A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Results and Benefits of Business Involvement in Education

• Businesses can create strategic education alliances that meet business objectives and promote systemic education change.

• Businesses must develop education partnerships with the same degree of strategic thinking used to advance any business objective or new product.

"We're talking about the future of our nation. Economic prosperity for all our citizens is an empty and cynical dream unless we provide the necessary education to all students. Perhaps more ominously, no democracy can survive without an educated citizenry."

-- Lou Gerstner, Chairman and CEO, IBM

Research shows that continued corporate prosperity depends on major education change to maintain a highly qualified, competitive workforce. What new employees need to know today is very different from what employees used to need to know to be successful. Developments in technology and the world economy have changed the needs of employers for a well-developed, trained, and educated workforce. As a consequence, corporations have a tremendous stake in making education reform become a reality.

Businesses can play a key role in ensuring that all students receive a high-quality, world-class education. Business-education partnerships can save corporations millions of dollars in future training costs and help students be more prepared when they enter the workplace environment. Employers can also benefit by assisting parent employees to help their children learn. A 1998 Families and Work Institute study found that employers who are family friendly have employees who are more satisfied with their jobs, more committed to their employers, and more productive at work. In addition, according to Money magazine, the quality of local schools is one of the most important criteria considered by potential employees when deciding whether to accept a job offer in a different city. With such a vested interest in the quality of education, corporate leaders are uniquely positioned to meet this challenge and provide the catalyst for systemic education improvements.

[Raising the Bar]

This page was last updated January 3, 2002 (jca)