On Tuesday, Nov. 12, Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education Brenda Dann-Messier will deliver remarks at an event titled "How Boosting Adult Educational Skills Can Grow the Middle Class" at the Center for American Progress.
The event will focus on a new Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report that sends a strong and clear call to United States policymakers to protect America's global standing through investments in education. The OECD conducted the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), a major household survey across 23 countries that examined adult skill levels in three areas: literacy, numeracy and problems solving. The U.S. Department of Education requested OECD analyze the PIAAC data and generate a special report detailing the status of American adults with low-skills and making policy recommendations to boost skill levels in the United States.
Dann-Messier's remarks will provide a reaction and response to the report's findings. She will explain how the report provides evidence to support the Administration's current reforms and investments, and how it also calls for increased action significantly improving the preparedness of the low-skilled adult population that has been overlooked and underserved.