Young people and adults who go back to school are facing increased economic uncertainty and more competition for entry-level jobs. Recent survey data show 4 in 10 American adults desire more math skills to keep up with the evolving demands of today’s workforce. That means it is more important than ever that students’ secondary and postsecondary training aligns with labor market demand and that credentials lead to positive return on investment. 

Toward this goal, state K–12, higher education, and industry leaders in Arizona recently convened to discuss strategies for aligning math education with labor market needs to better prepare students for in-demand technology careers. Arizona is 1 of 23 states participating in the Launch Years Initiative led by the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. 

The initiative partners with state practitioners to align mathematics pathways from high school into postsecondary education, ensuring students take math courses that promote success in their aspirations and career goals. Unlike historical educational models where all students take the same mathematics coursework through high school and into college, math pathways provide students with the math skills all students need, followed by course options that enable students to develop the specific quantitative skills necessary for their career goals and interests.   

Our team at the Urban Institute partnered with the Dana Center to surface how to best communicate, motivate, and catalyze positive change that aligns math pathways content with workforce needs. 

“As technology, automation, and generative AI contribute to a rapidly changing work environment, educators must work closely with industry partners to ensure that students have access to the quantitative skills necessary to thrive in the current workforce and for lifelong learning to meet future workforce demands.”

— Joan Zoellner, Launch Years Initiative lead, the Charles A. Dana Center

At the recent convening, we presented research and data on credential outcomes and labor market demand, and we shared how state leaders can leverage existing occupational frameworks as a tool to cross-reference mathematics standards and coursework against the skills needed for in-demand careers.

Strategies for state leaders to connect math education to workforce demand 

Following the convening, we designed an action plan and tool prototype to help state leaders in the Launch Years initiative align mathematics pathways with the evolving demands of Arizona’s tech industry. The tool prototype builds from Urban’s National Occupational Frameworks, which were created in partnership with the US Department of Labor and vetted by employers to design high-quality apprenticeship programs in nine industries, including information technology. State leaders within the Launch Years network and beyond can utilize these frameworks to describe the skills and technical knowledge students need to demonstrate to be job-ready in specific occupations. 

Here are four key steps cross-sector teams of educators, employers, and advising staff can implement to align mathematics competencies and standards with in-demand workforce skills: 

1. Identify the in-demand jobs (e.g., data analyst) that pay living wages in key industries (e.g., the tech sector) aligned with math pathway priorities in your state.
2. Use vetted occupational frameworks like Urban’s National Occupational Frameworks to select a set of in-demand occupations in your state.
3. Review the job functions and skills needed to be successful in each occupation. For example, we identify eight job functions and corresponding competencies for each job function in Urban’s occupational framework for data analysts (PDF). State teams can then connect existing coursework and math standards with the competencies identified. For example, Arizona educators could use a table or other preferred format to map out and cross-reference the Arizona Mathematics Standards for Quantitative Reasoning (i.e., statistical and probabilistic reasoning) against the skills required for the role of data analyst, to show how existing math standards and curricula aligns or does not align with in-demand skills.
4. Analyze the results to identify any misalignment or gaps, and work with team members, advisors and employer partners to prioritize potential reforms to align mathematics programming and standards to desired technical skills so students are competitive for in-demand jobs. Reform efforts may include developing a new math course or a new-hire training for faculty or advising staff.

The payoff for states, educators, and students

By mapping math competencies to specific careers, states can move beyond identifying gaps in curricula to creating practical reforms that support employer engagement, and advisors can help young people understand the return on investment they can expect from pursuing careers.

Working with Arizona practitioners was a useful proof of concept to learn how to better support cross-sector state teams in driving math pathways and workforce alignment that can be replicated in other regions of the country.

“We hope that the collaboration in Arizona provides a road map that other states follow to ensure that their students have access to the right math at the right time to be prepared for in-demand jobs based in their local workforce priorities. ”

— Joan Zoellner, Launch Years Initiative lead, the Charles A. Dana Center

Further work with state practitioners and their cross-sector partners will require a more robust version of a tool like the prototype we built that can be shared broadly. Pairing an enhanced tool with targeted technical assistance can help state leaders achieve their goals around more-thorough alignment between math pathways and the labor market. Taking these steps will move the field closer to understanding whether such alignment leads to higher completion rates for colleges and better career outcomes for students.