“All Americans should have access to education that prepares them for success in life. As the world changes and technology evolves, ensuring all students graduate with the skills and knowledge necessary for success is so important for U.S. economic competitiveness. Our initiative will explore how to better evaluate outcomes from state investments in education, and help drive improved outcomes for learners at all stages of their education journey.”
NGA Chair Colorado Governor Jared Polis
As Governors, we lead states facing economic opportunities but also challenges, shortages in workforce, skills mismatch, and widening opportunity gaps that limit true economic mobility for Americans. We must take these indicators as a call to action.
As our economy continues to evolve, our education and workforce systems remain fragmented without direct alignment to outcomes. As leaders responsible for improving outcomes across a wide array of sectors, stewards of state budgets that make significant investments in our education systems, as well as our state’s economic competitiveness, Governors are uniquely positioned to lead this conversation.
While previous conversations about education have led with solutions – this conversation leads with questions. Working with educators, parents and families, students, researchers, and community and business leaders, Governors will consider:
What do learners need to know at every step of their educational journeys to achieve success in life and to ensure that our nation continues to be competitive?
How are we currently measuring outcomes to ensure that education systems are effectively delivering for students and our economy?
How can we do more to shift resources and change policies and practices to do more of what works to achieve these outcomes, and hold ourselves accountable for achieving success?
Next summer, based on the learnings from this initiative, we will release a roadmap to support Governors and states to drive innovation, bolster our capacity to measure what works and what doesn’t, and most importantly, prepare our students for successful futures and our economy for greater success.
For example, based on state context and research, Governors may examine outcome-based measures and optimization for topics including, but not limited to:
Early literacy, numeracy, and high-quality curriculum;
Afterschool, summer, and expanded learning;
Work-based learning and apprenticeships;
Dual and concurrent enrollment;
Skills-based learning and non-degree credentials;
Technology and artificial intelligence in the classroom;
An overview of ACT Work Ready Communities, a county-based skills initiative in place across 32 states that leverages a common language of skills as measured by the ACT National Career Readiness Certificate. The initiative helps communities to strengthen partnerships among educators, skills development providers, and employers and leverages the NCRC to increase credential attainment and to meet local economic needs.
Through the Code Next Affiliates program, organizations — from schools to nonprofits to higher education institutions — can bring the Code Next experience (computer science education to Black, Latinx and Indigenous high schoolers) to their students. Google provides Affiliates with training, funding, resources, and more.
The WGU Skills Library is an open resource of structured skills data that promotes a more equitable skills-driven hiring and education ecosystem that benefits learners, workers, and employers. The Skills Library features more than 175 collections, focusing on occupations and specialty skill areas.
Pearson launched the Skills Map of the United States, an in-depth analysis of the American job market through 2028. Based on an extensive review of 85 million U.S. job ads, economic and labor market data, the Skills Map offers critical insights to help businesses, policymakers and individuals prepare for the future of work.
As Governors across the country have taken the podium to deliver their 2025 State of the State addresses, they have used this platform to spotlight one of their largest and most consequential budget line items: education. They have celebrated key ...
In their 2025 State of the State addresses, governors across the country recognized student progress and shared optimism for their state’s future while acknowledging challenges that need to be addressed to support students’ future. Some governors showcased proposals to strengthen ...
The third panel discussion of the Let’s Get Ready! New York Convening featured Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, a public charter school network that manages over 50 schools, serving more than 20,000 students, and Noa ...
Illustration by Michelle Kondrich/The Washington Post Regarding Daniel Pink’s March 3 online column, “Why not get rid of grades?”: Governors across the country — Democratic and Republican alike — are rethinking how we measure success. There’s no doubt the U.S ...
The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices has launched a Data and Non-Degree Credentials Learning Community to support states and territories in advancing their data infrastructure improvement projects. This Learning Community will bring together state teams – including consisting ...
National Governors Association study examines state impacts of skills-based practices WASHINGTON, D.C. – Skills-based job postings rapidly increase when states drop degree requirements for public sector jobs, according to a new National Governors Association (NGA) study. The report, Empowering Progress: ...
The public sector plays a key role in advancing skills-based strategies, driven by gubernatorial leadership. Whether in the early stages or more advanced in their adoption of skills-based policies and practices, states and territories continue to innovate and evaluate these ...
The importance of financial literacy is clear. It allows people to make informed decisions related to budgeting, saving, borrowing and investing, ensuring that individuals live within their means, while simultaneously generating wealth. Financial literacy is an essential life skill, yet ...
Across the country, Governors are finding new ways to strengthen their workforce systems. From reorganizing state agencies to improving industry engagement and providing essential support services, states are taking bold steps to ensure their workforce strategies are effective and inclusive ...
The first session on the first day of the 2025 Winter Workforce Development Policy Institute, held March 12–14 in Washington, D.C., presented a perfect encapsulation of why workforce development remains a top priority for Governors. During a roundtable discussion of ...
WASHINGTON – During the National Governors Association (NGA) Winter Meeting, members of the Education, Workforce, and Community Investment Task Force convened to discuss apprenticeships and non-degree pathways as essential tools for workforce development. In a session titled “Pathways to Prosperity: ...
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore to co-chair Advisory Board WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) has launched a Service-to-Career Pathways Policy Academy in partnership with the Schultz Family Foundation ...
