Washington, D.C. - U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Education and Workforce Policy Cheryl Oldham issued the following statement on the introduction of A Stronger Workforce for America Act, legislation amending and reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), and the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act:“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce applauds Chairwoman Foxx, Ranking Member Scott, House Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Ranking Member Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) and Members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee for working together to improve education and workforce programs to better meet the needs of America’s students and workers. Expansion of Pell Grant eligibility and making necessary changes to the WIOA system to improve alignment with industry and the economy will allow more Americans to gain the skills necessary to meet their career goals and succeed in today’s most in-demand jobs.Bu
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Education and Workforce Policy Cheryl Oldham issued the following statement today on the release of the 2023 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results:“The results from PISA show a steep decline in math achievement for American 15-year-olds between 2018 and 2022, another data point in our country's backslide in academic achievement in the wake of the pandemic. Although the U.S. improved overall in this first post-pandemic international ranking, the math scores continue the alarming decline revealed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and statewide summative assessments.Today’s students are the workforce of the future, and American businesses cannot compete on the global stage if our students continue to fall behind. We need a national call-to-action to improve and increase the amount of instructional time o