The NAEP Nation's Report Card Concurs with Earlier Employers' Assessment of New Workforce Entrants

Press Release / News

Feb. 22, 2007

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The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management issued a joint report in the fall on workforce readiness and concluded "the future workforce is here and it is ill-prepared." Today's release of The Nation's Report Card by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) gives no reason to doubt that conclusion.

The Nation's Report Card presents results from a national assessment of 12th graders' reading and mathematics abilities (http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007468).

The results coincide with the dim view held by employers of the readiness of new entrants to the workforce revealed in Are They Really Ready to Work? — the report issued by The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management.

The NAEP results show reading ability of 12th graders falling, with the bottom of the distribution most notably losing ground.

Says Linda Barrington, Research Director at The Conference Board and one of the authors of Are They Really Ready to Work?: "This is consistent with nearly 40 percent of the employer respondents to our survey rating new workforce entrants with just a high school diploma as 'deficient' in reading comprehension."

The similarity carries over to the assessment of mathematics as well. Over half (53.5 percent) of the employer respondents to the Are They Really Ready to Work? survey rated new workforce entrants with just a high school diploma as "deficient" in mathematics. According to the standardized testing reported in The Nation's Report Card, 77 percent of 12th graders were below proficient and 39 percent were below basic.

"These numbers perfectly book-end the rating of employers last fall," adds Barrington. The population of students assessed by The Nation's Report Card includes both those going on to post-high school education and those going directly into the workforce. The employer respondents to the Are They Really Ready to Work? survey, on the other hand, were assessing the readiness just of those entering the workforce, implicitly excluding the better prepared high school graduates who are going on to college.

The Conference Board, along with Corporate Voices for Working Families, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management, is planning a CEO Summit this summer to address business priorities for improving workforce readiness.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE BOARD

More information about The Conference Board.

ABOUT CORPORATE VOICES FOR WORKING FAMILIES

Corporate Voices for Working Families is a non-partisan non-profit corporate membership organization created to bring the private sector voice into the public dialogue on issues affecting working families. Collectively our 52 partner companies employ more than 4 million individuals throughout all fifty states, with annual net revenues of $1 trillion. Over 70 percent of our partner companies are listed in the Fortune 500, and all share Leadership positions in developing family support policies for their own workforces. This experience is the primary asset Corporate Voices brings to the ongoing dialogue with policy makers and other stakeholders. Vist their website: www.cvworkingfamilies.org.

ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP FOR 21st CENTURY SKILLS

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has emerged as the leading advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st century skills into education. The organization brings together the business community, education leaders, and policymakers to define a powerful vision for 21st century education to ensure every child's success as citizens and workers in the 21st century. The Partnership encourages schools, districts and states to advocate for the infusion of 21st century skills into education and provides tools and resources to help facilitate and drive change. Vist their website: www.21stcenturyskills.org

ABOUT THE SOCIETY FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world's largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 210,000 individual members, the Society's mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals by providing the most essential and comprehensive resources available. As an influential voice, the Society's mission is also to advance the human resource profession to ensure that HR is recognized as an essential partner in developing and executing organizational strategy. Founded in 1948, SHRM currently has more than 550 affiliated chapters within the United States and members in more than 100 countries. Visit their website: www.shrm.org

For further information contact:
Wennie Lee
+1 212 339-0493
wennie.lee@conference-board.org