Education
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Quality education is essential to a skilled and competitive workforce. Access to education, coupled with reliable, quality childcare is key for improving economic opportunities for all Americans.
Our education system is failing many students as shown by data that reveals two-thirds of our fourth and eighth graders are unable to read or do math at their grade level. And the United States ranks below a number of other countries in reading and math proficiency. Recognizing the importance of childcare as a key component of the education system is crucial to addressing the current challenges and ensuring that every child has the support they need to thrive.
- 6th in ReadingGlobal Ranking for U.S. Students
- 10th in ScienceGlobal Ranking for U.S. Students
- 26th in MathGlobal Ranking for U.S. Students
Introducing Commerce Meets Classroom, a new series from our K-12 education experts, Kyle Butler and Caitlin Codella Low, featuring the business perspective on pressing education issues.
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3 Things People Get Wrong About Childcare — That Probably Includes You
Dive deeper with Joseph Davis and Sydney Lewis as they debunk the most common childcare myths, inviting you to explore the hidden truths that every American family should know.
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Programs and Initiatives
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John Jenks, director of public policy at the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, shares how the program helped deepen his advocacy efforts in fostering a strong workforce development, particularly for justice-invovled individuals.
Alex Breault, the director of talent initiatives at Greater Naples Chamber, shares how the program allowed her to deepen her knowledge, connect with others, and grow in her field.
Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and The Education Trust released the report "Equity in Childcare is Everyone's Business," which examines the importance of addressing the negative impacts of sexism and racism on the childcare industry and proposes ways in which state and local chambers, in partnership with child care providers, can address those issues while supporting children and families.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and The Education Trust today released a report, "Equity in Child Care is Everyone's Business," sharing insights from Black and Latina child care providers about how their work has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the demand for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) jobs continues to grow, companies need to focus on sustainably building equity into such opportunities. Discovery Education strategically partners with like-minded organizations, such as the Caterpillar Foundation, to deliver engaging learning experiences every single day to classrooms in the U.S. and across the world to foster more pathways for STEM careers.
Wellspring is a multi-year initiative of the 1EdTech Foundation and IMS Global Learning Consortium that aims to accelerate the adoption of an education-to-work ecosystem based on open technology standards.
If you’ve heard of an ISA, chances are, it was related to education. ISAs have been popular in the education space for about a decade, helping would-be students pay for programs, degrees, certifications, or bootcamps. However, ISAs have applicability well beyond learning. They’re an incredibly powerful tool that lets people use their future potential as collateral for capital.
As the economy begins its slow recovery, employers are facing a hiring paradox. Even as 9.3 million Americans remain unemployed, the same number of jobs remain open. Companies are once again struggling to find employees with the right sets of skills.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation studies found that state economies lost between $100 million and $10 billion this year because of childcare issues.
Over the last year and a half, we’ve seen a transformational shift in how we view our education and workforce systems. The pandemic has changed the nature of work, how we view skills, and put a spotlight on a dire workforce shortage and the need to re-think how we recruit and hire. There are currently more than 10 million open jobs, yet only 7.4 million unemployed people.