Why is the business community involved in education excellence?

The students in today's education system are the future leaders and policy makers of our nation. They will comprise our workforce and help define our economy. The education they receive must provide them the skills necessary to be active participants in our democracy and to realize their economic and personal goals.

As corporate citizens, the business community has chosen to be active partners with our education and legislative communities. Together, we can help define best-practices and support the improvement efforts underway that are realizing significant gains in academic achievement for all students.

Many of the business community efforts align to nine-elements of education excellence developed by The Business Roundtable.

What are the nine elements of education excellence?

Websites where you can get more information on business involvement in education:

Business Roundtable -- brt.org
The Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. corporations. The chief executives are committed to advocating public policies that foster vigorous economic growth; a dynamic global economy; and well-trained and productive U.S. workforce essential for future competitiveness. For the last 12 years, The Business Roundtable has been involved in education policy and is currently working to help shape educational excellence legislation at the national level as well as supporting the efforts of state based business-education coalitions.

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Committee for Economic Development -- ced.org
The Committee for Economic Development (CED) is an independent, nonpartisan organization of business and education leaders dedicated to policy research on the major economic and social issues of our time and the implementation of its recommendations by the public and private sectors. They are a trustee-directed organization comprised of chairmen, presidents and senior executives of major American corporations and university presidents.

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National Center for Educational Accountability -- just4kids.org
The National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization and the national sponsor of Just for the Kids (JFTK). NCEA's goal is to support efforts to reach excellence in education - to raise academic expectations and to promote the practices that will help more students reach college/career readiness. They have been working over the last decade to build a continuous cycle for improvement based on an honest and diligent focus on student performance, the careful examination of effective practices of proven high-performers, and using what is learned to support targeted improvement planning and implementation.

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Achieve, Inc. -- achieve.org
Created by the nation's governors and business leaders in 1996, Achieve helps states raise academic standards and achievement so that all students graduate ready for college, work and citizenship. Edward Rust Jr., State Farm President and CEO, is a long standing member. ACHIEVE initiated the American Diploma Project which has lead to the American Diploma Project Network which is a coalition of 29 states dedicated to aligning K–12 curriculum, standards, assessments and accountability policies with the demands of college and work.

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The Business Higher Education Forum -- bhef.com
The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) is an organization of Fortune 500 CEOs, college and university presidents, and foundation leaders working to advance innovative solutions to our nation's education challenges in order to enhance U.S. competitiveness.

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The Business Coalition for Student Achievement -- biz4achievement.org
“The Business Coalition for Student Achievement.”  representing business leaders from every sector of the economy – believes that improving the performance of the K-12 education system in the United States is necessary to provide a strong foundation for both U.S. competitiveness and for individuals to succeed in our rapidly changing world. CEO co-chairs are State Farm® Chairman and CEO Edward B. Rust Jr., Craig Barrett of Intel and Art Ryan of Prudential Financial. The BCSA launched its effort with a Capitol Hill news conference on Jan. 18, 2007, saying the “No Child” law should be reauthorized and improved so all students graduate from high school “academically prepared for college, citizenship and the 21st century workplace.”

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