Are we preparing students for tomorrow’s workforce?
(Harrisburg) — Pennsylvania’s chief education official says there needs to be a better match between what’s being taught in colleges and the skills needed by the workforce of the future.
Testifying before the House Appropriations Committee this week, Education Secretary Pedro Rivera said his agency is committed to ensuring that colleges and universities are equipping students for the jobs being created in the current and future workforce.
“In the next ten years over 60-percent of jobs are going to require some type of certificate,.. two-year degree or four-year degree. Yet the current percentage is only 40-percent of commonwealth residents meet the degree standards or the certificate standards that are going to be needed in the next decade,” he said.
Rivera said he’s working with school districts along those in higher education, in an effort to meet the needs of all students.
He says he’d like to see an expansion of programs that offer a head start for students, offering college credits even when they’re still in high school.
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