Education and Workforce

A strong education system today ensures a strong workforce and a prosperous economy tomorrow.

The Texas economy increasingly depends on a highly educated workforce. By 2036, more than 70% of jobs in Texas will require a postsecondary credential. But today, only about 1 in 3 Texas high school graduates obtain a postsecondary credential within six years of graduation.

A strong education system creates a direct pipeline of highly skilled workers. Early learning is critical to helping students succeed in primary and secondary school, and prepare for college or a career.

A highly educated workforce is also critical to ensuring economic security for all Texans. Workers with a postsecondary credential, or even just some college experience, are over eight times as likely to hold a good job (earning around $65,000 or more per year) as workers with only a high school diploma or below — but less than half of the Texas workforce have such a credential.

Education and Workforce Staff

Policy & Data

K-12

High-Quality Instructional Materials

Texas 2036 dives in on High-Quality Instructional Materials or HQIM, which is a designation for curricula that has been vetted for quality by the State Board of Education.

The State of Readiness

The George W. Bush Institute and Texas 2036’s report details how Texas students do not have the knowledge and skills to succeed as they move on to the next grade level, much less in the workforce.

Texas Advanced Coursetaking Dashboard

Texas Education Agency data are visualized to reveal disparities in advanced course offerings for select student groups across school, senate and house districts as well as Educational Service Center regions.

Future-Proofing Texas School Funding

Visual representations of funding mechanisms for Texas’ education system are presented. The volatility of global and local oil production on funding school finance is discussed and funding options are presented.

Workforce Development

Workforce Composition, Trends and Alignment Report

Maintaining a robust Texas economy and mitigating the talent shortage forecast for the next decade requires addressing several long-term challenges to the Texas workforce. This report dives into the data from labor force trends to industries of opportunity.

Postsecondary Outcomes Exploration Tool (POET)

This interactive data platform is designed to provide key insights to students, parents, teachers, counselors, researchers and policymakers about the factors that shape whether a student attends college and, if they choose not to attend college, whether they earn a living wage.

Aim Hire Texas Regional Workforce Data

Current and future education and workforce needs are displayed across Texas Workforce Development Areas. Employing education-to-workforce pipeline data, it’s a unique analysis not previously available.

Community College Finance Simulator

The impact of changes to the state financial formula for community colleges is presented, showing the effects for both individual community college districts and the state budget.

Privately Issued Credentials Initiative

Data about credentials offered by Texas-based private entities and employers is displayed to improve public access and transparency, performed in collaboration with national nonprofit Credential Engine. Such valuable information supplements the state repository of credentials from public state institutions and education/training programs.

Key Insights

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