Key Strategy #3:

Quality Education

Imagine a region where businesses know that every job applicant they interview will be proficient in reading, mathematics, and other basic skills.

Imagine a region where new residents know that, regardless of where they live, their children will get the education they need to get a good job or go on to college.

Imagine a region where every child has the skills necessary to pursue whatever career they choose.

That region would be one of the most successful communities in the world – a place that attracts new businesses and new residents.

That region could be the Pittsburgh Region.  But it’s not – not yet.  The Pittsburgh Region’s schools are good, but not good enough.  Many children in southwestern Pennsylvania get a good education, but many do not.

The Pittsburgh region can and should be that region: the first region in the country where every child – every child – is proficient in reading, mathematics, and other basic skills.

Most experts agree that increasingly, talent will be a key factor in a region's economic competitiveness in the future.  To maintain continued job growth, the Pittsburgh Region will need to have a workforce with the right skills to meet the needs of new and existing businesses.  Equally importantly, if all of the residents of the Pittsburgh Region are going to share in the benefits of economic growth, they will need to have the skills that employers want.

How do we get there?  Two actions are key:

• Improve the performance of the region's public schools

• Improve the quality of early education programs