By: Chris Hemmelman
President Obama’s Job Council recently released its Road Map to Renewal report, which looks at “the broader factors influencing American prosperity and competitiveness in a global age” and makes policy recommendations that include investing in education and innovation, building the energy and manufacturing sectors of the economy and making tax and regulatory reforms.
As it relates to education, the report calls for continued investment in education along with continued educational reform initiatives. The report notes that investment and reform are especially important in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Recommendations for improving education include:
- Form partnerships between businesses and educational institutions to ensure that training for students and workers meets the demands of the labor market
- Provide clear performance data for the full spectrum of educational institutions to empower parents, students, education providers, government and employers to drive systemic improvements in education
- Empower students, parents and teachers to make data-driven improvements to education
The report notes that the United States’ highly-educated manufacturing workforce, unrivaled intellectual property protections and relatively low energy costs give ample reason “to be bullish about American manufacturing.” The report recommends that the United States work to achieve the goal of adding three to four percentage points to its global market share in manufacturing. To that end, the report suggests a number of strategies, including:
- Build U.S. competitiveness across the board in the areas of skills, regulation, taxes and infrastructure
- Develop a national “Gold Standard” for strong local industry clusters
- Leverage the government’s procurement power to promote scale-up in emerging industries
- Develop programs to help new manufacturers find the workforce they need
What do you think of these policy suggestions? In what ways can CTE be integral to accomplishing these goals?
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