that America needs a world-class, skilled workforce to lead in global innovation, ensure future economic growth and drive job creation. Business Roundtable supports policies that improve teacher quality and student achievement, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), expand U.S. innovation capacity and better prepare Americans to prosper in the 21st century economy. We are committed to ensuring all students and workers are prepared to work and ready to succeed.
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Committee Chairs
More About the Committee
Business Roundtable is dedicated to accelerating innovation and boosting the worldwide competitiveness of our nation. A key component of success in the international economy is smart, educated, and motivated employees and customers.
Business Roundtable’s recent activities and policy goals to promote and develop a well-educated workforce include:
- The Common Core and Teacher Quality: Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts and math, and the forthcoming Next Generation Science Standards, could be game changers in K-12 education if properly implemented, which depend, in large part, on effective teachers. Business Roundtable urges attention to the effective implementation of CCSS that includes attention to improving teacher training of future teachers and support to the existing workforce, with a particular emphasis on third-grade reading and STEM.
- STEM: The jobs of today and tomorrow increasingly require STEM skills. Support for initiatives to improve instruction and ensure more students pursue STEM fields has been, and will continue to be, a top priority for Business Roundtable.
- Early Reading: Reading is the foundation skill for all learning, including critical STEM skills. Yet only 34 percent of the nation’s fourth-grade students are proficient readers. Based on research and best practices, U.S. students should be able to read on or above grade level, particularly, but not limited to, by the end of third grade.
- Key Federal Legislation: Congress and the Administration should reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as No Child Left Behind, updating it to provide more flexibility while maintaining its focus on accountability for all schools and all groups of students reaching challenging, but attainable, performance targets; reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act to increase focus on education and training that lead to credentials valued by employers; and revamp the Carl D. Perkins Act to ensure equitable access to high-quality career technical programs, which are guided by rigorous standards that are aligned with employer needs and prepare students for success in postsecondary education and careers.
- Workforce Training: Although roughly 12 million Americans remain unemployed, businesses report approximately four million open jobs, positions that cannot be filled by previously displaced workers because of gaps in skills and training. Business Roundtable supports reforms designed to increase completion of degrees and workforce credentials valued by employers and efforts to ensure that career technical education and community college technical education is aligned with business needs.
Committe Initiatives
Education Philanthropy: Business Roundtable's Education Philanthropy Initiative aims to identify and scale up a small number of high-performing K-12 programs that address critical education and workforce preparedness issues. Find more information, and submit a proposal here.
Tapping America’s Potential (TAP): Business Roundtable led a group of 15 business organizations to found the TAP coalition in 2005 and establish a national goal of doubling the number of U.S. STEM graduates with bachelor’s degrees. Read TAP’s policy recommendations here. Learn more about TAP here.
The Springboard Project: Launched by Business Roundtable, The Springboard Project is an independent action-oriented commission – comprised of a diverse and select group of leading thinkers, including business executives, labor leaders, educators, social networking experts, government officials and foundation chiefs – that developed policy recommendations for a 21st century approach to equip Americans with the knowledge and skills needed for lifelong success in the U.S.
workforce. Learn more here. (NOTE: Here, we link to this subsection on the BRT website.)