Promoting Higher Standards and Achievement for All Students

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Company/Organization: Prudential Financial, Inc.
CEO/Board Chair: Art Ryan, Chairman and CEO
State: New Jersey
Level of Involvement: National, State, District
Type of Initiative: Leadership, Advocacy, Philanthropy, Expertise
Target Education Priority: More Graduates Ready for College and Careers, More Innovation Workers in the Pipeline, Maximize Data-Driven Decision Making

“Students shouldn't have to wait until they are out of high school to find out what's expected of them. Business leaders in every state have a responsibility to get involved with public schools to help ensure that students, and their parents and teachers, fully understand what it means to be prepared." – Art Ryan, February 2005

Overview
For more than ten years, Art Ryan has led education reform efforts at Prudential Financial. His deep investment in public education improvement began in 1996, when he attended the National Education Summit with then-Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman. Since that time, Ryan and Prudential have focused on providing all students access to high-quality education opportunities that will enable them to succeed as adults. His belief that company leaders and corporate America can make a difference in student achievement has driven him and Prudential to devote countless hours and resources to improving our nation’s public schools. From advocacy to philanthropy to personal investment, Ryan and his company are stalwarts in America’s public education reform movement.

Strategies for Success
Recognizing the obligation a company has to the community in which it operates, Ryan’s early leadership initiatives in education reform started in Prudential’s home state, New Jersey. His involvement in the 1996 National Education Summit led to Prudential’s founding of the Business Coalition for Educational Excellence (BCEE), a partnership of businesses in New Jersey focused on offering a high quality standards-based education to all New Jersey students. Prudential remains a benefactor of BCEE and Ryan continues to lead the coalition. In 1999, Prudential created New Jersey United for Higher School Standards, an organization of nearly 150 businesses, nonprofits and schools that convenes educators, parents and community members in discussions about standards-based education reform. Ryan serves as the organization’s co-chair. In addition, Ryan lends his expertise and influence to current policy debates; for example, he co-chairs New Jersey’s High School Redesign Steering Committee.

Ryan and Prudential are also active in education reform at the national level. Ryan serves as co-chair of Achieve, Inc. He also heads the Business Roundtable’s Education and the Workforce Task Force. In these roles, he helps set the education reform priorities of the nation’s business community, communicates to federal policymakers and national advocates about these priorities and helps ensure that long-term efforts to improve student achievement are sustained through changes in political leadership.

On a local level, Prudential has been deeply committed to offering a quality education to Newark’s school children for many years. Under Ryan’s leadership, Prudential focused on creating a constituency of stakeholders supporting reform efforts by establishing the Committee of Advocates for Newark’s Children. This public advocacy is the capstone of a broad and deep improvement strategy that deploys grants, contributions of equipment and company expertise and the involvement of Prudential volunteers in lifting student achievement.

In 1977, Prudential established its philanthropic arm -- The Prudential Foundation. Over its 30 year-history, the Foundation has focused on education reform initiatives that strengthen public education. The Prudential Foundation was one of six sponsors of the National Governors Association Honor States Phase I grants, which were awarded to ten leading states to develop and implement comprehensive plans to improve high school graduation and college readiness rates.

Ryan has also inspired and encouraged Prudential employees to lend their time and expertise to education through the Prudential CARES Program. Current and retired employees donate hundreds of thousands of hours to their communities – efforts that are encouraged by grant programs offered by The Prudential Foundation.

Ryan and Prudential exemplify corporate leadership for education reform in several strategic ways recommended by Business Toolkit for Better Schools, including:

Use the bully pulpit to make the case that the global economy demands higher expectations, a renewed commitment to math and science investments and data-driven decision making
Communicate with the public, media, employees and students about the importance of public education reform to companies, America's competitiveness, individual citizens and society at large
Invest corporate resources, including charitable giving programs, dedicated staff positions and employee time, to public education
Join or start local or statewide nonprofit coalitions of like-minded business leaders to advance education reform
Identify and support senior staff to focus their time on education policy and reform
Serve on local, statewide and national school boards, commissions and task forces
Keep the public conversation focused on the vision for the public education system
Sustain the public's commitment to school reform over time

Indicators of Success
Governor Jon Corzine announced in August 2006 that New Jersey would raise its graduation requirements and adopt standards aligned with postsecondary and workplace expectations, which were recommended by the High School Redesign Steering Committee.

New Jersey United’s advocacy for stakeholder involvement resulted in the broad involvement of educators, parents and community members in New Jersey’s last revision of core curriculum content standards. Additionally, Newark’s school children have shown slow but steady growth in key indicators of student achievement, including attendance and performance on state tests.

Next Steps
Through his leadership at the local, state and national levels, Ryan and Prudential will continue to be active participants in efforts to reform America’s public schools. Most recently, Ryan has agreed to co-chair the Business Coalition for Student Achievement, which represents the business community’s voice in the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Related Content
Web sites

Materials for the Public

Letter from the Chairman

Updated: March 2007