Education and Workforce Development

Policy Accomplishments for 2007

• Successfully lobbied for the America COMPETES Act, which seeks to keep American students globally competitive. The bill authorizes more than $40 billion between fiscal years 2008 and 2010 for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics research and education. It also authorizes two new competitive grant programs that enable public-private partnerships with colleges and universities to strengthen education in math, science, engineering, technology, and critical foreign languages.

• Issued the Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Effectiveness that grades the quality of public school education in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
• Released in partnership with the Center for American Progress A Joint Platform for Education Reform that calls for more innovation and better teaching, data, and management.
• Hosted two education reform briefings with CEOs in New York City and Chicago to review findings from Leaders and Laggards and to promote recommendations outlined in A Joint Platform for Education Reform.

• Launched a Digital Skills Working Group to address the lack of standards and a national framework for training and assessments associated with digital skills required in the workforce.

• With the Business Coalition for Student Achievement (BCSA), developed and submitted to the House Education & Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee legislative recommendations for strengthening and reauthorizing NCLB.
• Formed an umbrella organization, NCLB Works!, at the national level with non-business organizations, including education, disability, and civil rights groups, to build support for NCLB reauthorization.
• Developed a campaign to educate state and local chambers and targeted members of Congress about the myths, realities, and benefits of NCLB. Held multiple events in partnership with state and local chambers, congressional staff, the White House, and the Department of Education to build NCLB awareness.