Career

This resource from the Center for American Progress discusses the results of a forum held in March 2008 that explored the question, "What is driving these poor results in higher education?" The results of this forum concluded with the Center for American Progress recommending that federal policy be enhanced with a stronger focus on postsecondary completion and student and college readiness. Specific recommendations focused on two key areas: (1) college-ready student strategies, and (2) student-ready college strategies.

This report describes an AYPF-hosted field trip to Indianapolis, Indiana in order to showcase cross-system linkages aimed at increasing the number of students prepared for, attending, and succeeding in postsecondary education and the world of work.

This resource from American Youth Policy Forum examines the impact that career academies have had over the past 40 years. The author discusses the need for action and the research that shows career academies improve educational and labor market outcomes. Additionally, the author suggests several policy issues that must be addressed in order for career academies to be expanded.

This resource from CLASP was developed with the purpose of helping interagency state teams identify and use federal resources to support career pathways. The toolkit was specifically designed to help these teams identify and facilitate "braiding" of federal resources to design and develop career pathways and bridges into them for adults and out-of-school youth. A Funding Options Worksheet is provided with sample tasks for the state teams, though CLASP does encourage the teams to customize the tasked based on their local context.

This resource from the Data Quality Campaign is a checklist that can be used by state policymakers to support their efforts to increase college and career readiness. It is meant as a guide to policymakers to use as they develop policies and procedures. The checklist provides information on the State Role, the State Responsibility, and the National Landscape. Users are able to then analyze how their state fits in compared to the provided information.

This resource from the Data Quality Campaign is a primer for state policymakers. The authors discuss the role that data plays in developing college and career ready policies. They specifically discuss the importance of state policymakers supporting the efforts to use data. A checklist is provided that policymakers can use to determine whether they have the necessary data capacity.

This brief from CLASP discusses six promising programs that show how career pathway bridges help lower-skilled students move farther and faster along college and career paths through dual enrollment in linked basic skills and occupational certificate courses. The brief finds that these bridges both engage instructors and administrators and bring basic skills students into the mainstream of colleges. Finally, it is asserted that at minimum, career pathways bridges should create shorter, more relevant paths to credentials that matter in the local economy.

This report describes the effects that Project Graduation Really Achieves Dreams (GRAD) had on academic progress in select high schools in three states. Findings indicated that Project GRAD had a statistically significant positive impact on the number of students completing core academic curriculum in one site, some sites did not show an improvement in student academic preparation, and there were improvements made in attendance and promotion to 10th grade in some sites.

This 2-year study evaluates how Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEARUP) and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) affected the college plans of 4 cohorts of high school students. Findings showed that there were higher aspirations and college knowledge for AVID and GEARUP students, and considerably higher academic preparation for AVID students.

This study uses descriptive case studies of 15 high schools in five states to determine the effects of parental involvement on school context and college opportunity. Three common themes were identified in the case studies analyzed: (a) parents shape college opportunity for their children, but involvement varies based on socioeconomic status; (b) parental involvement is shaped by, and also shapes, the school context for college opportunity; and (c) parental involvement is also shaped by their knowledge of the higher education opportunities in their state.