This Field Guide provides colleges, higher education systems, and state education agencies with a start-to-finish process to guide their own competency-based education (CBE) planning efforts.
Finding ways for institutions to accelerate the completion of credentials that are valued by the labor market can motivate students to reengage and help them succeed. And there is no better way to maximize that acceleration than to leverage the learning, and especially the college credits, that these students and potential students already have.Degree reclamation is a proven strategy to capture the momentum of existing credits and put SCND students back on track to a degree.
As state and federal policymakers consider policy changes CTE to strengthen college and career pathways for today’s youth, it is critical that these policy actions are grounded in a commitment to closing equity gaps, expanding economic opportunities, and aligning systems. Building from their practical experiences, the Policy Leadership Trust and its CTE pathway work group propose action on five key policy issues in order to fully integrate high-quality CTE experiences into every young adult’s pathway to college and career success:
This report, supported by JPMorgan Chase, examines how youth policy for CTE can be modernized to support learners beyond their K-12 educational careers. It offers research on how systemic supports and interventions positively affect the educational experience of youth and also calls for a better aligning of systems between secondary and postsecondary institutions to help learners take ownership of their own career pathways.
This brief highlights several levers of policy and influence that Governors can use to place registered apprenticeship and youth apprenticeship at the center of their workforce development efforts and empower learners and jobseekers who have been traditionally marginalized or underserved. Fundamental policy decisions such as how resources are allocated can be as crucial as the convening authority and advocacy that Governors are uniquely positioned to employ in support of registered apprenticeship and youth apprenticeship.
In addition to enabling learners to gain work experience while in high school, work-based learning helps students hone the academic, technical and employability skills needed to succeed in postsecondary and the workplace. This resource highlights what work-based learning is and gives recommendations on how to support high-quality work-based learning programs. Here are five recommendations:
Chiefs for Change and the Data Quality Campaign collaborated to generate this vision for ensuring that the education leaders responsible for K–12 policy and practice have access to useful data about the postsecondary and career journeys of their former students, also known as pathways data. Across the systems, the statewide data infrastructure, political context, and economic landscape vary. This brief summarizes what we have learned about the pathways data that leaders value most and offers corresponding action steps SEA leaders can take to address the data needs in their state.
This resource will focus on ways that CTE educators can communicate with, collaborate with and support current and prospective learners’ families and communities, particularly for learners and communities who have been historically underserved. This publication describes general strategies for engaging these stakeholders, more specific strategies to break down barriers to engagement for particular special and underserved population groups, and examples of CTE and career development programs doing promising work in this area.
Chiefs for Change is a bipartisan network of diverse state and district education chiefs dedicated to preparing all students for today’s world and tomorrow’s through deeply committed leadership. Education-to-Workforce Learner Pathways: How Intermediary Organizations Can Support and Help Sustain Effective Partnerships, written by Chief for Change, explains what an intermediary organization is and how it can help to create and sustain high-quality education-to-workforce learning experiences that benefit students and support states and communities in meeting their economic development goals.
This brief explains how strong state governance structures can support the development and success of high-quality pathways for all learners from K–12 to postsecondary education and career.
