Rethinking High School Graduation Requirements: Education Strategy Group (ESG) released a brief detailing recommendations surrounding high school graduation requirements that, when implemented, would better prepare students for entry into postsecondary education and/or the workforce. These recommendations include:
- Involving higher education and workforce leaders in designing high school graduation requirements. K-12 leaders should not be the only stakeholder involved in this process.
- Ensuring that all pathways to graduation are not only flexible to a student’s interests, but also rigorous enough to prepare students for life after high school. This may include requiring work-based learning opportunities for graduation or achieving specific assessment benchmarks.
- Including a measure that indicates a student’s college and career readiness beyond high school, such as completing work-based learning, earning dual enrollment credits, completing a CTE pathway and more.
The brief also includes examples of recent graduation requirement changes that states have made. For instance, Rhode Island has convened many different stakeholders in writing out college and career high school graduation requirements and Illinois has recently mandated the completion of the FAFSA or the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid to graduate high school.
Credentials That Pay: Designing Pathways to Tech Careers: A recent brief by Jobs for the Future (JFF) discusses tech pathways and credentials that lead to meaningful careers with a positive return on investment, also focusing on the equitable development of these pathways. While tech credentials often provide students with high-paying careers, most of these careers are for bachelor’s degree holders, and students of color often fall behind in earning tech credentials. However, meaningful tech credentials are not only beneficial to those who attend a four-year college. CEW estimates that the percentage of tech jobs that will be available for students with associate degrees and below will jump from 14% to 18% by 2031. For students who pursue a short-term credential, JFF finds that these individuals move forward in their careers and attain higher wages. More work needs to be done, however, to ensure that tech credentials are not dead ends for students, that they are equitable, and that they lead students to high-paying lucrative careers.
Collaborating to Serve Adult Learners of Color: Lessons from the Partnerships for Adult Learner Success Initiative: Mathematica published a brief that examined universities that were part of the Partnerships for Adult Learner Success (PALS) initiative. This initiative sought to provide adult learners with various resources to succeed through an emphasis on university and external community partnerships.
These researchers found overall positive outcomes that emerged from interviews and focus groups with both students and staff members. Staff members also reported strong ties with external community partners, with a third of universities revealing that external partners helped bring an equity lens to their work. Students spoke positively of professors who not only engaged them in learning tied with future career options, but also made sure that their classrooms were spaces of belonging and that their voices were heard. Work still needs to be done in multiple areas, however, including barriers that students often encountered when transferring schools or enrolling and balancing school, work and life schedules.
From Crisis to Resilience: Addressing Trauma and Toxic Stress in Workforce Development and Education Systems: The Corporation for a Skilled Workforce released a report regarding trauma and stress in education and the workforce. As students and workers nationwide face unparalleled mental health crises, especially individuals of color and other marginalized groups, and with very few employers and schools equipped enough to assist everyone, the nation finds itself in a situation where trauma, stress and other mental health conditions may go untreated. Trauma and stress make it more difficult to find and attain work; individuals who faced a traumatic experience before 18 are nearly twice as likely to have financial problems and 1.5 times more likely to have job difficulties.
Some schools and workplaces have begun implementing unique programs and initiatives to alleviate the mental health crisis. For example, in Coosa County, Alabama, the majority of students live in deep poverty and about half do not live with a parent or legal guardian, leading to students often suffering from a multitude of mental health issues. In response to this, the county’s CTE and Workforce Development Director began implementing trauma-informed CTE curriculum in the county’s schools, allowing students to discover various college and career pathways while simultaneously providing an open space for students to disclose their personal experiences and struggles.