Over the last several decades, the United States has changed dramatically. In the 1950s a high school diploma was the baseline standard for an education, and workers could find lower-skilled factory jobs out of high school. Today this is no longer true. Today, ours is a knowledge economy. Obtaining a higher education is more important than ever to a citizen’s success and to the success of our state’s economy. KnowledgeWorks Foundation’s 2005 poll shows that 86% of Ohioans agree: getting a college education today is just as important as getting a high school diploma was in the past. However, the state of Ohio is slow in making the transition from the 1950s manufacturing-based economy to the needs of today. Consider:

• Ohio ranks 39th nationally in the attainment of bachelor’s degrees and 35th in associate degrees.
  
• Out of every 100 ninth graders, only 38% enter college and a mere 17% graduate.
  
• 75% of the top 50 fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. require education beyond high school.
  

Targeted solutions such as community colleges, vocational education, and early childhood programs, have been added on to the educational landscape, resulting in a disconnected educational system that does not meet the needs of students or of our ever-evolving economy. Quite simply, the vast majority of students are getting lost along our current education “pipeline.”

The Foundation and our partners are supporting a P-16 approach at both the state and local levels. We provide assistance to the Ohio Partnership for Continued Learning, a state-level council created in response to the governor’s call for a continuous learning system in Ohio. At the local level, we fund and provide technical support for the formation of Councils throughout the state to work on P-16 approaches. The Councils are made up of educational institutions, community organizations, and local businesses that typically have diverse goals. These coalitions will use a data-driven process to identify the “leaks” in the alignment of local educational systems, agree upon priorities, and work together to address those goals.