Strengthening Transitions by Encouraging Career Pathways: A Look at State Policies and Practices

1
Strengthening Transitions by Encouraging Career
PathwaysA Look at State Policies and Practices

• Katherine L. Hughes
• Community College Research Center
• Teachers College, Columbia University
• Career Clusters Institute 2006

2
Career Pathways

• A career pathway is a coherent, articulated
  sequence of rigorous academic and career courses,
  commencing in the ninth grade and leading to an
  associate degree, an industry-recognized
  certificate or licensure, or a baccalaureate
  degree and beyond.
• A career pathway is developed, implemented, and
  maintained in partnership among secondary and
  postsecondary education, business, and employers.
  Career pathways are available to all students,
  including adult learners, and are designed to
  lead to rewarding careers.
• --CCTI, 2005

3

• Career Pathways integrating education and
  workforce development, as driven by employer
  needs (Workforce Strategy Center)
• Career Clusters broad occupational groupings of
  industry-based jobs
• Can be used to structure career pathways
• Career majors coherent sequences of courses or
  fields of study based on occupational goals

4
Project Goals

• Identify state policies that can support career
  pathways
• Highlight five broad areas to be addressed by
  policy
• Highlight strategies currently used by some
  states
• What is a policy?
• Legislation, regulation or executive order
• State-level, not institutional-level

5
High School Advising and Graduation Requirements

• South Carolina legislation requires all middle
  and high schools to have a career specialist and
  provide career-focused advising
• Oregon high school students must develop an
  educational plan and profile for graduation
• Delaware requires 3 credits in a career pathway
  for high school graduation
• Indiana Core 40 students who complete core 40
  plus 8-10 CTE credits and a certification earn a
  diploma with technical honors

6
Connecting High School and CollegeCurricular
Alignment, Articulation, and Dual Enrollment

• Iowa legislation supports career academy programs
  that create sequential courses of study that
  begin in high school and culminate in a
  postsecondary credential
• Missouri, North Carolina developing statewide
  articulation agreements for CTE courses of study
• 40 states have dual enrollment policy

7
College Readiness

• Florida has instituted a common placement test
  and cut off score for all of its community
  colleges
• Illinois 11th grade achievement test includes
  the ACT assessment and two ACT WorkKeys tests
• The City University of New York system has
  aligned its entry standards with New York States
  high school exit examinations students with a 75
  or above are exempted from remediation.

8
Connecting Two- and Four-Year Colleges

• Florida has a statewide course numbering system
  among its 2- and 4-year colleges
• Florida also has nine AS-to-BS articulation
  programs or career ladder arrangements
• Washington is developing transfer associate
  degrees in prenursing, engineering, and
  elementary education

9
Employers Involvement

• Iowas Accelerated Career Education program
  supports associate degree programs leading to
  high-wage employment requires employer
  commitment
• Kentuckys Workforce Investment Network System
  provides funds that can be used for career
  pathways initiatives that demonstrate employer
  commitment

10
Data Collection and Use

• Data collection is complicated because pathways
  span multiple sectors
• Few states collect and use data in ways that can
  follow students from high school to college to
  careers
• Florida the most advanced has a K-20 data
  warehouse that also links to labor market data

11
Conclusions

• Continued division between CTE and academics
• May be appropriate
• System structures do not allow students the
  flexibility to move and transfer between CTE and
  academic programs
• Assumption of linear educational careers
• Need for stronger role for employers
• Is policy always the most effective mechanism?

12

• For more information
• http//ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/
• http//www.league.org/league/projects/ccti/index.h
  tml