Google and California Community Colleges Just Changed the Game.
As many of you know, Google and the California Community Colleges announced the largest AI education partnership in the country. Over two million students and faculty across 116 colleges will now have access to Gemini, NotebookLM, AI training, and Google Career Certificates. It’s massive. I didn’t see it coming, but I’m glad it did.
I want to first say a heartfelt congratulations to Google and the California Community Colleges on this bold, ambitious partnership. This is a meaningful step forward; one that has the potential to reshape how we think about access, training, and the future of public education.
For those of us who have spent years working at the intersection of education, workforce, and technology, this moment represents a real shift. It is system-wide. It is statewide. And it is happening now.
And while most people will focus on the tools, the deeper story here is about purpose. This announcement is not just about AI. It’s about what this kind of access can make possible if we get it right.
It is a call to rethink how we prepare students for the world they are entering. And, more importantly, to ask whether we are willing to change fast enough to meet them there.
Connecting Industry + Education
I started Work Ready Partners for one reason. I wanted to close the gap between education and industry. Not in a theoretical way, and not by adding more pressure to educators. It is still early in this journey, but I set out to create something practical — something that helped make learning more relevant, more connected, and more focused on the real skills young people need to thrive.
I’ve been fortunate to spend time on both sides, like many of us: first as a learner, now as a professional. I’ve seen students light up when they finally understand the connection between a concept and its real-world impact. I’ve seen it in schools, and I’ve seen it with my own kids. I’ve also seen how quickly companies are changing — and how hard it is for education systems to keep pace.
This week's announcement brings those two realities together. It creates access to the same tools that shape modern work. That’s progress. But access alone doesn’t create readiness. That part still takes work.
What This Actually Means
Let’s not confuse technology with transformation. A tool is only as useful as the context it sits in.
If a student uses Gemini to generate ideas but never learns how to apply them, we haven’t moved the needle. If a teacher is handed new software but never given the time or space to experiment, we haven’t made progress. If a college offers a certificate but gives students no opportunity to demonstrate what they can actually do with it, then we’re just adding credentials to a list.
The real challenge is not whether we can deliver AI. It’s whether we can create learning environments where students use these tools to build, create, and solve. It’s whether faculty are supported to redesign instruction that mirrors the world outside the classroom. And it’s whether readiness becomes something students can show — not something we hope they walk away with.
That is where this moment becomes real. And that is the work I’m focused on supporting.
Relevance Still Matters
Technology moves fast. But people still need meaning.
Students don’t get excited because something is innovative. They get excited because it feels relevant. Because they see how it connects to their lives. Because they understand why it matters.
Relevance is the bridge between engagement and readiness.
This announcement gives us an opening. We now have the tools. We now have the urgency. What we need next is the will, and the design, to prioritize relevance in everything we do.
What I Hope Happens Next
It’s my hope that colleges use this moment to build learning experiences that go beyond checkboxes. I hope faculty are given time, space, and trust to try new things. I hope students are invited not just to consume content, but to create something that reflects how they think, what they’ve learned, and what they’re capable of doing next.
Of course, this will take time and that’s OK.
I also hope we begin to shift away from credentials that simply tell us what someone completed. The next step is to create space for students to show us what they can contribute. Because at the end of the day, the most valuable credential a student can carry isn’t a certificate. It’s the ability to solve a real problem and explain how they did it.
That is what work readiness looks like. That is where education and industry begin to speak the same language. And that is the kind of system we need if we’re serious about equity, opportunity, and the future of work.
