Education Partnership Conference - remarks by U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue

On: Education Partnership Conference
To: Partnership Conference
From: Thomas J. Donohue
Date: May 20, 2004

May 20, 2004

Good afternoon.

Thank you for coming today. This marks the third year that the Center for Corporate Citizenship has presented the "Partnership Conference."

I'd like to begin by thanking our co-host, GlaxoSmithKline, and our sponsors: Toyota USA, State Farm, KPMG, CVS Pharmacy, Progress Energy, Target, Westinghouse, Bayer, Princeton Review, Office Depot, and CSRwire.

Over the next two days, we are going to learn about business and education partnerships that work and set goals to make them even stronger and more productive.

Business-education partnerships are widespread throughout the U.S. Some 69% of all school districts engage in some form of business partnership, which contribute an estimated $2.4 billion and 109 million volunteer hours to schools, impacting an estimated 35 million students.

And by the way, small businesses represent the largest share of school partners – 76%.

These partnerships span every facet of our education system:

§ Nutrition programs
§ Computer and book donations
§ Literacy and numeracy campaigns
§ Paid tuition scholarship programs
§ Teacher and principal training
§ School supply support
§ Off-site field trips and apprentice programs, and
§ After-school mentoring programs.

So why do so many businesses care about the development of our schools?

First, most businesses care about, and are involved in, their local communities, and school systems are foundations for communities.

Second, businesses need an educated workforce to compete in a dynamic, rapidly changing global economy driven by science, technology, and innovation.

Businesses of all sizes and types are greatly concerned that we are not producing the skilled workers we need to remain competitive in the world.

They report difficulty in finding workers with the right skills today, and they know it will become even harder in the future because of a shrinking labor pool and tremendous advances in technology.

Many of tomorrow's jobs don't exist today. These jobs will most certainly require a workforce of highly educated workers, with skills and capabilities that have not yet been identified in fields and operations that, today, are only being discussed in theory.

It is estimated that sixty percent of tomorrow's jobs will require skills that are only possessed by twenty percent of today's workers.

Experts and analysts project that 4 out of every 5 jobs will require postsecondary education or equivalent training and that seventy-five percent of today's workforce will need to be retrained just to keep their current jobs.

And what about this big national debate on U.S. high tech jobs moving overseas? We might not be having that debate if we could generate more student interest in math and science and improve performance in those subjects.

So what are the solutions to this workforce crisis we're staring at?

We have to improve the quality of education, from pre-kindergarten to post graduate study. And for those already in the workforce, we have to improve access to continuing education and training that is flexible and responsive to the rapid changes in the marketplace.

Lifetime education and training is no longer an option, it is a necessity – for individuals, for employers and for the economy. We need to talk about a "learning society" and a "learning culture" as opposed to just "learning organizations."

Here at the Chamber, we've taken action to address education and training challenges.

We strongly support the No Child Left Behind legislation because it works to create a K through 12 system that is more competitive with the educational systems of other industrialized nations and will lead to a better educated and more highly skilled American workforce in the future.

We also have to improve the education system for those beyond the reach of No Child Left Behind.

Important steps include reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, which authorizes the government's major student aid programs, the Workforce Investment Act, which creates a business-led and business-driven workforce development system, and the Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act, which addresses our need for highly skilled workforce with strong academic, occupational and technical abilities.

These bills are designed to achieve three critical objectives:

• Improved student performance
• Higher recruitment, retention, and graduation rates across all of our communities, and
• Adaptable schools with high quality, well-prepared instructors, up-to-date teaching materials, and modern technology.

The Chamber is also involved in private sector-driven education improvement initiatives. We've partnered with four of the proprietary higher education and training industry leaders – Capella University, Corinthian Colleges, DeVry, and Kaplan – to form the Coalition for a Competitive American Workforce.

Working with businesses, our partners have developed focused, market-responsive and innovative approaches that result in immediate and effective improvements in the workforce.

Businesses are helping in other ways. Organizations like Junior Achievement, ACHIEVE, Students in Free Enterprise, the National Initiative for Teaching Entrepreneurship, the Department of Education and others allow companies to leverage their philanthropic dollars more effectively.

Through partnerships, businesses can offer schools managerial, technical, and subject-matter expertise; new resources; marketing and communications savvy; moral support; and many other benefits.

Getting business more involved in education is why we're here. I hope that we come out of this conference with:

• A better understanding of what successful business and education partnerships are all about;
• A better understanding of tools and techniques to help existing partnerships become stronger;
• Some recommendations on how to achieve our policy goals;
• And … new partnerships, new relationships, and new connections.

With that, I think it's time to let the experts take the stage. Unfortunately, Education Secretary Rod Paige is unable to be with us because of a death in the family. However, he sent us a video message that we would like to play for you now…

[ Video presentation]

Now, we are very pleased to welcome Deputy Secretary of Education Dr. Eugene Hickok.

Dr. Hickok served as both Under Secretary and acting Deputy Secretary of Education before officially being appointed to his current post by President Bush a month ago.

The Deputy Secretary is the chief policy advisor to the Secretary of Education. He oversees and manages the development of policies, recommendations and initiatives that help define a broad, coherent vision for achieving the president's education priorities, including the No Child Left Behind Act.

Dr. Hickok has a proven track record of success. As Pennsylvania's Secretary of Education, he helped implement a sweeping education reform agenda based on parental choice and accountability.

Pennsylvania now has higher standards for students and teachers; a strong accountability system; locally designed charter public schools; stronger reading, literacy and library programs; and a model education technology initiative.

Dr. Hickok is a founding member and chairman of the Education Leaders Council, a group of reform-minded education chiefs who oversee 30 percent of the nation's K through 12 public school students.

Dr. Hickok is an educator, having taught political science for 15 years at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He also served as director of the college's Clarke Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Contemporary Issues and was an adjunct professor at the Dickinson School of Law.

During that time he was involved in local K-12 issues as an elected member of the Carlisle Area School District Board of Directors.

Dr. Hickok also taught at Mississippi State University; was director of financial aid for his ala mater, Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia; served as a special assistant in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice; and was an adjunct scholar at the Heritage Foundation.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Deputy Secretary Eugene Hickok.