Ready to Innovate: Are Educators and Executives Aligned on the Creative Readiness of the U.S. Workforce?

Creativity ranks among the top five skills that U.S. employers believe to be of increasing importance. Both the school superintendents who educate future workers and the employers who hire them agree on its importance. But that seems to be where the commitment to creativity ends. Arts programs are optional, and employers who say they want to hire creative people rarely go beyond subjective judgment to assess interviewees’ creativity. Even the definition of creativity is different for educators and employers. Educators say “problem solving” best demonstrates creativity, while employers say “problem identification or articulation” is the best evidence of creativity.