t a k e a c t i o nEngaging Leadership

Strategies for Engaging Your LeadershipEngaging your company’s leaders should focus on where they can have the greatest impact possible. They have limited time available to devote to supporting education reform, so use their time strategically.

Some examples of how you can begin to engage leaders around college and career readiness:

• If your CEO is speaking at a community event or to a business audience, include a call to action on supporting college and career readiness in the speech.

• Work with business associations to identify opportunities for your CEO or senior executives to co-author an op-ed piece in local or national publications.

• Before your company’s leaders are interviewed by the media, provide talking points on the link between education reform and business growth.

• Record a message from the CEO on the importance of college- and career-ready reforms — and stream it on your company’s website.

Former Accenture Chairman and CEO William Green, State Farm CEO Edward Rust, Jr., and former Intel Chairman and CEO Craig Barrett authored a joint op-ed in the Huffington Post in September 2010, titled What is Right with Education Reform. They wrote: “As employers, we understand the important role that the U.S. business community must play in ensuring that the American education system prepares our youth to meet the challenges of higher education and the workplace.”

“It will take all of us working together and supporting the hard work of the education community to continue to improve graduation rates and preparedness for careers and college. American business has an enormous stake in the success of our students. It’s time to commit more innovation and resources to the task.” Randall Stephenson CEO & Chairman, AT&T

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www.businessandeducation.org

The U.S. education system is going through a once-in-a-lifetime transformation, which will benefit students, teachers and employers on a systemic level.

Key Message

Engaging Leadership

Corporate executives are critical supporters of college- and career-ready education because they understand what is required for employees to succeed and advance within their companies. If students in your state are not graduating college and career ready, employers will be forced to look elsewhere.

Corporate executives are busy and have likely been asked to support education in the past. What’s critical to stress now is that the U.S. education system is going through a once-in-a-lifetime transformation, which will benefit students, teachers and employers on a systemic level.

In an open letter to The New York Times in February 2013, a group of CEOs expressed their support for the Common Core State Standards and wrote, “America’s business leaders can make a positive difference for schools, students and the country’s future if we join together and share our expectations for education and our support for the people and institutions that move education reform forward.”

How To Engage Your Leadership Around College and Career Readiness

• Learn more: Meet with human resources (HR) to learn about the specific challenges your company is facing in recruiting qualified candidates. Ask for data that will help you prepare for upcoming meetings with company leadership.

• Step up: Schedule meetings with leaders inside your company and share the data from HR. Also, visit www.businessandeducation.org for more tools, strategies and resources.

• Engage: Ask to be added to the agenda for the next leadership team meeting so you can share information with the broader team.

• Focus: Prepare specific suggestions for your leadership about how they can best support college- and career-ready efforts in your state or community.

“Rigorous standards in the classroom are key to making sure we have a skilled workforce.” Mark Grier Vice Chairman, Prudential Financial

Joining a Business Association or Coalition t a k e a c t i o n

www.businessandeducation.org

Hiring the right employees for the increasingly sophisticated jobs available isn’t easy. Employers in every industry face a skills mismatch: Companies want to grow their U.S. workforce, but to do so they must have employees with the knowledge and skills today’s jobs require.

Alone, your business can be a powerful advocate for college and career readiness. But there’s strength in numbers. Joining forces with other companies makes your voice a more powerful call for change.

Why Join Business Associations/Coalitions?

States that have had the most success transforming their education systems all have had something in common. Their businesses joined together — through chambers of commerce, business roundtables, industry associations and business-education coalitions — to speak out about the need to support college and career readiness.

Business groups can collectively do the heavy lifting to ensure that changes are made — and implemented — in the education system. They can keep the momentum going as states face competing priorities, limited budgets and leadership turnover.

Business has the opportunity to join and lend its voice to college- and career-ready education reforms today to ensure that America has the skilled workforce it needs tomorrow.

Key Message

Massachusetts

“Ptc is a strong supporter of math

and science education programs.

However, we recognize that state

policy changes are also needed if we

are going to prepare all students for

opportunities in the SteM fields. We are part of

Massachusetts Business alliance for education

because it connects Ptc to a strong collective

voice to advance college and career readiness

for all children.”John Stuart, Senior VP Global Partners, PTC

The Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education’s (MBAE) Board and Advisory

Council represent more than half of the 25

largest employers in the state, providing

jobs to more than 110,000 people. In the past, MBAE

offered forums on the Common Core State Standards

(CCSS) and currently hosts briefings on education

issues for the business community. It continues to

supply a range of materials in support of college- and

career-ready reforms.

Joining a Business Association or Coalition

In Alabama, working in concert with

the Alabama College and Career Readiness Coalition, the chambers of commerce of the largest metro areas banded together to oppose efforts to repeal the CCSS in the state legislature. The state’s business council opposed the repeal bills as well, identifying the CCSS as an education priority. And the defense community — the economic driver in the Huntsville area — stood up for the CCSS, from contractors to active duty commanders to retired officers to military families. The Chamber of Huntsville/Madison County has developed a suite of advocacy materials, including a letter distributed to 50,000 families in the area dispelling myths and encouraging them to support the CCSS. In addition, the Chamber partners with local schools to inform students of the education requirements and salary potential of high-demand careers in the region.

The Right Fit: Finding an Active Business Association Working through state and local business associations can be a powerful way to promote education reform policies and harness the power of a collective business voice.

Before joining a business group or coalition, consider:

• Does it have a history of advocacy? Has it supported education or similar issues in the past?

• Will you find allies to support your education reform strategy and college-and career-ready standards specifically?

• Does the association have the reach and influence with key stakeholders — policymakers, the media, the education community — to affect change?

Once you determine which association you would like to join, attend a meeting to learn more about what it is doing to support education. Find out how you can support its efforts to be the voice of business throughout the implementation of the college- and career-ready standards and related policies.

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Alabama

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www.businessandeducation.org

Engaging a Business Association or Coalition t a k e a c t i o n

Getting Your Business Association/Coalition To Step Up Its Education ActivityDo you belong to a business association or coalition that has a strong commitment to supporting K–12 education? Is the organization focused on the most important reforms?

Working with state and local business associations, such as chambers of commerce, business roundtables, industry associations or business-education coalitions, can be a powerful way to promote education reforms and harness the power of a collective business voice.

The most effective business groups focus on their key education issues and then maintain a commitment to those issues to ensure that they are implemented successfully. These groups (and their leaders) meet with policy leaders; collaborate on op-ed pieces; speak at (and host) community events; provide testimony; and advocate in support of critical legislation, regulations and implementation plans.

If your state or local business association is not speaking out about education issues, your company can encourage the organization to reevaluate its top priorities and get involved. Associations are established to represent the concerns of their members. Therefore, if it’s a concern to you, it’s likely to be a concern to others and should be on the association’s agenda.

Education reform, aligned to the goal of all students graduating ready for college and careers, directly affects:

Economic Growth

Workforce Development

Job Creation

Key Message

Maintaining a Focus on Education

www.businessandeducation.org

t a k e a c t i o nEngaging a Business Association or Coalition

Strategies for Engaging Your Business Association or CoalitionWorking through a business coalition can be a powerful catalyst for change.

If your association is not yet active around college- and career-ready (CCR) reform, you can:

• Speak up at events — whether they are related to education or not — about college and career readiness.

• Extend an open-ended offer to the association to be on meeting agendas to discuss how business can champion CCR reform.

• Contribute any materials your company uses to advocate for education —including the Business Resources for a College- and Career-Ready America.

If your association is already active around CCR reform and you want to encourage it to play a larger role, you can:

• Make K–12 academic standards a strategic priority for your association or coalition.

• Co-sign a letter of support for CCR education reforms, including CCR standards.

• Regularly convene other businesses, industry groups and key education organizations to support implementation of your state’s college and career readiness strategy.

The Kentucky Chamber, under the leadership of local business owners Billy Harper (president and CEO, Harper

Industries), James Allen (president, chairman and CEO, Hilliard Lyons) and Stephen P. Branscum (president and CEO, Branscum Construction), recognizes that the state’s “education and workforce agenda” is a strategic priority to advance economic growth. The chamber is joined in this support by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, a citizen-led organization that advocates quality educational opportunities for all Kentuckians. Together, they have launched the Business Leader Champions for Education, providing a unified public voice around why Kentucky should maintain its commitment to educate all citizens at the highest possible level.

In Action: When Kentucky’s interim Common Core State Standards assessment results were, as predicted, lower than in previous years, the Business Leader Champions — along with parents, employers and community leaders — were ready for the news. Collectively, they rallied to publicly support the continued implementation of the standards.

Kentucky

www.businessandeducation.org

t a k e a c t i o nEngaging Policymakers

Now is the time to ensure that college and career readiness is added to your company’s policy priorities. Policymakers are the people who will actually enact education reforms, so it’s critically important that they are engaged in the college- and career-ready (CCR) agenda. Business leaders are well positioned to call on policymakers to support and sustain CCR reforms. You can best advance the idea that CCR policies will have a positive impact on businesses’ ability to compete, innovate and thrive.

You may already have relationships with policymakers, perhaps through your government affairs staff. Even if your company doesn’t have a government affairs office, you can reach out to policymakers who represent your community and care about your issues.

Don’t limit your engagements solely to education lawmakers. Consider contacting policymakers who represent the community where your company is located or where your employees live. Also, engage state policymakers who work on economic and workforce development issues. They are an important audience for making the connection between economic vitality, a strong employee pipeline and the CCR agenda and can help develop coordinated education/workforce policies.

Policymakers are a broadly defined group, but they include the governor, local and state legislators, members of local and state boards of education, and the state’s commissioner of education.

LocalSuperintendents

LocalSchoolBoards

Strategy: When your CEO meets with a

governor or chief economic

development officer to discuss how the state can support your company’s operations, make sure education reform is on the agenda.

t a k e a c t i o nEngaging Policymakers

Strategies for Engaging PolicymakersWhether spearheaded by your government affairs officer, C-suite executives or other business leaders, here are strategies for engaging policymakers:

• Reach out and start small, with phone calls or informational emails. Or think BIG by requesting in-person meetings with decisionmakers to explain why your company cares about CCR policies.

• Add it to the agenda of meetings you’ve already scheduled with policymakers. For example, if a lawmaker is touring your facility, bring up the connection between college and career readiness and a skilled workforce — and coach your employees to do the same.

• Provide written testimony on major CCR legislation. It can become part of the public record. Or offer to provide in-person testimony.

Engagement in Action: AT&TAT&T has a long history of support for education at the national and state levels. During his tenure as president of AT&T Tennessee, Gregg Morton emerged as a leading voice for public education reform and one of the telecommunications company’s chief advocates for college and career readiness. Among other roles, Morton served as board president of the Tennessee Business Roundtable. Leveraging the roundtable’s convening authority, in 2010 Morton invited chambers of commerce and other business organizations to join together in a new project — the Tennessee Business Education Coalition — to advance the Volunteer State’s position as a reform leader. Activities included rallying Tennessee’s business leaders to protect the state’s new CCR academic standards; organizing policy “boot camps” to bring freshmen lawmakers up to speed on the state’s modern history in education reform; and holding briefings to urge veteran legislators to stay the course on new teacher evaluations.

“The business community has an obligation to get involved. If we can graduate students who are ready for a career or college and life, then we have advanced Tennessee and America’s competitiveness and ensured a bright future for our kids and their families.”

Gregg MortonPresident, AT&T Southeast Region

www.businessandeducation.org

t a k e a c t i o nEnhancing Your Education Strategy

Align Your StrategyBusinesses can send an important signal about their education priorities by aligning their companies’ phil-anthropic strategy with the college- and career-ready (CCR) agenda.

That doesn’t mean simply redirecting your philanthropic investments. An enhanced strat-egy builds on your broader education-related activities — like programmatic support, employee volunteerism or school partnerships

— and sharply focuses them on CCR goals. To focus your company’s efforts, speak with educators and learn more about their plans to implement new CCR standards and assessments that help ensure that all students succeed.

Getting StartedYou may already have an education plan in place. Maybe you give your employees flex-time to visit classrooms. Maybe you’ve teamed with local educators or coalitions on advocacy efforts. Maybe you are already making donations to your district.

But how long has it been since you refreshed your education strategy? Now is a good time to dust off your current strategy and align it with the goal of ensuring that all students graduate ready for college and careers. Even if you’ve never designed an education strategy, use college and career readiness as your guide to creating a plan.

Donate to schools • Donate to schools • Donate to schools • Donate to schools • Donate to schools • Donate to schools • Donate to schools • Donate to schools • Donate to schools • Donate to schools • Donate to schools • Donate to schools •

STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM support • STEM

Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee volunteers • Employee

School partnerships • School partnerships • School partner-ships • School partnerships • School partnerships • School partnerships • School partner-ships • School partnerships • School partnerships • School partnerships • School partner-ships • School partnerships • School partnerships • School

Other issues to consider:

• Does your current strategy align your philanthropic resources with supporting CCR policies and programs?

• Does your strategy provide guidance on how to focus your resources specifically on CCR goals, rather than broader education support?

• Does your strategy provide clarity to your community partners and grantees about your focus on college and career readiness?

Ask yourself:

• What is your strategy’s core purpose and intent?

• Does it support aggressive education reform or merely reinforce the status quo?

• Will your strategy prepare students for college and future careers?

• Does it promote your company’s long-term workforce interests?

What is an aligned education strategy?

Your education strategy should build on your pre-existing activities (such as making financial contributions to schools or advocacy organizations or encouraging your employees to volunteer in classrooms) and focus them on efforts that are tied specifically to the CCR agenda.

t a k e a c t i o nEnhancing Your Education Strategy

The Travelers Companies, Inc., one of the nation’s largest insurers, allocates a significant portion of its corporate and foundation giving to improve academic and career success for under-represented youth.

After Travelers and the Travelers Foundation identified college and career readiness as central to their K–12 contributions to education, the company held a series of internal and external meetings to inform employees and community stakeholders of its “business case” for focusing funds and employee involvement efforts in these areas. Travelers has since developed metrics designed to track outcomes for education funding, including for its signature career pipeline program, Travelers EDGE (Empowering Dreams for Graduation and Employment).

Steps to Aligning Your Education StrategyIf you already have an education-support strategy in place, make sure it’s focused on CCR actions. If you haven’t yet forged a strategy, now is the perfect time.

• Assemble a team: Pull together the people from across your company who are responsible for education investments, school partnerships, employee volunteerism, communications and government affairs.

• Make the connection: Brief the team on CCR issues, including key education reform efforts. Make sure to explain to the team why the reforms benefit your company. Invite an educator to join the conversation.

• Draft the strategy: Engage the team to build a new strategy that leverages all of the resources in your education plan.

• Share the strategy: Brief company leaders on the new strategy, gain their feedback and build support.

• Communicate: Share the strategy companywide and with external education partners. Use the strategy to guide decisions on using the company’s resources in support of college and career readiness.

For the past 20 years, Intel has been a leading corporate advocate for higher standards and increased accountability in education. In late 2012, the company developed a plan to more fully support states’ efforts to implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

The strategy involves hosting open forums for employees, engaging parents as critical stakeholders in the standards implementation process and aligning its educator professional development programs — Intel Teach and Intel Math — to the new standards. This support for educators and Intel’s commitment to directly engage employees and parents are rooted in its belief that the CCSS enable today’s youth to develop skills required to be the innovators of tomorrow.

Business in Action: Travelers

Business in Action: Intel

www.businessandeducation.org

t a k e a c t i o nt a k e a c t i o nEngaging the Media

The media is perhaps the business community’s most powerful tool for promoting college- and career-ready (CCR) reforms. Media can amplify your voice and broaden your audience. They can help you spread your message about America’s ability to educate our students for the global economy.

As a business leader, you play an important role in the media’s narrative about education, the workforce and U.S. competitiveness. After all, you are the future employers of today’s students.

Shaping the Message

As a leader of economic growth and job creation in your community, your voice carries weight in support of these critical education reforms. Local, state and national media outlets are eager to hear business leaders’ thoughts on economic issues as well as policy initiatives that affect business growth in your state or community.

For maximum impact, make sure your media outreach is aligned with your state’s education reform strategy and implementation plans. By speaking out in favor of the CCR message, your voice can even inspire others to take action. Your example can provide others with case-making materials to show their own support of the education agenda.

Commentary: High expectations, high achievementBy Cynthia Murray

Investing in Education Is Smart Business

The U.S. economy needs a STEM-educated workforce

By Deirdre Connelly

America’s Education Challenge

The Crucial Need to Hold Students to a Higher Standard

1. Work with your corporate communications officer to convey why your company is speaking out on this issue.

2. Develop a few key messages that clearly and concisely make that point.

3. Create a quick reference list of examples that highlight your company’s (or industry’s) efforts to advocate for CCR.

4. Start slow — find ways to incorporate CCR messaging into your existing media strategy.

Initial Steps for Engaging the Media

t a k e a c t i o nEngaging the Media

Strategies for Engaging the MediaWhere should you begin? A good place to start is by finding ways to work CCR messaging into your existing communications strategy. Later, you can step up your engagement by planning targeted media events.

Start Small

• Connect the dots between “education” and “business.” Raise the importance of CCR whenever your company addresses an issue pertaining to a skilled workforce. When your senior executives talk about economic development or global competitiveness, make sure they include CCR messaging.

Go Bigger

• Host media briefings. Invite reporters to CCR roundtables with educators and leaders from your company or business coalition.

• Meet with journalists. Explain why the business community has a vested interest in CCR policies.

Media Strategy in Action: Express Support for Policy- makers Leading CCR Reforms

In 2012, the first round of test scores from Wisconsin’s new and more rigorous annual

assessments were released. Rooted in higher expectations, the assessments yielded significantly lower scores than in previous years.

In response, two business leaders — Bill Berezowitz, vice president at GE Healthcare, and Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce — wrote an op-ed piece on the importance of supporting Wisconsin’s efforts to raise the bar. “This new data [shows] how Wisconsin’s students perform when we use a higher common standard to compare with students in other states … . We need to improve the performance of all our kids. There is simply no other option if we want our city to be an economic engine for generations to come.”

Expanding Influence

Media

Business & Industry

Educator Organizations

Business ExecutivesChambers of CommerceWorkforce Development

Membership AssociationsState and Local Government AgenciesSchool Boards

Policy Leaders

GovernorsState BoardsSuperintendents

Wisconsin