Investing in the Talent Pipeline

We believe education is the single most important influence on a child’s success. Business leaders also understand education is one of the most important economic development initiatives our communities can undertake – it’s a critical investment in the future talent pipeline.

America Succeeds policy priorities include efforts around improving education-to-workforce pathways, system building and accountability, human capital, transparent and equitable funding, and high-quality options. Alongside our other initiatives, these efforts help build a better future for our children.

The Challenge

77 Million Students

There are nearly 77 million students enrolled in our country’s schools. And, despite enormous attention devoted to achievement, opportunity, and skills gaps, they have remained stubborn features of our education system.

17th in Literacy Globally

Globally, U.S. students rank 17th in literacy, 21st in science, and 26th in math. Far too often, students are underprepared to succeed in today’s economy and contribute to their local community.

$110B Annual Lost Earnings

COVID-19 exacerbated existing education challenges. Learning disruptions caused by the pandemic are estimated to cost the current K-12 cohort (more than 53 million students) a total of $110 billion annually in lost earnings.

America Succeeds Policy Portfolio

  • Education-to-workforce pathways: Create flexibility, incentives, and alignment to ensure student readiness upon exiting the K-12 to seamlessly enter and succeed in both career and college opportunities.
  • System building and accountability: Create and align the public education systems’ expectations, benchmarks, and metrics to hold schools and districts accountable.
  • Human capital: Improve systems for recruiting, training, retaining, and rewarding educators; use performance evaluations to inform talent management decisions.
  • Transparent and equitable funding: Establish a school funding system that is transparent, equitable, and aligned with broader improvement efforts that demonstrate sound return on investment.
  • High-quality options: Ensure all students have high-quality education options that are supported, fairly funded, and held accountable for student success, regardless of the delivery model.