It’s a common refrain: employers ask, “Why can’t we find candidates with the skills our company needs?” while educators wish, “If only I knew exactly what employers need, I could better prepare my students.”
Together, JFF and the State of Illinois are boldly tackling these challenges. We are bringing together employers, state agencies, and leaders in K–12 and higher education to collectively define the competencies that students need for success in careers that will grow the state’s economy into the future.
JFF’s Pathways to Prosperity team supports state and regional partners to build career pathway systems for high school and college students that are reverse engineered from employer needs and lead to economic advancement. Illinois is one of only a few partners that have gone further. The state took a holistic, research-based, and industry-driven approach to defining exactly what high school and college students need to know and be able to do to succeed in their careers.