First paper examines need for stronger statewide alignment across education, workforce development, and economic opportunity

PHOENIX, July 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Education Forward Arizona today released the first paper in its new Education-to-Workforce Whitepaper Series, examining how Arizona can better align education, workforce development, and economic opportunity to support students, strengthen communities, and help meet the state’s educational attainment goals and long-term talent needs.

The series grew from conversations with leaders and stakeholders throughout Arizona, as well as a focused research effort to better understand what the state needs to change in order to meaningfully align education and talent creation efforts. The first paper explores Arizona’s current education-to-workforce ecosystem and identifies opportunities to strengthen it through clearer shared direction, stronger coordination, and a more cohesive statewide framework.

Across Arizona, schools, colleges, employers, workforce organizations, public agencies, and community partners are working to help more students and adult learners move from education into meaningful careers. While these efforts reflect a broad commitment to Arizona’s students, families, communities, and economy, they are often taking place without the shared direction and coordination needed to turn local progress into statewide impact.

“Arizona is not starting from scratch. Across the state, there are many organizations and strong local efforts working to connect education and opportunity,” said Ricardo Lopez Valencia, Senior Vice President of Education and Workforce Alignment at Education Forward Arizona. “The challenge is that these efforts are dispersed and, given the absence of a coordinating entity and framework, they do not necessarily align.”

The paper discusses how Arizona’s education-to-workforce landscape includes many important actors, but remains decentralized and difficult to navigate. Without a shared statewide framework, it can be harder for students and families to understand available pathways, for employers to know how to engage, for policymakers and funders to assess what should scale, and for strong local efforts to become statewide progress.

The paper also emphasizes that education serves a more fundamental purpose than workforce preparation alone. Education helps young people and adults build the knowledge, skills, character, and dispositions they need to participate in civic life, fortify their communities, and lead meaningful lives. Stronger education-to-workforce alignment builds on that foundation by helping more Arizonans develop as students, community members, voters, and workers who are prepared for opportunity in a changing society and changing economy.

The first paper identifies several opportunities for stronger alignment, including:

A shared map of Arizona’s education-to-workforce ecosystem, providing leaders and the public greater visibility into existing efforts, gaps, duplication, and opportunities for coordination.
A common framework for goals and outcomes, with clearer definitions of student success, credential value, workforce readiness, employer demand, economic mobility, and access to opportunity.
Stronger coordination that supports local and regional work, making effective models easier to see, adapt, and scale.

The Education-to-Workforce Whitepaper Series will continue throughout the summer. Future papers will examine lessons from other states, the case for a coordinated statewide planning structure, funding and accountability levers, and practical steps Arizona can take to increase alignment statewide.

“Education Forward Arizona is approaching this work as a constructive advocate, convener, and clarifier,” said Rich Nickel, CEO of Education Forward Arizona. “Our goal is to help build common understanding and support a stronger statewide conversation about what Arizona needs next, in keeping with how we support the state’s Achieve60AZ attainment goal. Better alignment expands opportunity for students and adult learners while helping strengthen the state’s long-term talent pipeline.”

The first whitepaper in the series is available here.

About Education Forward Arizona

Education Forward Arizona is a statewide education advocacy organization dedicated to championing education as the key driver to improving Arizona’s economy and quality of life. Education Forward Arizona serves as the leading voice for promoting the state’s Achieve60AZ education attainment goal and a shared action plan to move the goals of the Arizona Education Progress Meter forward. The organization’s work also includes mobilizing people and communities to advocate for policies and funding to improve educational outcomes across the Pre-K to postsecondary continuum, as well as providing scholarships and programs that improve postsecondary attainment for Arizona’s diverse student population.

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