Let’s Get Ready to Educate for Opportunity

NGA Chair Colorado Governor Jared Polis' Let's Get Ready initiative is working with educators, parents and families, students, researchers, and community and business leaders to identify the best education policies to prepare students for successful futures and state economies for greater success.

To pinpoint what works and what doesn't, the initiative looks to education innovators - including Governors themselves.

Governors from coast to coast joined the conversation at the Chair's Initiative convening in Denver to trade ideas on everything from early childhood education to high school apprenticeship programs to tackling the social factors behind opportunity gaps. Below are a few highlights from the Governors' remarks.

NGA Chair Colorado Governor Jared Polis

"I think it's clear that just because you're able to succeed at grade level in math and reading does not mean that you are prepared for economic success. In Colorado, we are rapidly scaling the apprenticeship model so we can have high school juniors and seniors that are earning while they learn. They're getting their credits along with real job experience… We also are very excited about facilitating connections between high schools and community colleges. We have many high schools that offer concurrent enrollment and lead to an associate's degree at the same time as the students graduate high school. There's an entire high school called Colorado Early Learning Charter School, and every graduate also graduates with an associate's degree…

"We've talked a lot about high school and college, and of course, those are important. But how do we make sure students aren't so far behind that they're not ready to grasp the opportunities in high school? In Colorado, we've implemented universal free preschool and kindergarten. The data shows that the best way to avoid learning gaps is to prevent them from occurring in the first place… The perennial question in education is: How do we account for social and economic [factors]? We should never have excuses: 'Oh, this kid comes from a poor background; they can't learn.' That's false. We do free breakfast and lunch for every kid; it's hard to learn if you're hungry. You can do high quality afterschool programs so they have somewhere to go. We need to look at the entirety and understand that some kids have home circumstances [that create] additional challenges. And to the extent that there's a way to help them through public policy, we should."

NGA Vice Chair Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt

"Whether you're Republican or Democrat, you want the best education for your kids. So how do we get there? We have a saying in Oklahoma: classrooms to careers. One in five employers say that they don't believe kids are ready for the workforce when they get out of high school. We know that not 100% of the kids are going on to college to get a degree. So we've really started focusing on getting the employers more engaged with identifying the skill set they need. In Oklahoma, we have a huge aviation defense sector. American Airlines has 5000 employees in Tulsa, and we need airline (A&P) mechanics. So we decided to set up the first-ever Aviation Academy in Norman High School. Now, if you want to become an A&P mechanic, you can start going to this special high school, and by the time you graduate, you're an A&P mechanic…The free market, alternative schools and [bringing] philanthropic groups and NGOs around the table thinking outside the box is critically important. The other piece is encouraging our employers in the workforce to get involved to help kids know what's possible out there.

"On the social side of it, [supporting] strong families is [a focus] in Oklahoma. There are 25 million kids in America right now living without their biological fathers in the home. We need to promote strong families and really encourage moms and dads being involved and engaged in their kids' lives."

Delaware Governor-elect Matt Meyer:

"It's interesting that my first words in this organization are about education. When I started in Teach for America, they placed me in fourth grade. It took me about six, seven days of teaching to realize some of these students were coming in unable to read the math word problems put in front of them. We need to invest, in intensive ways, in school readiness, really, from the age of zero to make sure that by the time kids are 4 and 5, they're truly ready to go to school. That's a large element of what we're going to do, and the other is career readiness. Many students graduating out of our high schools aren't really prepared for the economy of 2025, and beyond. If you go into industry and see the innovations happening, many of those innovations can be taught in schools from the youngest age to truly prepare a workforce, not just to win as a state, but to win as a country."

Hawai'i Governor Josh Green

"One big challenge we've had is just having a [teacher] workforce. We were perpetually down more than 1000 teachers for many years. But we solved the shortage problem in one year. Teachers were starting at $38,000 a year, and in Hawaii, their average rent is $3000 a month - basically their entire salary. We raised the floor to $50,000 and lowered the shortage down to 100 in one year. It costs money, but it will save us a lot of other losses [in] training of new teachers and turnover [costs]. [Hawai'i also funds] universal pre-K. We're going to build out hundreds of schools in partnership with the private sector. And we're also big on charter schools. We're covering the spectrum of different things that one can do. Investing in early education is one of the best investments you can make for your people. so that was how we started. And then finally, we're pushing people toward health care, nursing - very, very solid jobs that can actually enable people to afford housing, which is our biggest issue… The nurses academies in our high schools and universities are really sought after. So we're [investing to create more] classrooms so there will be a mini health training industry in each of our schools."

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham

"Here's what we've done in the last three years to [move from] 50^th in childhood poverty, to 17th in the nation. [We have invested in] very robust cradle to career [policies], including universal home visiting, universal free childcare, universal pre-k for 3- and 4-year-olds. [New Mexico is] lifting wages, salaries, trainings, supports and incentives for all of those essential [education and child care] workers who typically get ignored. We've created a Literacy Institute. We are doing direct tutoring for at least 10,000 kids a year - all free, everywhere, anywhere in the state, including paying for travel and assessments for families to come to areas [with] those services. We saw the largest single increase in literacy outcomes for Native American students in the history of the state. We're doing summer programs [on] civics and engagement so we can deal with absenteeism, going after our hardest hit, highest-poverty middle schools. And last but not least, free college: two-year, four-year, part-time, full-time, trade, skills, apprenticeship programs, private sector, public sector - fully funded, ready to go. We appreciate we need to think about data. We need to think about kids and their families and their connections to schools. Are we changing a system to meet kids and families where they are?"

Click here for more information on Governors' education priorities.