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Week 34: Pathways to Prosperity
Happy Friday!
As we move into the final stretch of the school year, I want to take a moment to thank you for your continued focus, your commitment to our students, and the resilience you show each day. May is a time when we begin to see the full shape of the year’s work—lessons that have taken root, relationships that have grown, and outcomes that will carry forward into what comes next.
This week, I want to focus on exactly that: what comes next for our students, and how we can align our work to support their future prosperity.
Pathways to Prosperity
We are living in a time when the choices we make in curriculum and instruction have never been more consequential. While many of us dedicate our days to ensuring students grasp the content we teach, we may be unaware of how that content fits into a larger design, one that ultimately determines whether students achieve prosperity. That is why I want to shine a light this week on something we all need to be thinking about: the return on investment (ROI) of education, and how our schools are being reshaped to prioritize pathways that deliver real opportunity.
The ROI 2025 Report issued by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) analyzes which degrees produce the most economic value for Arkansas students. In simple terms, it asks: how long does it take before a college graduate earns enough to surpass what they spent on their degree, and begin outpacing someone with just a high school diploma? The answer, unsurprisingly, varies significantly based on the field of study. Degrees in engineering, computer science, health professions, business, and advanced manufacturing offer the highest returns, while others, though not without value, tend to have lower or slower returns.
This evidence is shaping policy. Under the LEARNS Act, Arkansas is prioritizing alignment between K–12 content and post-secondary opportunity, ensuring that students are not just graduating—but doing so with momentum toward economic security. Similarly, the ACCESS Act emphasizes expanding options for students through early college and career exposure, increasing their access to degrees with the strongest ROI.
You are not expected to be an economist or workforce analyst. But we all must become more informed educators. We must embed relevant content and context into our existing instruction, showing students how the skills they are learning can lead to careers in cybersecurity, advanced health sciences, robotics, or business management. The 2025 Career and Technical Education (CTE) Pathway Revision Guide outlines a redesigned system that merges, refines, and introduces new pathways in high-wage, high-demand fields. The document makes it clear: these pathways are no longer side programs. They are becoming the backbone of how Arkansas prepares its students for enlistment, enrollment, or employment.
Perhaps most exciting is the inclusion of entrepreneurship in these revised pathways. No matter the field—agriculture, health care, education, or computer science—students are now being given the tools to build something of their own. This shift opens the door for a new generation of business leaders, innovators, and problem-solvers to emerge from within our community. For educators looking to integrate entrepreneurship and financial literacy into their classrooms, Economics Arkansas
Published on 4 months ago