NGA K-12 Computer Science talk

Governor Asa Hutchinson:

Today, we have a historic opportunity as governors to prepare our young people to succeed in the digital world in which they live. That is the reason I chose as my initiative to work with you to expand K-12 computer science education. This matters. It matters to our state, our young people, and our nation. With 609,000 open computing jobs nationwide, they are needed. It is also a national security issue that we face. The options are simple. We can either fall behind as a nation if we do not have the computing skills of the future, or we can borrow the talent from overseas and say we're just going to utilize that which is not a good option. The third option is to produce our own talent and that is what we are trying to do as governors. It is a national security issue because of the cyber threats we face as well. As a result of that, when I became governor in 2015, we passed a law to mandate the computer science be offered in every high school in Arkansas. It did not take long for us to say we have to incorporate the lower grades in the curriculum for computer science. We didn't require anyone to take it, it was offered. Yes, as governor, I went to over 80 high schools. I knocked on doors, I talked to students and I said we need your talent, we need to have you taken computer science. As a result, we had 1100 students taking computer science in 2015 when this initiative started. That is now over 13,000 students in Arkansas taking computer science. [applause] that is a 770% increase. The number of young women enrolled has jumped from 294. Minority students have increased. Most importantly, teachers instructors have gone from less than 20 in Arkansas to almost 600. That is essential to get the job done. I love the story of the french teacher who said if I can teach French, surely I can learn computers and coding. It's just another language. She did and she has made a difference in students lives. Last year, I signed into legislation a lot of requires at least one computer science course in order to graduate from high school. Only South Carolina and Nevada join Arkansas and they preceded us. There are three states now that require that. This will also require every high school to employ at least one certified computer science teacher. We are investing money in that every day. I want to thank code.org for their leadership that measures us nationally and it is the national voice to expand computer science education. ... We are interested in creating jobs. We want to educate them, but this leads the technology jobs in Arkansas . I had an opportunity to go to Israel. As I went to Israel, I got to speak at the future of mobility conference led by the print minister. There, the minister of transportation for Israel spoke first and said that we are trying to get past a lot to allow -- a law to allow piloting autonomous vehicles. I got to follow her and say that in Arkansas, we passed the same law in 2019 and today, we are not only piloting but using autonomous vehicles without a safety driver for the delivery of goods from the warehouse to the store. That is what technology can do. That is the talent pool that we have to fill. These jobs of the future including autonomous vehicles and the computer science need that we have is illustrated by the fact that it is mandatory for students to take computer science and 44 countries. In the United States, it is only offered in 51% of our high schools. We have a lot to do. Let me move quickly, because we have a distinguished panel that I want to introduce. I want to offer you four keys that it's important for being successful in computer science education. Number one is you can do it through your commissioner of education or your secretary of education or by executive order as an option to increase computer science education. We chose the legislative route, because it gives you a broader level of support to initiate at and to fund it. That is the second admonition I would have is to have a dedicated funding stream. A small state like Arkansas, it started with $5 million. We have increased that amount which allows for stipends for teachers to pay for professional development. It allows money for students if they pass a computer science course and test well, they get some money out of it. It has really been helpful. Have a dedicated funding stream. Have a state office and a dedicated office your tour computer science. We have that in Arkansas. Then, lead and it. You have to be out there or you have to have your commissioner of education working on this day in and day out. The story in Arkansas is if you are a superintendent, don't get a call from the governor because the governor is asking them how many students they have taken computer science. I did that. Let me outline five policy goals because I believe when you have an initiative, you should be able to measure. The goals are first of all we want as a nation to increase the number of high schools offering computer science. Second, we want to increase the number of governors who are members of our governors for computer science. Believe we have 15 now. We want to increase the amount of state funding for computer science education. We can measure that. We want to increase the number of states require at least one computer science credit for high school graduation. Right now, there are three. I hope we can convene again and measure progress. To increase the diversity of students participate in computer science. It needs to be for everyone. In support of this initiative, we will have three regional roundtables that spend time on this topic in our summer meeting. We have already been to Denver. Great to be there to talk about computer science. We will also be in Bentonville, Arkansas and in Boston, Massachusetts. I hope you will either be there or send someone representing her state. Then, we also at this winter meeting the NGA will be sharing with you a draft compact for governors to review. It will be focused on committing to expand access to computer science education in our state. We will unveil that statement with the signatories of the summer meeting as we conclude this initiative at that time. Governors can lead in this area. We have 15 members in our governors caucus for this. We want to grow that and help us. I hope you can since the level of excitement on my part. We as governors can make a difference. ... Now, let me introduce a real friend of the NGA. Former governor that makes us very proud to work with her who is now the secretary of commerce. We like to see governors move into those high positions. Governor, Secretary Gina Raimondo has agreed to moderate this panel. Please come up. [applause] before you have the microphone, there is going to be a video about this computer science initiative. Then, it is all yours. Thank you again for leading this panel today.

Video:

Will it be American students who learn to code or will industry the required to go overseas to find the talent we need here in the United States? My initiative is K-12 computer science education. The need has never been greater. According to the bureau of labor statistics, computer science and technology jobs will grow by 11% and a computer science major can earn up to 40% more than the average college graduate. Elementary students who study computer science basics outperform their peers in reading and writing. The conclusion is that computer science or coding is now a foundational part of education. The goal of this initiative is to make sure that U.S. students can meet the needs of industry and we don't have to rely upon skilled workers from overseas or the other option is offshoring technology jobs. It takes a governors to be engaged in this. It takes national leadership and a new direction in education. For those reasons, I am investing my time in an initiative that was important and is important for Arkansas, but it's really important across-the-board for our country. The option that I advocate is that we produce the talent right here in the United States of America.

Gina Raimondo:

Good morning. I can see some many familiar faces. Being a governor is still the best job in American politics. When I was governor, Asa and I partnered on this together. Providing computer science education to young people is bipartisan. This has nothing to do with politics. It is about closing the digital divide, closing the opportunity divide, and making sure that every young person has the skills they need to get a job now. Modern jobs, innovation jobs. I give you a huge amount of credit. I would give you another year if it were up to me. The statistics that you just shared her extraordinary. It just shows when the governor focuses on something and prioritizes something, you can have results. Thank you for your leadership. I am continuing the work of closing the digital divide in my new role as Secretary of Commerce and the bipartisan infrastructure law, there is $65 billion dedicated to delivering broadband. High speed affordable broadband to every single American. The commerce department is the department primarily responsible for implementing the broadband initiative. We look forward to working with every single one of you. There are people in every one of your states who don't have broadband. Particularly those of you with rural plans, tribal lands, all of you. This is also bipartisan. I very much want to work closely with you. The program is designed to provide flexibility for governors to take into account the fact that every state is different. We want to work with you. In addition to the money to lay fiber and build the infrastructure, there is also a digital equity initiative. That is to provide digital literacy training, computers, hardware. I would say to you start inking about this now. I have another session later this afternoon I hope you can come and get into the details. 50% of people living on tribal lands don't have access to broadband. One third of Americans living in rural communities don't have access to broadband. There is no rural Rhode Island, it is a city state. Technically, there is fiber everywhere, but for many, it is unaffordable. That's where the equity component comes into it. Start thinking now about what it will take for your state to bring high-quality affordable broadband and connect everybody. The mission is that everybody is covered. I am joined this morning by three unbelievable leaders of American business, each of whom I know and I have had the ability to get to know. Each of whom is deeply committed to closing the digital divide. Making sure that everybody boys and girls, people of color, people of low income communities have access to broadband computers technology and school skills. I couldn't be more honored to have each and everyone of you. I would like to give you a chance to introduce yourself.

Corie Barry:

I am the CEO of Best Buy. The largest specialty electronics retailer in the U.S. It is a pleasure to be here today.

Julie, CEO of Accenture:

I am excited about the topic. We see the creation of talent in the U.S. As a shared responsibility of governments and the private sector. We appreciate being included in this important dialogue. We have over 60,000 people in the U.S. We hire roughly 10,000 per year. We are a global company. Today, we are acutely aware of the security, the focus on talent across industry and across the globe and the opportunity we have together to do something very special in the U.S. I'm excited to be part of this dialogue.

Beth Ford, CEO of Land O'Lakes:

Thank you for your initiative and leadership in this critical area. The secretary notes we have been a dialogue about what this will take. Land o lakes is a farmer owned cooperative. One her year anniversary this past year. We retain farmer ownership. Our members and a lot of our business that we do across the United States including South Africa, China, Mexico, Canada, our businesses touch 10,000 plus rural communities. We started the American connection project which is all about awareness advocacy action about making sure broadband accessibility is central to policy and also action is taken to close this digital divide.

Gina Raimondo:

We will have some dialogue here then we will throw it over to you guys to ask questions. Beth, you have had -- you have been a vocal advocate for broadband. You are in the middle of the country. You have talked a lot about the digital divide in rural communities. Tell us a little bit about why think this is so important and what you see among small farmers and how they have been missing out because they don't have broadband.

Beth Ford, CEO of Land O'Lakes:

I became the CEO in 2018 and I am always out of the country with our members. I continually remind folks that American farmers, 90 plus percent of farms are still family owned. These are families. 90% farmers make most of their income off of the farm. These technology jobs are central not just to farm efficiency but to the future of job creation. When I was named CEO, I was out with our members and while we are based in Minnesota, we are cross the country. I see these issues in the southeast, and most rural communities. A lack of opportunity. Job creation lags. Roads and bridges deteriorating. Closure of rural hospitals. Education outcomes, folks not going to college because they don't have access to education. 78% of counties in America that access food insecure -- there is a lack of housing. I am a girl from Iowa. These are places I have been in in my entire life. What I would note with all of those issues, what was foundational is that the accelerant for changing this environment technology. Broadband access was just not present. Would go into some of these farms and it was like the old day of the rabbit ears. You're trying to get the rabbit ears set up. It's simply unacceptable. They're trying to go next to a school bus to access wireless or so their kids can do their homework on their phone. It leaves us less competitive and I don't think it is an overstatement to say is a national security issue. How do you create jobs and how do you have food security for a nation if you don't have the best technology? If we aren't investing? This is where our members are. Where jobs need to be created. I can go to the litany. What we know is foundational he, we have to get access. We have to get rod band available in these communities so they can stabilize and do the work they need to do.

Gina Raimondo:

Julie, you have spoken a great deal about the changes to the workplace because the pandemic. I would love to hear from you as the CEO of a large global company, what are the changes to the workplace in your view and how do you think those changes affect need for digital skills among the workforce going into the future?

Julie, CEO of Accenture:

One thing I will add to the other comment and I know we will get to the idea of job creation, but it is tied to the change in the workforce which is pre-pandemic, many companies did not want their people off-site. Accenture is one of the most remote working companies in the world. We serve global companies. Pre-pandemic, this is how we worked. We haven't had headquarters in three decades. How is that possible? The pandemic hit, they said how is that possible because I can't have my people together? That fundamental change of the acceptance of being able to have remote workers immediately opens opportunities for rural communities to become sources of talent and access jobs that didn't exist before. I would underscore we will never be able to capture that opportunity unless we have broadband and they're able to do that. If you think about what has happened today, pre-pandemic, talent was the number one priority for all of the CEOs across companies. There was already a gap in computer science. Post-pandemic, the skills needed the more advanced skills have increased the gap about three times because of the massive acceleration of companies into the cloud and technology. We had a $12 billion cloud business and 12 months later it was an $18 billion cloud business because what companies are doing. When you couple that with the new ways of working, there really isn't any place in a company that doesn't require digital skills. Whether you are an executive assistant working in the mailroom, on the plant floor in field service. To make this real, if you take Accenture for a moment, if you want to apply to Accenture, all applications are online. The interviews are online. Once you are hired, you get to experience something called Countdown to Accenture where all of the things to excite you about joining and all onboarding is done in an automated fashion completely touchless. This is all by the way pre-pandemic. You never go into an office and fill out a form. If you're not able, regardless of your job, to navigate all of that, you can't work Accenture. Once you start, your onboard training includes experiencing the digital world which is entirely in the metaverse where you learn the valuable information about Accenture and you begin to create new experiences with your colleagues. Six months after you start, you're required to begin a 10 course curriculum where you have to do the course and pass an assessment around artificial intelligence, agile ways of working. This is true regardless of where you work at Accenture because we are operating our company based on using these technologies. We believe as a company that we have to be not just a talent consumer, but a talent creator so we have that commitment. Not every company has the ability to do that. What we're are talking to companies about his how do they get the kids for all of their jobs that have the skills? That is why computer science in K-12 is so critical. Not every child graduating will go to college, every kid is entering digital economy. This is why a new foundational skill that it's critical don't leave any kid, anyone behind.

Gina Raimondo:

That is quite a statement there is not a single job in the company that doesn't require digital skills. I expect you guys may agree with me. Corie, I know you spend a lot of time thinking about young people. ... How do you assess the need... How do you assess the challenge of providing computer science and digital literacy skills to all students in elementary school and high school? What do you think we can do if you are the governor here to make sure we're doing a better job providing the skills for young people since it is so essential?

Corie Barry:

Thank you. I think you will see that all three of us are coming from different industries yet a very consistent thread that the tech skills of the future required across every aspect of what we are doing. We also hire completely by video. That is not just a high-tech institution, that is a retailer of 100,000 people in all of your communities functioning different overnight. Why would a retailer be on stage? We believe our purpose is to enrich lives through technology. When the pandemic hit, everyone of us was at home hopefully on a device if we had one. Hopefully on broadband if we had. For most of us, that was pretty easy. However, in that moment singularly the tech inequities particularly in disinvestment communities was highlighted instantly. The amount of kids that fell one or two years behind was immense. It happened overnight. Because we have 100,000 employees, we are in all of your communities. We run the gamut in every way and what we were seeing is even some of our own employees struggling and falling behind with their own kids and families. One of the things we have been investing in pre-pandemic is our team tech centers. What specifically can we do? Our tech centers are centered for afterschool education. They provide access. Because everybody has aptitude and not everybody has access. In the tech centers, we have things like ar, VR, so I can learn about the metaverse. We have sound mixing, fashion design, production assistance. It is access to those tools but importantly those careers, those aspirations that you may never think about if you have never seen them as potential. There centers created in partnership with computer the -- computer the not-for-profit organizations. They know the kids, the specific situations. They can help mentor kids through not just learning how to use these but thinking about them as career pipelines. We start at seventh grade. Kids come in twice a week and they're starting to learn about where the path can take them. We have layered on mental wellness constituencies because what we are seeing especially in the advanced communities, it's not just about access it's about why have a safe space? Do I feel like I have a say future? That conversation meets every kid -- it means every kid has a plan. It might be a certification, a degree, then scholarships. We are missing pipelines. All of us are looking for pipelines of talent. To create that pipeline, you need to start early, you need to have mentorship and help, then you need to pipeline the talent back into your organization. That is distinctly what this kind of model is allowing us to do. We have 47 across the U.S. That will serve early thousand young people. And type them back into the organization. We can take with their learning in school, apply it tactically using the devices then pipeline talent act to our organization. What you can see is attacking the issue at every angle is with going to be required and I hope it presents unique opportunities for public-private partnerships as we think about how to bring this to life in each of your communities. The problems across communities are quite different.

Gina Raimondo:

Doing this in Rhode Island, the public-private partnership is vital. In digital literacy specifically, we partnered with Microsoft. And other companies. We needed tech companies to help teach teachers. The limiting factor in delivering computer science, teaching, the teachers need to be taught the skills. They need to have the curriculum. We needed to partner with the private sector to do that. Also, needs to be relevant. Not just learning to code. It has to be connected to a job to something they care about. That's where we need the private sector to step up.

Corie Barry:

And relative to the communities. One of the things we are testing is a community impact hub in L.A. County that will have tech centers aimed at the entertainment sector. When you see the credits scroll, it's one page of actors then six pages of experts. We are teaching them the trade skills in the entertainment sector of L.A. County. It has to be tailored to the communities because each community is part of what we're highlighting and private sector needs are different pending on the industry.

Beth Ford, CEO of Land O'Lakes:

It is going to take these partnerships. We just announced initiative in South Dakota. You say it is a relevance of where you are. We wanted to first week sure we highlighted broadband access. We want digital skills development in that community to create jobs in Aberdeen, South Dakota that are tech jobs. First we were partnered with Microsoft, Best Buy, agencies. We're doing the same thing in California where we are using our silos in our farms or plants to stand up wireless, amed out more broadly, then working on job developing and job creation. Once we have the access, it's about how we can make sure we have what we call swap programs where we are having our members have others in the community have tech jobs and do that remotely. That is essential thing you are doing, Julie, in your initiative and some of them, either way I want to think -- thank these two because they are partnered with us as well. We have over 170 different companies, large organizations focused on advocacy taking action. Free wireless locations, job creation all in technology and these two organizations it's more powerful when we are working together. I think your initiative on job creation is critical.

Julie, CEO of Accenture:

What I might add is that when I heard your for tenants, I thought you need a fifth. State-by-state, we need to build a coalition of the private sector and not for profits, because we use them a lot to support these programs at the same time. That allows you to be tailored to the needs of the communities. It is integrated from the beginning into the program. The reality is, there is a blueprint. We could rapidly work together to say these are the five things you need the private sector. Technology teaching, work around apprentices. We have in Chicago over 40 companies who came together in a network that we established to provide apprenticeships. Centers for teens, that is work what Corie is doing. It's not rocket science, it needs to be tailored by community. What you need, there apprenticeships come the jobs, the teaching is the same. Many of us are in multiple committees. We are in 36 cities. So you can access that. I think we would be in it, this roundtable and other groups would be happy to partner with NGOs in saying here's the blueprint and how to execute that?

Gina Raimondo:

I mentioned earlier the initiative that the commerce department will be putting out for broadband. We are specifically going to design that so that it provides you with flexibility to spend some of the money on job training, digital training, and digital literacy. As you're putting together your state plans, don't commit as jobs money for fiber or wireless, it is also money for devices. What good is it if you have broadband in your school or house but you don't have a device? Also, training. I want to stick with you, Julie. You mentioned apprenticeships. Which is something I'm going to take a guess every governor here would like to do more of. You are an unbelievable leader on apprenticeships. We think of apprenticeships, we think mostly the building trades. Julie is a leader on digital apprenticeships. White collar partnerships. Can you tell us what you have done, how you have been so successful, and what can governors do to expand apprenticeships in their states?

Julie, CEO of Accenture: I want to give a shout out to Secretary Raimondo because you understand what is happening on the ground. I know they need childcare. The ability to use federal funds to provide the actual things that are needed as opposed to -- it's very powerful. I so appreciate your bringing that perspective. When you're making these things successful, it is understanding the reality of what people go through. In 2016, I became CEO of North America. My father painted cars for living. From my perspective, the only way to help people from diverse backgrounds is you need a job. I felt like I lived the American dream and we really wanted to think about how could we at Accenture provide pathways -- we partnered with the community college in Chicago that focuses on tech knowledge he. We helped them with their curriculum and we brought in our first five. It was successful, then we said how do we scale this? We went after it in two ways. First, we said at Accenture, we will make apprenticeships part of our talent strategy. Not because we weren't at the time, we could hire anybody. We said the only way to scale is if it becomes part of the talent strategy which required me to have our business leaders agree then change HR. We started in 2016. Today, we literally announced last week that 20% of our entry-level hiring would be apprenticeships. Last year, it was 15%. We have graduated almost 800 apprentices. These are practices doing security, programming, they are working at clients and internally. We have I've hundred 50 currently working. That will be expanding. -- we have 550 currently working. That is part of our actual talent strategy. The key piece of this is that first of all, we formed a coalition with not profits in each of the communities. After we started in Chicago, we were about to open in many of your states another eight innovation hubs. In every state in every city that we open an innovation hub, we will start an apprenticeship program. In each of those cities, we then identified the not-for-profit's who would be able to support our apprentices and the schools. We started with two-year schools. Then we begin to do it for high school students. The high schools where we go to first are the ones with computer science. We have a young man named Taylor in Atlanta. He was at a school that has computer science. He is already spent five months at Accenture, he is incredibly talented and at the end of his senior year, he will be offered a job at Accenture or he is work ready. In his case, he is so excited that he wants to go to college and work at Accenture and extend into our apprenticeship program. The success for it requires companies to be committed part of their talent strategy, then get the support of the schools who will either change the curriculum, provide computer science. Then, we are starting to expand to work with our clients to say let us support you, here are the types of jobs. We've created, and this is why your point is so important, and every community there are different types of jobs, but they are repeatable. Most everybody has an I.T. Department. How you tailored to the department -- to the market, but bring what is repeatable. There is so much out there now. I would encourage all of you to not reinvent the wheel. To tap into some of the initiatives that are being done like at the business roundtable to be able to say what is repeatable and how do you create the coalition in each of your communities to support that? It does begin with having educational institutions who will work with the private sector to adjust the curriculum and provide opportunities for the students to have the skills to be eligible.

Again, public-private partnerships. Speaking of that, Beth, tell us about the American connection project.

It takes more than one voice. The American connection project was formed at the beginning of the pandemic although even before that, we recognized the need for us to advocate for a major investment. We believe broadband is a fundamental right. Like electricity being available. We started during the pandemic contacting and sending letters saying what's going to happen since the rural hospitals have shut down? We need technology for medical visits. With that, we need variances from your office that say telemedicine those appointments, you can write a prescription without being in person. You can see a mental health provider. 90% of mental health care providers are in urban areas. How do you see somebody? There is a real mental health challenge in rural communities. We went through that and we partner with the Cleveland Clinic and started this convening. Now we have 170 organizations. It is around advocacy, action, talking about policy. That was successful, we were pushing for that infrastructure bill. We followed that with the American connection court. This is going to be about boots on the ground. Who do you call? How do you make the connections? What is the chamber of commerce around job creation and technology? What isp provider is there? I would recommend what we see is 29 states have an officer broadband in the governor's office. They tend to make more rapid progress unemployment tatian. -- on implementation. We started the American connection corps. These are fellows who want to be back in their rural communities. Not everybody wants to run to the city or the coast, they want to be in their communities. The opportunity is to have a fellowship of two years. They're in their community, they take the baton and they are working on the implementation connected to providers, public and private companies. That plus job creation is the way we are making sure we have implementation with folks. We have 50 fellows right now, we would like to scale that to other communities so we have real people able to take the baton who get trained. They want to be back in their communities. They want to be back with their to be back in their communities and with their families. This provides them that opportunity and the opportunity to do something meaningful. And again, with the infrastructure of law that we will be implementing, huge opportunities, because we have the money to partner with you and the governors to get the implementation right. Show less text 00:56:39

When you were speaking, I know that several times, you commented that you are looking not only for a digitally trained workforce, but a diverse pool of talent. And that came through loudly and clearly. Talk about that, why does that matter? Why is that so important? And what can we do to make sure that that diverse, trained pool is available? Show less text 00:57:12

Diversity is good for business, and diversity reflects all of your communities, that is reality. I always get frustrated and this happens sometimes in Minneapolis in Minnesota I will be talking to other fields and they will say some thing like we do not have enough diverse talents and we need to bring talent into the communities, no, we have plenty of diverse talent, we are not creating the pipelines into our organizations. And so, the combination that all of us are talking about, access being crucial, job creation being crucial, and then a real, individualized approach to how you create pipelines within your communities. And, what really matters is one, and this is why appreciate governor Hutchinson, start early, start with kids early so and I love this example of speaking a language, it is just speaking a different language, how do you get that exposure. Two, the reason we are passionate about the teenager tech center is that mentorship is crucial, how does 18 understand what could be in their future in terms of the world, and we always think about tech dependent roles like cybersecurity or some of the real dependent roles, these are just tech reliance. I was looking at a stadium builds doing a store -- doing a tour and it used to be it is about the construction and now it is all about the fiber, fiberoptics, think about how we watch games, it is all about the connections and that whole thing is connected. That job is incredibly tech reliant and different than it has ever been in the vast majority of kids, particularly those who might not have access have no idea that those careers exist. This mentor ship layer and partnering with community organizations is incredibly important that is personalize approached because growing up rural, I can go back to my dad's home and there is still not good access to broadband. And they might want to go back and have careers. This is the second piece. The third is understanding what a career could look like. Apprenticeship programs are so important because they can bring to life a career you never thought was possible. How do you say it is not just about computer programming, it can be about everything from working in entertainment to teaching. All of these are very different and very tech reliance. Finally, really presenting examples of people living the life, how do you see what you could be? We need to -- many of our employees mentor and have relationships because they can show those that are participating what the careers could look like, and from there it is a real plan, whether that is in apprenticeship, we have been doing some work to create certified apprenticeships and working with the governor's office in Minnesota to create a public-private partnership where they can be certified and ultimately apprenticeships that can certify and come back into Best Buy or whether in our case, sometimes our own employee base, we have 100,000, many of which are young, and how do we use a great geek scrod -- geek squad agent and bring them back into some of the data and analytics. These real distinct plans and paths, I think it is important. My general point about pipelining is that it has to be very hands-on, and it has to be also be any debts be embodied in a commitment to increase the full spectrum of the pipeline, grab them young, get certification, two to four year degrees and offer scholarships and bring them back into the companies. I do not care if they go to Julie or Beth, but bring them back in and a concerted way. And then you are doing absolutely what is good for business and making our communities better. Show less text 01:01:12

I love the clear statement, diversity is good for business. With that, clear statement then we can figure out the tactic. In this regard the governors have a huge role to play because public schools, 90% of kids go to the public schools in your communities, and so if we can provide this sort of training, and mentor ship, and curriculum like others of you are doing in the public school system that is the best way to make sure that pipeline is diverse, starts young, we ought to be teaching this in kindergarten and every grade all the way through. That is how you capture students and make sure it is diverse and make sure it fits the whole community. So, ok. We are going to throw it open to the governors to see what questions or ideas that you have for us. Please. Show less text 01:02:10

First, I want to say I am very impressed that we are increasing female CEOs in our digital industries. [applause] 01:02:27

I will clap to that. 01:02:32

I also want to thank you for information and certain strategies and plans and programs to create digital equity throughout the state. I am concerned though that I do not think the digital equity act is too equitable as Guam and other u.S. Conservatories have been excluded in the digital equity act. In the definition of state. So I have an even more of a challenge to try and change that amendment so that Guam and other u.S. Territories can take opportunities for the financing and funding. And, of course, my work as governor is to make sure that any future policies, laws, any future direction dealing with digital equity or other services that would benefit the quality of life of my people, I will certainly be fighting hard to get included. I am also very impressed with most of the program, all of the programs that you have shared with us, I just want to say that I am going to go back to Guam and implement some of these, all those -- although we have already implemented a lot, we used the educational stabilization funds to provide the hardware to our children out in our island, and we also have used arp money to provide more broadband services and access using senior citizens community centers, using public library satellites, and so forth. And so, I think that the innovation and creation and creativity that you have shared with us is amazing. I also wanted to say that, secretary, thank you so much also for your leadership in commerce, and also, governor Hutchinson, I appreciate your leadership, and I will go back and include a computer science in our curriculum for school K-12. I do not think -- I think we can probably do that quicker and faster than any state because we are a small island. I also want to just inform you that most of our broadband is brought in through undersea cable, and that is a risk for us, as you can see what happened with the eruption of the volcano in Tonga, which left 100,000 people not in communication with the world. So, we are looking at seeing how satellites could be a backup. Lastly, I totally support digital technology. That is the future of our whole world, and I think what we are doing here is making the necessary preparations. I also do have a lot of local diverse talent that we will use through apprenticeship programs and so forth. I want to say thank you and do not forget Guam and the u.S. Territories, we contribute a lot to the national security of the United States. Show less text 01:06:07

Thank you. [applause] 01:06:08

Thank you secretary. I want to begin by commending governor Hutchinson for his great work and leadership on this, and our panel today, fantastic, Beth and Julie and Corie, Beth and Corie I want to thank you for your physical presence and all the work you are doing with your vision and ideas which are fantastic and Julie, the apprenticeship example is a really powerful one but all of us should pay close attention to. Secretary, you mention flexibility. This is so important, I want to say as governor we are not -- we are go -- we are so grateful to have not only a former governor but someone who has private secretary experience and you understand that not one-size-fits-all. You understand that north could -- North Dakota is gotten broadband to the most number of places. We could reach 99% of the households that had a K-12 student. More money specifically for fiber does not help us, the flexibility is essential to drive through some of the initiatives that were being talked about. The one thing I would want to share in North Dakota, 2019 we started not just for K-12, but we called it pr-2w, pre-k through PhD through workforce, there is a lot of workforce that is 18 to 75 that needs to be reeducated or has the opportunities to get to workforce education as well. Our mission is every student and every school is cyber educated. The thing that is slightly different is just not computer science but we are also talking about cybersecurity education, because we -- when we have everybody connected and a world when we are working together the way we are, for us as governors, we have a moral duty around the insecurity. We don't just have transaction data, we have criminal justice data, we have tax information data and health information data and school information data. We have fishing and hunting licenses and drivers license information. You have everything you can imagine and the state is controlling the data and all of us are being increasingly attacked every single day by foreign state actors that are paying their people to attack our states. It is not like war is theoretical, there is a cyber war every single day. None of us can call the doD and say send the troops. We are defending our data from these attacks coming in and they all accelerated during Covid. I want to say that one last thing which is a fun thing, cyber madness, we have our first robotics, that were a great success. There was building enthusiasm for kids around that in North Dakota and in the next month we launched 10 high schools including private and rural schools will have their first cybersecurity competition where the kids will come together and show their skills and how they can defend against attacks, and that is very fun coming up and that is part of the cyber initiative. For the panelists, I would say again, all of you are doing -- I am sure that there are cybersecurity people in your countries, and this is a core part of the business, but when we talk about computer science, how do we expand and build cybersecurity jobs that are for our country. Show less text 01:09:58

Does anyone want to? 01:10:01

I really want to support what you are saying, computer science is a foundational skill that we have to get going on. In fact, what we need our digital literacy skills including cyber, and they also include communication skills and critical analysis because all of these technology skills will change over time and you need the agility of learning and we spend a lot of time on that. We would encourage you to look more broadly. Sometimes you have to start, actually getting computer science, but there is a broader curriculum and girls who code is a great organization and they have a very comprehensive program by grade level that includes things like creativity and problem-solving that we would highly encourage to be built into any kind of computer science, and also communication skills. They are absolutely essential because we are finding that many of the kids even if they have computer science they do not know how to draft an email and operate, though skills are important. The final thing is that I would love your focus on pre-k, particularly around reading. Reading is essential for all of these skills, particularly in computer science and a lot of research now that pre-k through third there needs to be early interventions around reading that will then support students being able to take advantage of foundational skills. While we do see things in computer science having better reading, it is that early intervention that could really change the way and, one of the reasons we are all here is that corporate America has woken up to the fact that we must help in this K-12 and really pre-K-12 because we cannot just intervene at high school or create a printed ships, so I love -- apprenticeships, so I love what you are doing. Show less text 01:12:03

The digital literacy point is critical because while we talk about cybersecurity and those jobs in that market are very hot, certainly throughout that area. But you know, our company is an operating company, we have factories and distribution facilities. We are making stuff. It is a gritty business. We have feed mills, dairy processing, and plants. While we may point to a particular area and a gap, we have done some of those same things in different states where we have competitions and things like that as an organization, a robotics competition. All jobs, fundamental jobs that run the economy really require digital literacy. A new technology in plants and manufacturing's really demand that, or you have to have some level of comfort for that. So, trade schools and investments in trade schools are a fundamental foundation. It is a place we should focus our attention and that should include this point on digital literacy. Most manufacturing and assets today really require that. Show less text 01:13:21

The last thing that isn't come it on all of us is to help our kids understand how digital literacy translates to a future opportunity. This is a lovely one that says I can come back and serve my state by being an amazing cybersecurity expert. I do not know that I could think about that as a future path or could have an amazing career behind-the-scenes in my rural community. And digital literacy will help me with that and making those very we just very real. I have to learn this because it opens these doors for me over time into the future. Show less text 01:14:00

Thank you. It leads me to a question, we have been focusing on teaching the teachers and we have an aging workforce, aging population. We want to make sure that the teachers in the school system are computer literate, digitally literate, and it seems to me that there are two streams. One is to beef up the teaching faculty, so that they incorporate computer literacy and computer science in their subject matter coursework, another has been focused on here today which is discreet certification degrees, in computer science per se. It seems to me we don't not get child events degrees in reading and simple matt -- math. We expect those to be underlying all other subject matters anti-that have -- for that basics. What extent do we focus on teaching the teachers to incorporate computer science in their subject matter curriculum warned what extent do a separate computer sciences and see that as a discrete specialty. We do not want to ignore -- we want everyone to have basic skills, how do we know that. Show less text 01:15:24

I will start, I am not sure, when I am not -- when I'm talking about it I am not talking about a degree in computer science, we are talking about digital literacy, something discrete and separate. Some folks will get into computer science but I was talking to the technology officer and I said the most capable folks in the teacher world understand the questions to ask so a doctor has all of that research at their fingertips. The best doctors will know the questions to ask and we will have that touch with an individual, but they have to be technologically savvy and understand how to use different research equipment and etc.. The teaching the teacher is a really important comment and you mentioned that is there somebody who can go down to test. My observations and I sit on university boards and I think everybody else does and we say whatever they learn as a freshman will be updated by the time they are seniors. Really want you want to add to continuous learning our pathways. You want to say you have to continually update your skills and pay attention, and so, yes teaching the teachers as the foundation, the teacher will have to constantly up their own skills because it is moving that quickly, literally it is moving at warp speed. I am not sure if that is an answer, but what I observed for me, it is less about if they have a computer science degree but more about their digital literacy and understanding the questions they need to ask and then the access that they can have to get those answers. To be effective as employees. Show less text 01:17:04

I think it is an and. Computer science is like reading in the sense that you have to actually teach a course so that students know what it is. Because, it is so foundational to understanding technology, so I do think as governor hutchinson said, having it as a requirement for graduation is important because it is a foundational skill whether you go on to be a programmer. There is also clear evidence that if you are exposed to computer science, you will be more likely to go on and select that as a degree. As a country, we have not enough students going into computer science, particularly not enough women. At the same time, we need to invest to embed digital literacy across coursework and, when you think about communication and collaboration, my daughter is now in both public and private school, and they use powerpoint and use these things as a part of their history class. And so, we have to be very strategic about embedding it, that I do think there is a role for computer science not as a degree in K-12, but as simply a foundational skill. I do want to give one plug for how you design diversity. What corie said is critical and if you listen carefully to what they are doing in their teen centers and talk about fashion and all these different things, we did some research a couple of years ago that said that at each age, what do you need to do to get more people going into computer science, though it is different in fifth-grade versus jr. High. The research also looked at how do you make sure girls go into computer science. You could actually introduce computer science in a way that does not result in more girls going into computer science because you have to make it relevant. And so making sure that you are a dime -- designing diversity into the curriculum is important. I wanted to make sure to cover that because I do not tank it is enough and it goes to who the teachers are as well. 26% of girls go into computer science if they do not go have -- if they do not have an inspiring teacher. 80% when they do. You do need to think about diversity by design and what corie has done is spectacular in how they have thought about the programs.

   Thank you secretary raimondo, thank you for moderating the power. Asa, thank you for your pass ion and advocacy. I want to thank our guests as well, this has been helpful. Could you speak and talk about things moving quickly in the cyber world. How the block chain is affecting your business is, how digital currency and even the onset of cryptocurrencies are affecting your business is and how you are dealing with those issues in the marketplace. I know it is a deep issue but I am curious in an overview setting what you have to say about those advancements.

   Do you want to start?

   You go.

   Block chain would be the most rezulin -- relevant to my business versus crypto or other areas, so I cannot really speak with any kind of authority on that. Block chain has been a statement that folks are in -- or an investment that people want for some time but it takes a partnership. You cannot just say that we are into block chain and then know what else in your continuum is into block chain. It has not been foundational or fundamental to our business with retailers. Folks are not thinking about using it as a way to show for instance in the food supply, it came from this farm, it went through this process, this is how much added cost there was and etc.. So, it is more of a quality measure and that will get consumers confidence. Still, it is not really embedded in the value chain because you need more people involved in more partners involved, so while there might be more discussions of it, it is not central, at least not in the food supply. It is thought of as potentially a marketing advantage.

   I would agree with that, we are not seeing as much on the retail side. It is about the very beginning of the product all the way through its production and relevant with food in particular. From the crypto perspective it is about adoption and I is -- and as a means for purchase. About $2 billion of purchases were oriented in some kind of cryptocurrency. And so, like always what we are trying to assess is when do we get to an adoption level across our demand profile that makes it something we should consider how to interact with consumers, because they are comfortable using it. Broadly, we are not quite there yet at the tipping point, although it is getting closer as more currencies are adopted. What is tricky is that you have so many, each pretty volatile at this point in time, and then you also have retailers trying to figure out what their own status might be with their own currencies and whether or not they want to take on that as their next level of innovation. I call it broadly across retail in the early stages but like anything we will taycan's from consumers and as we see them ready to interact we need to be as quickly as we can therefore them.

   We are pretty much out of time. Governor gordon I would like to give you last word.

   Thank you, and a great panel. Wyoming being the home of some of the pioneering stuff on block chain and for different currencies, I would like to talk on that. Really, my concern is that as we deploy all of this and on that point about flexibility which is absolutely imperative. As we deploy this and we talked a little bit about this will depreciate. In those markets where you know the commandment -- there is a tremendous amount of money available to build out fiber and network, the question I have is how do we maintain that, so that in a few years time we do not end up with the same kind of inequities that we had before. Those markets did not get served for a reason, and how do we make sure that we have those markets supported over time?

   Let me say two things. I was involved in negotiating the broadband component of the law with congress and as a former governor I felt strong that flexibility was necessary for the reason that you said. You all have broadband inequities in your state and they are different in every state so the solution has to be different. I want everyone of you to stay in close touch with me and my team as we go through this to make sure that that is -- that every state will have to put together a plan that speaks to the needs in your state, and so I cannot say that enough. Technically a huge part of the reason that isp and others do not serve every community is because there has not been money to be made in those communities if we are really honest about it, which is the whole point of this $55 billion, so we need to all structure the implementation of this money to make sure that we provide enough of an incentive for isps and other providers, municipal providers, co-ops, nonprofits, etc. Toledo fiber or do the wireless or do the technology in these communities that have been untouched, and that is the challenge before us, and we have to make sure that this too will be a public-private partnership. In order to get this money, they are going to have to put skin in the game themselves and ensure to us that they will reach these communities that are more expensive to reach and they will do so by providing affordable plans as we go forward. So, that is an excellent point and a key principle of the whole way we are going to implement it.

   We are officially out of time, I think this has been a great panel, please join me and thanking these three amazing women. [applause] I will say this, not -- you really are models of corporate leaders who are doing a fantastic job leading your company's very successfully and making time to be patriotic and cynically minded and we are all better off for it. Thank you. We will give the last word to you. Gov. Hutchinson: what an incredible panel, secretary, you make us proud as a former governor and in your leadership role now and understanding what governor's face, and each of the panelists you have done an extraordinary job. Thank you for giving up your time today, a great example of corporate leadership. This is amazing the interest in this. I draw your attention that in your briefing book there should be the draft contact, and I know how people are hesitant, but I look over there and governor sununu has read it and he is already signing his life away. Or his freedom, it is a commitment, it is saying we want to supports computer science education and we have for not -- priority is. I think that all of you will see that as something that you can support. It takes a commitment. We will take a look at that, and then I remind you that the dates are march 16 and 17th in Bentonville and in Boston it is may 18 and 19. You might go with those dates for options for the future. I know we are hungry, let us get the panel another round of applause. [applause]

   The job. -- good job. [indistinct chatter] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap.Org] [indistinct chatter]