Governors Collaborate on Bipartisan “Let’s Get Ready! Educating All Americans for Success” Initiative
Colorado Springs – During the opening session of the National Governors Association (NGA) Summer Meeting, NGA Chair Colorado Governor Jared Polis welcomed entrepreneur Mark Cuban for a discussion on Let’s Get Ready: Educating All Americans for Success.
During a bipartisan discussion with governors from across the nation, Governor Polis unveiled a Roadmap for Governors with findings gathered during the yearlong initiative, and he announced a new project to support governors in putting the Roadmap into action in their states.
“Too many students are graduating high school without the skills and knowledge necessary for success,” said Governor Polis. “Employers are telling us loud and clear that defining career readiness by diplomas and test scores alone just doesn’t work in today’s economy. America’s teachers work tirelessly to help students, but they’re often undercut by a system designed to achieve 19th and 20th century goals. With new technologies upending the job market, we have no time to lose in fundamentally reshaping our education system to support student success and U.S. economic competitiveness. Governors are uniquely positioned — and uniquely obligated — to find a better path forward.
“Our young people, and our economies, depend on it. This new Roadmap for Governors draws on insights from students, educators, employers, advocates, researchers, and policymakers from across the country to take a fresh, original look at what works and what doesn’t. I look forward to working with my fellow governors to put the Let’s Get Ready Roadmap into action.”
“The economy of tomorrow demands a transformation in how we prepare people today,” said Governor Kevin Stitt. “Governors are leading the charge to modernize education systems, building more classroom to career pathways that empower learners with real-world skills and opportunities to achieve the American Dream.”
In a fireside chat, Mark Cuban discussed 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,” Cuban said. “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. Kids don’t like to read anymore, but they will engage with ChatGPT for hours about the things we wanted them to read about.”
The Let’s Get Ready Roadmap includes action items to advance student readiness across four critical categories:
- Academic foundations
- Workforce preparedness
- Civic engagement
- Lifelong well-being
Launched in July 2024, Let’s Get Ready! Educating All Americans for Success is designed to support Governors and states to drive innovation, bolster capacity to measure what works and what doesn’t, and prepare students for successful futures and the economy for greater success. Governor Polis collaborated throughout the year with educators, parents and families, students, researchers, and community and business leaders to address challenges like workforce shortages, skills mismatch and widening opportunity gaps that limit true economic mobility for Americans.
The Roadmap is designed as a jumping off point to begin key conversations about improving ways to define and measure readiness. To catalyze collaboration, NGA is launching a project to support governors in advancing Roadmap priorities and in building a dashboard to track outcomes.
Click here to read the full Roadmap, and visit NGA’s website to learn more about next steps for Let’s Get Ready.
