Each year, the Chair of the National Governors Association runs an initiative aimed at doing what Governors do best: improving the lives of the American people. Launched last year at the 2024 NGA Summer Meeting, Colorado Governor Jared Polis’ “Let’s Get Ready! Educating All Americans for Success” 2024–25 initiative sought to address three questions:
- 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 practices as well as systems are effectively delivering for students and our economy?
- How can we do more to shift limited resources and change policies and practices to do more of what works to achieve these outcomes, and hold ourselves accountable for achieving success?
As a capstone for the initiative, Governor Polis opened last week’s 2025 NGA Summer Meeting with a session releasing the “Let’s Get Ready! Roadmap For Governors,” which offers detailed policy solutions developed through the initiative. As a leader committed to concrete, on-the-ground action, Governor Polis also announced that:
“NGA is kicking off a new technical effort to provide support for at least five Governors to implement the Roadmap action items…Governors are uniquely positioned to find this path forward,…The collective success of our economy and prosperity is really the sum of the talents and skills of the American people.” – Governor Jared Polis
So what are the Roadmap action items?
- Define a Vision for Student Readiness and Assess How Your State is Measuring It;
- Eliminate Government Silos that Impede Progress;
- Build Systems and Infrastructure to Measure Outcomes;
- Maintain Focus on Outcomes with a Public Dashboard; and
The Roadmap also called for action on developing a more effective Federal-State partnership in education.
It was with this last point in mind that Governor Polis welcomed U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to the meeting for a wide-ranging discussion on Department of Education priorities, federal-state partnership opportunities, K-12 funding, apprenticeship programs, and more.
We have to rethink how we’re doing education. We are looking at all of the different aspects that can get students a productive educational environment, to get them into the workforce. From beginning to end, the goal is to get people into a productive job to support their family and to be part of the community and the citizenry of the country.”
– Secretary Linda McMahon
Moving from policy to practice, Governor Polis then held a fireside chat with entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who provided insights on the potential of advanced technologies like AI to impact education.
“In my mind, the greatest skill a kid can have–or an adult, for that matter–is being curious…You can give anybody with a smartphone, a laptop, a PC…access to everything, the ability to question anything, the ability to learn outside of the classroom in ways none of us have ever envisioned. ” – Mark Cuban
Find the Roadmap for Governors here and bookmark the NGA Center For Best Practices K-12 program page for news about continuing work as the technical project ramps up and Governors unveil new policies on improving education.
