1 Contact: Bill Strong or Lilly Athamanah, the Joyce Foundation 312.782.2464 / bstrong@joycefdn.org or lathamanah@joycefdn.org Great Lakes College and Career Pathways Partnership Frequently Asked Questions Can you give an example of a pathway? What does it look like for students? For this initiative, the term college and career pathways or pathways for short refers to a range of models or approaches that attempt to create a clear, career-themed path from early high school to postsecondary education and the workforce -- leading to credentials that have value in the labor market. In pathways, students take core academic courses aligned to state college and career readiness standards, and technical course sequences that align with postsecondary programs of study. An interdisciplinary curriculum that combines technical and core academic content also is a feature of pathways, and students participate in project-based learning, which blends academic knowledge with realworld applications. Beginning in their freshman year or earlier, students participate in a variety of work-based learning experiences that start with career exploration and often extend through longer-term experiences in a workplace, such as internships. Work-based learning allows students to explore their career interests and to develop their knowledge and skills. Lastly, students in pathways may enroll in college courses while in high school to support a seamless transition into a postsecondary program of study that leads to a variety of credentials, including industry certifications, 2- and 4-year degrees. Here s how a pathway might work for an individual student: Let s say the student chooses to participate in a Biomedical and Health Sciences pathway. As part of the career pathway, the student would take core academic courses aligned to state college and career readiness standards in grades 9-12, and
the student would also take a sequential, industry-themed curriculum that incorporates career and technical courses beginning in 9 th grade (e.g., Principles of Biomedical and Health Sciences). This student will also participate in project-based learning to blend academic knowledge with real-world applications. Beginning in freshman year, the high school student will be able to go on work site visits and participate in job shadowing with employers in the Biomedical and Health Sciences industry to more deeply explore her interests. In the last two high school grades, the student will participate in mentoring and an internship with employers, as well as enroll in college courses that in a postsecondary program of study could lead to a 2- or 4-year degree. After high school graduation, the student has several options: the student may enter the labor market because the high school offered a sequence of college courses that led to a certificate a stackable credential toward a 2- or 4-year degree with value in the Biomedical and Health Sciences labor market; the student may seamlessly continue with his/her education at a 2- year or 4-year postsecondary institution, entering those institutions with a leg up and saving costs by taking articulated college courses during high school; or the student may combine the previous two options, utilizing the certificate to work part-time while furthering his/her education at a 2-year or 4-year institution. 2 How does this differ from early college and other initiatives that have been around for years? The Great Lakes College and Career Pathways Partnership integrates components from early college and from career academies at the high school level. This ensures that young people will gain a leg up on career and college simultaneously, building from the assumption that all young people go to college to get a career. Students are connected to a postsecondary institution if not actually enrolled while in high school. The purpose of pathways in this Great Lakes initiative is to help students stay engaged in high school, earn a high school diploma, attain a postsecondary credential with currency in the labor market, and make a smooth and successful transition to a career with family-supporting wages. In pathways, academic course content is coordinated with and reinforces technical course content and vice versa. This coordination helps students gain a greater depth of
3 knowledge by seeing the connection between academic theories and real-world applications. Is there an expectation that all students will go on to a 4-year college? Not necessarily. A pathway prepares students for any of a full range of postsecondary options: 2- or 4-year college or university, an apprenticeship, the military, and formal employment training. By design, pathways prepare students to pursue some form of further education after high school, recognizing that few of today s young people are likely to enjoy lasting career success with just a high school diploma. With a career-focused two-year degree, students get a job immediately, and then decide whether to go on to pursue additional formal education. Their employer may provide tuition benefits as well as additional training leading to a bachelor s degree. What proof is there that pathways really work? Are there data that illustrate that? Definitely: Students participating in well-developed pathways systems in California earned more credits over the four years of high school, were less likely to drop out and more likely to graduate, and reported greater confidence in their life and career skills, according to a 2015 study of the state s Linked Learning initiative. Early College High Schools incorporate college course-taking opportunities for high school students so that they build academic momentum towards completing a postsecondary degree or credential. This approach has improved education attainment outcomes for all students, with pronounced benefits for underrepresented groups. Multiple studies have shown doubledigit gains in high school graduation, college enrollment, and degree completion rates. Early college students graduate from high school with an average of a year of college credit, and one third graduate with an associate s degree. Education Systems Center was a leader of a five-month planning project in Illinois that defined a framework for local education system alignment to
improve high school students college and career readiness. It also identified performance metrics for measuring progress. EdSystems drafted and supported the passage of Illinois House Resolution 477, which establishes systems and timelines to implement policies addressing successful student transitions from high school to postsecondary education and careers. Past work led by the Community College Research Center, supported in part by the Joyce Foundation, has shown that a structured pathways approach in community college can lead to double-digit gains in measures of college persistence and attainment. 4 Is this another form of what s known as tracking? No. College and career pathway strategies reject the practice of tracking, which has negatively affected underrepresented groups of students. In the college and career pathways approach, schools recognize that students will pursue a variety of options after high school. Unlike tracking, pathways preserve the full range of postsecondary and career options for all students and allow students and their families to make informed choices about their futures. Pathways are malleable and provide a foundation of transferable skills and knowledge thereby broadening options, not narrowing them. Isn t it unrealistic to expect students to choose a career as early as the 9 th grade? Nothing about pathways should cause students to feel "locked in." That s not what a pathway does. Far from narrowing options, the career theme of a pathway offers students a real-world context for better understanding and building the academic and technical foundation they will need to succeed in whatever future postsecondary option and career path they choose. Work-based, problem-based and project-based learning experiences in pathways actually expand student skill sets and career options. Indeed, it is more likely that students will change careers during their lifetimes than that they will stay with their first career experience. If a student decides to pursue a different career path while still in high school, or prior to enrolling in postsecondary education, that is also a successful pathways outcome. It avoids a situation where students delay making the decision to switch career paths until they are already in postsecondary education and incurring debt.
That said, for students who do have a strong sense of what they want to do in both career and further education pathways offer the opportunity to pursue that interest in depth and to develop specific in-demand skills. 5 Do pathways promote career and technical education? Yes. Students complete a sequence of technical courses, and authentic, industry-focused problem-based learning is featured prominently in the academic core. In addition, a pathway provides work-based learning opportunities, which may include mentoring, job shadowing, internships, school-based enterprise, and virtual apprenticeships. But this initiative is not just about promoting career and technical education it is also providing students the opportunity to pursue pathways that extend beyond traditional CTE offerings, including engineering, financial services, computer science, education, etc. Why were these four communities chosen? Chicago s northwest suburbs served by Districts 211 and 214 and Harper College, the Central Ohio/Greater Columbus area, Madison, WI and Rockford, IL were selected because they have already demonstrated strong commitment and promising approaches to pathways. The four cities had gained traction in designing and implementing pathways, and embody enabling conditions favorable to building on their success. These conditions include strong leadership, alignment across K-12 and postsecondary education systems, and engaged employers. Who are the fiscal agents in the four community areas (the entities that signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the grants in each region)? Northwest Chicago suburbs: the District 214 Education Foundation Madison: the Foundation for Madison Public Schools Central Ohio/Columbus area: Columbus State Community College Rockford: Alignment Rockford
6 Specifically, what will the Joyce funding be used for? Grantees are required to work with the Technical Assistance Leader (TAL) partners to develop a two-year implementation plan defining how they will use grant funds to make progress on the Initiative s three priorities.