August 28, 2009:  An informal group of leading business people, education officials, community leaders, and Council staff met for the first Futures Forum on educational attainment:  Economic Competitiveness:  Aligning Higher Education with Long-term Workforce Needs. Dr. Chris Chmura of Chmura Economics and Analytics presented data outlining the relationships among education levels, income, business needs and gaps or "misalignments" with degrees produced.  Craig Herndon followed with a demo of the Virginia Community College System's award-winning Virginia Education Wizard, a Web tool for students to explore potential career paths, required post-secondary education, salary expectations, and a host of other related data. 

• Explore our Futures Forums pages for more information.

May 21, 2009:  Executive Director Jane Kusiak began the meeting with a brief update on Council activities, recent enhancements to Virginia Performs, and examples of Productivity Improvement Fund impacts. To illustrate agency efforts to "move the meter" on performance, DMV detailed their methods for recasting agency operations via major technical improvements and a strategic focus on customers and products. The Commonwealth's Special Advisor for Children's Services summarized how localities have harnessed data to improve foster care outcomes.

In addition, the Council continued its discussions on improving educational attainment across the state. The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems presented their Student Flow Model for Virginia to help policymakers identify education pipeline improvements that will yield the greatest results. There was extensive discussion about challenges and opportunities to improve higher education retention rates, particularly at two-year colleges.

• See our Reports and Documents page for all key meeting materials.

Explore our Meetings page for earlier Council meetings, recent presentations, and relevant links.