Business Leaders Unite to Boost 3rd-Grade Literacy, Slash US Skills Gap
The leaders of some of
"Early literacy is the foundation for building the highly skilled workforce required for our knowledge-based economy," said SAS CEO
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According to the BRT report, the "skills gap" is only expanding:
* Nearly 98 percent of BRT CEOs report challenges finding workers with the right skills.
* Experts predict a nationwide shortfall of 5 million workers to fill jobs requiring postsecondary education or training by 2020.
* In North Carolina, 67 percent of jobs will require postsecondary education or training by 2020.
How do you fill these jobs when our country's future workforce cannot read proficiently? As the report outlines:
* Students who cannot read proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma than those with better reading skills.
* Students with strong reading skills at the end of third grade are much more likely to seek post-secondary education or training.
* Only one in three American students currently demonstrates reading proficiency on national assessments of educational progress in fourth grade; rates are even worse for minority and low-income students.
* If nothing changes, it will take another 30 years for even half of American fourth graders to read proficiently.
The full report, along with the complete set of pragmatic solutions proposed by America's CEOs, are available here.
Goodnight and his fellow NC business leaders see the BRT report, and its recommendations, as particularly salient for their state.
* A comprehensive, coordinated system that ensures accountability and alignment of birth-through-age-8 programs needed to achieve literacy.
* Connected data systems that track children's progress and enable early interventions.
* Expanded access to NC Pre-K to create the foundation for literacy skills.
Later today, these CEOs will present their policy recommendations to
The CEOs visited a local elementary school to speak to the press about the report:
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About BRT
Established in 1972, Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of leading US companies working to promote sound public policy and a thriving US economy. Business Roundtable CEOs lead companies with more than
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