A top priority for Tennessee education leaders? Making sure students will be qualified for job openings

School advocates say the Tennessee General Assembly needs to do more to prepare young people for the workforce.

The State Collaborative on Education Reform, or SCORE, released its annual “State of Education” report on policies and priorities that lawmakers should consider next year. Among the education group’s recommendations are accelerating student learning, closing the completion gaps, increasing high-quality charter school opportunities and supporting students to be ready for careers.

The issue of college and career readiness comes as state officials celebrate the historic year it’s been for job creation, pointing to the new investments with Ford and Oracle. But whether Tennessee’s young people will be qualified to fill those jobs loom over that achievement.

David Mansouri, the president of SCORE, notes that last school year, less than half of Tennessee high school graduates were considered ready for college or a career.

“Right now, just to be candid, the state has a mismatched education and workforce system that is leading many students to walk down an unfulfilling pathway,” Mansour said on Wednesday.

“The state’s completion crisis is clear: Tennessee must take action to address these gaps to increase economic opportunity and to meet workforce demands.”

He adds that many Tennesseans don’t have a post-secondary degree, although more than half of jobs here require one.

Over the past decade, the state has made some progress through initiatives like the Tennessee Promise scholarship. But the pandemic has presented new challenges preventing students from enrolling and completing a post-secondary education.

Mansouri and other education leaders hope that the remodeling of the school funding formula will also be an opportunity to expand and bolster college and career readiness efforts.