Pathways

Stepping Up for Community Colleges: Building on the Momentum to Improve Student Success in Massachusetts

This report highlights innovative strategies and priorities aimed at community college improvement as well as providing next steps for Massachusetts colleges and state officials to improve student outcomes. Some recommendations for next steps include: effectively implementing performance funding and developmental education reform, expanding access to structured pathways to credentials, identifying and removing barriers to innovation, and supporting sustained advocacy.

Pathway to Recovery: Implementing a Back on Track Through College Model

This brief from Jobs for the Future outlines a model for engaging disconnected and at-risk youth through the development of aligned postsecondary pathways and academic supports. The brief presents an overview of the current attainment and skills gap and then outlines the Back on Track Through College model, including examples of successful implementation and policy recommendations that support implementation.

Creating Postsecondary Pathways to Good Jobs for Young High School Dropouts: The Possibilities and the Challenges

This paper focuses on strategies for creating postsecondary pathways for high school dropouts in order to close the skills gap as well as connect the talents of these youth to postsecondary skills and credentials. The paper argues that in order to improve educational and economical outcomes for high school dropouts, there must be alignment of secondary, postsecondary, workforce, and adult education systems and several actions must be taken.

Closing the Graduation Gap: A Superintendent's Guide for Planning Multiple Pathways to Graduation

This guide presents superintendents with a framework for how graduation rates can be increased at the district level. An approach that has been successful in several districts, referred to as Multiple Pathways to Graduation, is also highlighted. Districts that were able to close the graduation gap did so by: reframing the dropout conversation, analyzing the local dynamics of the graduation crisis, re-designing school and district operations to increase responsiveness, and strategicallly managing a portfolio of schools.

College Access and Success through Effective Match

Submitted by Austin Pate on

On June 14, the American Youth Policy Forum and MDRC co-hosted a Capitol Hill forum titled “College Match Matters.” The forum provided an overview of the College Match Program (CMP), a Chicago Public Schools program designed to encourage academically capable students to choose colleges where they are likely to thrive and graduate.

New CCRS Center Brief: The District Role in Supporting College and Career Readiness for Students

Submitted by CCRS Center on

As school systems across the country recommit themselves to ensuring college and career readiness and success, they must rely on districts to translate federal and state policies into the local context.

One Oregon School District Pushes For Business, Public Partnerships

Educators, business people, and government officials in Forest Grove School District in Oregon are coming together to brainstorm ways to better prepare students for a changing world. In the superintendent’s words, the underlying point to the recent “21st Century Workforce Summit” was “help us help you.” The desire for more collaboration follows a growing district trend called “STEAM,” the acronym educators have coined for Science, Technology, Engineering, Applied Arts, and Math.

Stepping It Up: Building Pathways to College Success in Pennsylvania and Nationwide

This paper presents findings from the Pennsylvania Governor's Conference on Higher Education in March 2009 surrounding ways to improve college success. The paper presents four steps to achieving this derived from analysis of the presentations. The steps include: 1) identifying the challenges to increased college success; 2) creating and action plan for success; 3) putting the plan into action; and, 4) working together to increase college success.

Grad Nation: A Guidebook to Help Communities Tackle The Dropout Crisis

This guidebook is a step-by-step guide for schools, families and the community on how to be involved in addressing the dropout crisis. The authors provide research-based information and tools with each section to be used in implementing programs specific to the community. Each section provides background information on topics relevant to the community as a whole such as the cost of high dropout rates, along with questions techniques, strategies, and additional resources to address the community needs.

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