The Struggle to Create Better Transitions from Education to Careers for America’s Young People

1. Pathways to prosperity: The Struggle to Create Better Transitions from Education to Careers for America’s Young People Nancy Hoffman, Jobs for the Future November 2012

3. WE CAN AND MUST DO MUCH BETTER…..

4. THE NINE THROUGH FOURTEEN SOLUTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

5. BENEFITS TO EMPLOYERS AND THE HEALTH OF THE ECONOMY

6. Illinois: Governor, Illinois Pathways Interagency Committee Maine: Governor, Employer community Massachusetts: Secretaries of Education, Housing and Economic Development, and Labor and Workforce Development Missouri: Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of Education North Carolina: State Superintendent, state CTE director, North Carolina New Schools Project Tennessee: Commissioner of Education, state CTE director **California: James Irvine Foundation (state membership under consideration) PATHWAYS INITIATED VARIOUSLY ACROSS THE NETWORK

7. Metro region with anchor city: • IL:Chicago • MA: Boston and Metro West; Springfield and Hampden County • CA: Sacramento &San Bernardino/Riverside Counties • MO: St. Louis and surrounding counties • Smaller cities: • CA: Long Beach • IL: Aurora • ME: Portland/Lewiston • NC: Southwest Region • Rural with multiple counties: • TN: Upper Cumberland • NC: Northeast Region • Regions are a starting place for demonstrating success, with a focus on scaling Pathways statewide WHERE DID THE JFF/HGSE TEAMS DO ASSET MAPPING?REGIONAL SPECTRUM from URBAN to SUBURBAN to RURAL

8. REGIONAL INDUSTRY FOCUS AREAS Note: NC is in the process of determining their industry focus areas.

9. MOST PREVALENT CAREER AREAS OF FOCUS AND GREATEST PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT NEED Information Technology Cross-cutting and key to all 21st century careers, not just in IT fields Health Careers Growing field, career paths must be carefully chosen Advanced Manufacturing Few know the opportunities and salaries, stigma attached

10. Good news: high interest and willingness to engage **Greater interest in engagement when building pipeline to specific career areas, not general “please engage with schools” Opportunities for and experience with young people and their teachers in many companies, but not systemic Understandable sentiment: “School reform is not our job;” motivation must be “self interest” and a grain of altruism Enthusiastic response to the need to establish intermediary “driver” and lead staff person Concerns about student skill deficits and attitudes OBSERVATIONS:EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT

11. Regions recognize the need for intermediary functions Some candidate organizations exist, but few currently have capacity or aligned core mission Leaders lack clear idea of what capacities are needed or how they should be developed **All recognize that high schools, community colleges and employers cannot develop WBL opportunities one by one, and that coherent, systematized, sequenced WBL is key Current organizations manage many programs, but from student/user perspective, opportunities don’t equal a system Candidate intermediaries include chambers, WIBs, built-for-purpose alliances, school development nonprofits, CBOs, community college workforce development or outreach offices… OBSERVATIONS: INTERMEDIARIES

12. All adults agree that young people, teachers, and families need to understand the educational requirements associated with careers of the future, especially those requiring technical knowledge • Regions lack: • Systemic strategy to introduce young people to the world of careers beginning in the middle grades (or earlier) • **Strong and consistent connections: • between career advising software programs, live human advisors, and the curriculum • between career advising and a consistently available sequence of opportunities to learn about and experience workplaces OBSERVATIONS: CAREER ADVISING

13. Some high school and community college curriculum is in place—health academies most prevalent, little in manufacturing ** Community colleges’ “high demand” career programs are often not easily accessible to young entrants Few high schools or community colleges know how many and which young people get into and through “high demand” career programs ** Few 9-14 pathways align and integrate high school with community college (exception: early colleges in NC and a few in other states) Few pathways provide an accompanying sequence of advising linked to WBL experiences Educators need better understanding of and commitment to integrated 9-14 pathways Publicly funded dual enrollment/dual credit programs do not always pay for tuition for courses outside of core academic areas OBSERVATIONS: 9-14 PATHWAYS

14. Apprehension about the adverse consequences for young generation of unemployment and underemployment Acknowledge public will-building needed to combat stigma and garner regional support for technical career pathways ** Willing to work with and beyond CTE to reach the 50% who arrive in mid-20s without credentials Disconnect in several states between state goals and regional resources and commitment ** Employers at table with education, labor, workforce development, commerce departments, but need single “driver” Dual enrollment policy and financing in place but may need expansion and consistent application Other policy sets re structured pathways may be needed OBSERVATIONS: STATE LEADERSHIP & POLICY

15. New model legislation in some states, such as: • Career and College Promise, NC • AB 790 and SB 1070, CA (support Linked Learning approaches and expansion of career pathways) • New resources at state level, such as: • Learning Exchanges, IL • Innovation Campuses, MO • Performance Incentive Funds to Community Colleges, MA • Employers driving interest in advanced manufacturing pathways and STEM fields, such as: • Volkswagen and Wacker in Chattanooga • Maine Manufacturing Association—100 jobs promise EXEMPLARY STATE POLICIES, RESOURCES, AND INITIATIVES:

16. WHERE JFF CURRENTLY WORKS

17. NANCYHOFFMAN nhoffman@jff.org BOBSCHWARTZ Robert_Schwartz@gse.harvard.edu TEL 617.728.4446 FAX 617.728.4857 info@jff.org 88 Broad Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 02110 122 C Street, NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20001 WWW.JFF.ORG TEL 617.496.6303 Appian Way Cambridge, MA 02148 www.gse.harvard.edu