Thank you for this opportunity. I had a little bit of deja vu because more than a decade ago, the former chief of the new York City Schools and i shared a task force called National Security and education reform. One of the reasons we wanted to do that was to bring to the attention of the community the criticality, the crucial moments where we are at in terms of this issue of talent. To say you may think this is in our problem but it actually is our problem. People who are concerned about National Security. As i think about this report and some of the recommendations, many of which i completely agree in education most certainly. I just have a little bit of deja vu. This time, maybe we will act. Deja vu in an upset way . You wrote that report 10 years ago and here we are. These are structural issues. Structural issues take time. Im more optimistic because the panel that just talked, we have the technology now in education, personalized learning, bringing education to people in more remote areas, underserved schools where the teaching professions has not fully taken advantage of the technology available. Lets make it an Inflection Point so 10 years from now we are not sitting here talking about it again. [applause] dr. Howard, this is your report, what was your biggest take away . Im coming from phoenix. It is a dry heat. My oven is a dry heat. When i first came to do this work, i said dont you remember this report . I said here we go again, it is like deja vu all over again. My initial reaction is it is great that we are talking about that question here. What do we know about k12. Nothing we are doing right now whether it be ukraine, afghanistan, nato, etc. It will not be addressed unless we get the Human Capital right. These are great what was your take . The pandemic has put a spotlight that is changing the conversation. It is important to backup and look at what the system is experiencing right now. The pandemic erased two decades of progress. They are the lowest that they have been since 1990. This is an urgent moment hearing from this illustrious panel. It is a moment for an operation warp speed type response to addressing what is a deep structural and equity challenge. What im optimistic about, like my fellow panelists is coalitions are coming together in new ways to solve the problem. The workforce challenge indicates that challenge. We need to be starting much earlier, thinking about innovation, thinking about science, math, literacy education in a much different way. The report starts to lay out a roadmap for how we could amplify and accelerate some of this innovation. Does the report highlight opportunity . When we talk about the data it was 2022 that the United States was Something Like country 25 out of 37. In terms of stem education, 2017 china was turning out eight times the amount of people with stem degrees than we were. Is it an opportunity or is this we are in crisis . The country leading and technology is the global power. There is the old saying the chinese word for crisis, we have both in this circumstance. One is there is the china challenge. Secondly we are seeing these technologies that depend on ai, now Everybody Knows the same skills, it is just not going to work. Finally, as humans, there is a spot right now on what are the work what in the world are we doing on k12 education. When i hear now the debate about affirmative action and i think another problem is underserved kids have not been in a position to compete for these universities. We have a host of crisis. We have a flashing red light to the country. Highlighting a couple of places in the National Security space that we could raise the level in which people recognize the crisis we are in. Those are linked. They have a habit of passing every year with billions, approaching trillions of dollars almost. It is a great opportunity focusing on stem. Dont we have a problem with the fact that we have a 71 billion hole in terms of education . In some ways, it feels like talking about ai, stem was amazing. Coming out of covid, it was so enormous. Learning loss was enormous. Im not sure it was a matter of money. Im learning about a lot of that covid money. We did a study at hoover that shall remain unnamed. All of the technology was being used for administrative purposes , not for teaching in the classroom. The Teachers Group is fearful of it. We could fix that. Teachers could learn how to use the technology. We have a habit in this country of sending the least well performing teachers to the poorest schools. That is not a matter of money, that is a matter of value. If you are a bad teacher, dont send the bad teacher to a school of poor kids. You wouldnt want that teacher in your kids school. Until we call that out as well we will not solve this problem. Happy to have more money but there are also structural problems we have to resolve. Teachers actually are leading the way. Their jobs have become unsustainable. To make their jobs easier, what they want to do isnt spend all of their time lesson planning. They want to build relationships with students. Those are the things, personalization where you could accelerate students. We released a poll this week that said 63 of teachers in america are using chatgpt to enhance instruction. This is a moment where we are seeing new pressures and energy for solving problems and reaching students in new ways. Could i piggyback on that with a specific type of instruction . The shortage is approximately 200,000 qualified teachers and growing. We mention rotc. Bringing National Security into k12 and higher education. Who doesnt think rotc is an important part of the fabric of america . My father was an rotc graduate, many people here because of the connection to rotc. Think about tens of thousands of more teachers because they serve the country and those who need it the most. Technology like ai, like virtual reality, the rotc core is one idea. In terms of technology, sometimes when teachers and administrators get involved, families could get it right. The ai property, we have something at arizona state, regenerative ai, having the sort of ai guided tutorials and teachers in your pocket. We can go right to the student, right to the parent, right to the guardian. I completely agree. I want to say until we realize that this is a structural problem, nothing is going to work. I want to call out my own profession in this regard, chris and his colleagues are doing an amazing job of leveraging technology. And schools of education are past the graveyard when it comes to what Technology Demands. Development what Technology Demands of curriculum development. So that is a touch point with which you could work to get people really conversant with the technology. There is a gap between our training and what is happening in the classroom. Our professions need to step up as well. We were talking earlier about this, we were proud at asu of 42,000 k12 learners in our academy. We have 3200 Charter School students. My point is that idea is not one that we should forget. It should include upscaling and reselling certifications to get into the workforce. Everything you are talking about as exciting, people are pumped about it. That great principal is bogged down dealing with cultural issues. That is at the forefront. How do we balance the two . The stuff we are talking about is so crucial to our future in so many ways. That is at the forefront of the headlines. It is not what the conversation is about. It is about how did that support students . I was recently in alabama. I visited Alabama Aerospace academy. The First Aerospace and Aviation School in the state, led by principal ruben morris. He is educating the next generation of predominantly black students who are energized by the idea of joining the aerospace industry. He deals with discipline issues like you would in any high school. His focus is on creating a great learning experience for students. The teachers focuses on a great learning experience. I think there is some noise out there in our politics that is distracting from the good work happening in classrooms. We are coming together in ways that will keep the focus on learning because the magnitude is so great. The risk to our National Security and talent. Much of this report is about how the United States maintains its competitiveness in a global landscape. How do you think we are doing in who is our biggest adversary we should be worried about . We dont get these things right. I really dont fear a country out there. When you look up the future of what is the danger that you see, they could handle any challenge. We will handle the challenge of china if we do the things that we are talking about. I will bet on people any day. Not people who suddenly wake up and all of those out there who have authoritarian envy, they build such great airports. Just say two words, zero covid. There was one guy who thought zero covid was a good idea. Thats why i will bet on free people and democracy. It has been to organize itself to do the most urgent task. This is among the most urgent tasks. We dont like talking about it these days. That is one of the ways we have stayed at the lead edge. The truth is if you are a Young Software engineer or want to be a Young Software engineer, you want to be in the United States of america. Immigration, this is a country that has been fueled by immigrants, it is a country that has been made it new and young, you just go around and look at the people leaving the knowledge revolution across the country, they are immigrants. The part of the story is we need to educate our own. Our two mantras have been it doesnt matter where you came from, it matters where you are going. Your class of birth, that is what we are talking about here today. It was also you could come here and be a part of this great place. I reflected on the political football that is out there. We have some pretty good marching orders. Try not to go there. Try not to make this the culture war that it was. He said it is really difficult. Going back to my comment a second ago, even though it is not just about china, climate change, it is about those things. Somebody could stand up and say we have threats to our existence, to our way of life, we need our capital to rely on these things. A lot of the conversation today has been about china its not that china is our friend, enemy, whatever you want to call it. This gives us a moment to look forward. We need those moments where we bring together the civic that is america. We need to get beyond the political scuffle. The things that the secretary talked about, this is one of those times. I was able to mention climate change. Young people, principals, teachers see it happening around them. It is a galvanizing moment right now, focuses maybe on some of the political issues. At least the political gridlock that is holding us back in some ways. You have 62 people awaiting confirmation. Something like 38 ambassadors waiting. Almost all of them have careers that they should go through. You have a political system right now that prides itself on gridlock. That is something that should bring us together but doesnt. The signature right now is lets get nothing done. The authorization act will pass because congressmen and senators like to get reelected. We have to find those moonbeams that actually work. Lets go where the light is and do those rotc programs and support them with stem dollars, the way the coast guard is launching junior rotc. The chip stack pulls together National Security, industrial policy, foreign policy. They are real dollars and real opportunities. I agree with that. Another proposal in the report is the creation of a darpa for education. We are talking about the American Dream here. We will need to accelerate innovation, need to build more solutions that will address the systemic issues and structural issues. That is an idea that is moving forward. We help move together a bipartisan 40 cross Sector Organization pushing forward for this idea. We have gotten 30 million but we need to be working with agencies. Did you say 30 billion . It would be nice. We just need to keep pushing. I feel like there is traction, people are thinking about education in a different way. Continuing to build that coalition is a big priority. I agree. If you have a darpa that is more like an accelerator, we tried the common core. We do have a very decentralized, the most important level is probably the board of education. Washington can only do so much. I think what washington can do is help accelerate good ideas. There is an awful lot of experimentation going on in the states, in localities. We should really welcome that as well. We should welcome that innovation happening in our very decentralized system. These amazing innovations that will impact some areas and some communities when our poorest areas are suffering so much. They didnt even have access to the internet, to wifi. We are talking about ai, there will not be any ai in towns where there is no wifi. I actually believe in school choice. I believe in Charter Schools. Every time i hear somebody say Charter Schools, vouchers, like that in the Washington Post but dont send your kids to sidwell friends. That is really what i mean by where are our values here . One thing we tried to do with reports a decade ago is say if a poor kid is not learning because of our National Security challenge, that is your problem. Dont think that if your kids are learning and your kids are doing all right then we are all right, you really have to care about the weakest link in democracy. Why on earth would you send a kid to sidwell friends when you could go to saint albans . Or st. Marys academy. A great point about how tough it was during covid. I went to Robert UniversityRobert Morris university in pittsburgh, we have four kids in college too. You know what we did . We got together with verizon, at t, i had my Technology People drying out the Rural Communities to set up hotspots. We did things in the heat of the moment that we had to do to get kids educated. We are working with Big Companies and with the government. Let us not forget we are getting things ready. We have done innovative things that keep building. We did get access during covid in a way people are not really writing about. How excited are you about all of the companies out there who realize they need to go into schools, offer Training Programs to find the right workforce . Colleges are educating do not align with the jobs of tomorrow. Maybe more than we have seen in the modern era, so Many Companies saying we need to dig in and solve this. One role philanthropy could play is to help facilitate the cocreation. We need companies and partners working handinhand with teachers and students in developing these solutions. If you work at a philanthropy in a sweet loving way, these Companies Need to be a success and they need a great workforce. They want their products to be purchased and used at scale, they need to be balanced with teachers and students. We want to help facilitate that inclusive r d, that has to be part of how we think about how we develop them. If we do, our partners will be really successful. It is in their interest to do it. I also see in that community, a real obligation to the country, having an untrained workforce is not good for our democracy either. Im encouraged by the fact that they see their interests. Lets help make the country better. Round of applause. [applause] hard enough being around secretary rice. What im also excited about madam secretary is they are getting it as well. They understand whether it is technical schools, big state universities, they know the nexus between getting a job and having a great life, maybe they didnt 20 years ago. We are out of time but i want to end in an education segment with a homework assignment. I would like you to give this room of National Secretary experts and enthusiasts, a call to action for everyone, what do they need to do, talk about, get excited about . Bring it up in every National Security forum. If you are in the government you need to make it a National Security issue. It sounds so big. If each and every american decided what am i going to do . Am i going to help with the boys and girls club . So tutoring and broadband is available . Each and every one of us not only is it good for the cost that we have, it would be awfully good for us. There is Nothing Better than dealing with making you lesson title less untitled. Democracy, that is the call to action. [applause] this is about 50 minutes. We are almost at the finish line so thank you for sticking with us. By the end of this 40 minutes, we hope that you will leave the session feeling smarter