Does this sound familiar? It could describe what we are facing right now. But back then, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein approached IBM to see how the company might be able to assist. IBM was interested but made clear that it would not hire  large numbers of young people with only a high school diploma 鈥� and neither would any other Fortune 500 company.

Across nine entry-level job categories, in areas involving hardware, software and consulting, IBM needed people with degrees in subjects like computer science and electromechanical engineering, along with solid workplace skills. Bloomberg and Klein asked the company to outline what a partnership could look like, and IBM responded with a blueprint for what would ultimately become P-TECH schools.

It would involve breaking down the barrier between high school and college, creating a dual-enrollment model where students would complete both a high school diploma and an associate degree in computer science or electromechanical engineering within four to six years. The company would provide volunteer mentors and paid internships, and ensure successful graduates were first in line for available positions.

The initial P-TECH school, located in a distressed Brooklyn neighborhood, opened in fall 2011. Today, some 15 years later, there are more than 600 P-TECH schools in 16 cities and 28 countries, having graduated tens of thousands of low-income students.

The original P-TECH school was recently named the in New York City based on its reading and math scores, even with a population that is 99% low-income students of color. This verified the findings of an that concluded Black male students who attended P-TECH were more likely to obtain a than similar students attending other NYC high schools. 

But even before these results, other cities and even countries became interested in replicating the P-TECH model, with additional industry partners such as Thomson Reuters, American Airlines, Cisco, Northwell Health, Micron and the New York Power Authority. When Rahm Emanuel was elected mayor of Chicago in 2011, he moved quickly to open five schools modeled after the P-TECH Brooklyn success. Then, governors in both red and blue states like New York, Connecticut, Colorado, Rhode Island, Maryland and Texas opened P-TECH schools after then-President Barack Obama highlighted the model in his in 2013 and later that year.

In addition, heads of states in countries like Australia and Ireland similarly launched P-TECH schools, expanding the model from dozens of schools to over 100 in just five years. 

At the end of the initial school’s sixth year, 74% of graduates had achieved both a high school diploma and an associate degree 鈥� and that success in Brooklyn is mirrored across the U.S. In Colorado, a recent report commissioned by the state legislature concluded that “data confirm significant improvement in attendance, persistent and postsecondary persistence and outstanding student outcomes.” In Colorado’s St. Vrain Valley School District, P-TECH students had “higher GPA’s, PSAT scores, and reading, math and writing achievement, plus stronger college completion and career success.”  In Dallas, a P-TECH school within a school is located in every high school in the city, and 2 of every 5 students districtwide graduate with both an associate degree and a high school diploma concurrently in only four years. Last year, Dallas had over 1,000 dual graduates.

P-TECH’s success is grounded in a laser-like focus not just on college readiness, but college completion, coupled with an emphasis on workplace skills and career opportunity 鈥� whether through stand-alone classes or enriched lesson plans in existing courses. These are reinforced during structured workplace visits where students and employees work collaboratively.

Nationwide, only 11% of graduates from high schools with large numbers of low-income students and students of color complete a college degree in science, technology, engineering or math, and the rate drops to only 8% among graduates of schools in . If the P-TECH model were brought to scale serving this low-income minority population, college completion rates would dramatically increase, and far more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds could move into high-paying careers. 

The P-TECH model offers benefits to students and families, employers across all sectors and the nation’s economy. Having more students completing college in high-demand fields will produce significant returns across the board. P-TECH is an innovation that needs to be replicated, and not slowly. The nation needs to move forward with a sense of true urgency toward the future, and P-TECH is a key part of the solution.

Six years later, those relationships remain an anchor of my personal and academic growth. We still speak regularly, and their pride in my progress reflects the care they invested early on.

Today, as a 20-year-old business student, I have mentored 25 high school students as they navigate academics, career exploration and the transition to higher education. This , I’d like to share some advice for mentors, based on my experiences.

Do not wait for young people to ask for mentorship

Though many students desperately need trusted adults outside their families who can offer guidance, perspective and encouragement, that Gen Z is to report having had a mentoring relationship. This is not because students lack interest; another found more than 70% of teens have turned to artificial intelligence for friendship and 50% use AI companions regularly. They simply don’t know what mentorship is supposed to look like or how to find it.

That was my experience. As a high school student, I did not know mentorship was something I could seek out. It entered my life because adults noticed my curiosity, followed up and encouraged me to stay connected.

One lesson I learned quickly is that mentors must explicitly say they are willing to maintain a relationship. Without that clarity, many students assume they are bothering adults by following up. Silence is often interpreted as disinterest. Saying something as simple as 鈥淚鈥檓 happy to stay in touch鈥� or 鈥淧lease reach out again鈥� gives students permission to remain engaged.

Offer guidance early, before pressure replaces curiosity

Students are expected to make life-shaping decisions early, often without the information needed to make them well. A found that fewer than half of Gen Z students felt they had enough information in high school to determine the best path after graduation. 

My early mentoring relationships in high school reshaped how I imagined my future. My mentors believed in me before I believed in myself. They raised my expectations and encouraged me to pursue opportunities I would not have considered, including interning while still in high school at Kaiser Permanente, applying to and attending USC and completing college internships at Kaiser and Making Waves Education Foundation.

That belief helped me see what was possible and maximize my potential before choices felt final.

Use your successes and failures as learning experiences. Both matter.

K-12 schools are places for developing . Teachers, counselors, coaches and volunteers can serve as mentors, building trust through everyday interactions. My mentors did not just share where they ended up. They told me how they got there, including uncertainty and detours. That honesty helped me make more informed decisions and see opportunity as something navigable, not abstract. They provided perspectives I still rely on today.

Your experience and vulnerability can be life-changing

Mentorship does not require seniority. I became a mentor while I was still learning. During my senior year of high school, I freshmen, working daily on organization, study habits and how to navigate challenges in and out of the classroom. Many of them had started the year unsure of themselves. By the end, they were more confident, engaged and willing to ask for help.

Mentorship is not about having perfect answers. It is about slowing down, being specific and remembering what it felt like to not know yet. The biggest impact comes when both mentors and mentees are transparent and honest about what they know and don’t yet know.

I continue to mentor high school students, and I am well equipped to do so because I navigated the process recently. I remember what was unclear, what was never explained and which decisions felt overwhelming without context. Sharing that knowledge while it is still current helps students make informed choices instead of guessing and trying to navigate critical decisions alone.

Treat mentorship like a continuous cycle

Knowledge flows in multiple directions, and mentorship works best when it is rooted in trust and humanity, not hierarchy. It’s not about having a title or attaining a certain level of success. Hearing about your experiences is often what students need most. Even information that feels obvious may be transformative for a student encountering it for the first time.

Every opportunity I have had is tied to someone who took the time to answer a question, offer guidance or remind me that I belonged in spaces I was still learning to navigate. As I move forward, I feel responsible to stay connected with those coming up behind me and offer the same clarity and encouragement. When knowledge is passed forward with care, it does more than support a single student. It creates momentum that carries entire communities forward.

Workforce Pell is Washington鈥檚 answer. The result of a , effort, the program allows low-income students to use Pell Grants for short-term, job-focused training as well as college.

Now comes the real news and the real test. In December, the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 rulemaking committee reached consensus on proposed regulations for Workforce Pell, which launches July 1. It is up to the states to identify, approve and submit eligible training programs, with the department providing oversight and verification. These programs must demonstrate that they lead to in-demand jobs.

Participating programs will typically last eight to 15 weeks (or as little as 150 hours), catering to adults who can鈥檛 pause their lives for a two- or four-year degree. The department鈥檚 examples include emergency medical technician and automotive mechanic training, credentials that are directly tied to employment.

This performance element is key, because the U.S. has a long history of short-term programs with glossy marketing and weak payoff. If Workforce Pell becomes an ATM for low-value credentials, it won鈥檛 expand opportunity; it will expand regret. So accountability is built into its program eligibility requirements, something unusual in higher education policy.

Two measures in particular have drawn the most attention, because they are hard to fake.

The first is a mandatory 70% program completion rate and a 70% job placement rate within a defined period. The second is a price-to-value concept, meaning tuition and fees must total less than the amount program completers will earn above 150% of the federal poverty line within three years, adjusted for local cost of living. Programs are ineligible for Workforce Pell if the cost exceeds the calculated earnings gain.

These guardrails are intended to prevent Pell from subsidizing pricey programs that don鈥檛 raise income enough to justify the expense. Workforce Pell is not a blank check. It鈥檚 an invitation to innovate and produce receipts, with built-in accountability based on the premise that public dollars come with public proof. 

Its success will hinge on whether states can do three things well.

First, states need to build data muscle fast. Workforce Pell accountability leans heavily on wage records, completion data and employer validation. That鈥檚 easier said than done, especially when states have fragmented systems, limited longitudinal data capacity and uneven links between education and labor agencies.

Second, states must decide what counts as job placement and enforce it. In the rulemaking discussions, this was a contentious issue. If placement is defined too loosely, accountability becomes theater. If it鈥檚 defined too rigidly, few programs will qualify and the policy will never reach scale.

Third, states must determine which noncredit workforce programs qualify for Workforce Pell grants. Some of the most promising short-term training is noncredit. But some warn that states may lack the information needed to judge these programs, and that opening the door without robust data could invite bad actors. 

For providers, the message is to prepare for accountability that more closely resembles workforce policy than traditional higher education. The consensus framework is explicitly designed to strengthen connections among institutions, states and employers.

And the timeline is tight. The next step is for the department to publish the consensus document as a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, followed by final rules in late spring, to meet the July 1 implementation deadline. Providers that wait for the final Federal Register notice before building employer partnerships, improving completion supports and cleaning up outcomes reporting will be playing catch-up.

Workforce Pell cannot become just another funding stream. If states treat it as a chance to align training, transparency and outcomes, it could become a genuine mobility engine. Here are five practical steps that state leaders can take to make this happen.

1) Someone must own the program-approval pipeline and the outcomes dashboard. Governors should designate a lead agency, like an existing or restructured state workforce board, to convene employers and validate demand.

2) Build a fast but fair approval process with a public list of eligible programs. Students should clearly see which qualify, and why. Keep the approval rubric short, legible and auditable. If it takes a compliance consultant to understand, you鈥檝e already lost.

3) Define clearly what job placement means. If placement counts for determining Workforce Pell eligibility, the definition must be public, consistent and tied to real employment, not vague positive outcomes. This is where the accountability bargain either earns trust or forfeits it.

4) Invest now in data capacity and cross-agency sharing. States that maintain unemployment insurance wage records have a powerful tool if they can securely link them to education and training data. That data plumbing is the difference between an accountable program and a paperwork program.

5) Protect students from the Pell depletion trap. Workforce Pell counts against lifetime Pell eligibility, so low-value programs don鈥檛 just waste time; they can reduce future options. States should require clear disclosures for students and steer them toward credential pathways that lead to jobs that promote real opportunity and upward mobility.

Workforce Pell is about time: shorter programs, faster training, quicker entry to earnings. The department has now moved the policy from legislative concept to a consensus regulatory framework with a real launch date.

From here, the leading actors are not just federal negotiators. They鈥檙e governors, workforce boards, state data leaders and providers who can demonstrate that their programs lead to real jobs and higher pay. That鈥檚 the new bargain. And for once in higher education, accountability isn鈥檛 the afterthought. It鈥檚 the deal.

Consequently, by the time many students have reached high school, they鈥檝e already effectively ruled out entire fields of study and career paths 鈥� not due to any lack of innate talent, but because of a lack of exposure.

It might surprise many people to hear that the U.S. military, of all things, offers a powerful example of how structured aptitude testing can guide young people toward more meaningful career paths. Prospective recruits in all the military鈥檚 branches are required to take something called the, which assesses each candidate鈥檚 strengths across a range of domains 鈥� from mechanical comprehension to verbal reasoning.

Results aren鈥檛 just used to determine enlistment eligibility; they鈥檙e applied to match individuals with roles that align with their aptitudes and interests. It鈥檚 a model of personalized guidance that America鈥檚 schools could emulate 鈥� starting not in high school, but in seventh and eighth grade.

During my own time in the military, I witnessed the power of aptitude testing firsthand. As an Army artillery officer, I was continually struck by how well young soldiers, many of whom had struggled in traditional academic settings, excelled in military occupational specialties that matched their strengths. The ASVAB didn鈥檛 just measure ability; it revealed potential, which the military then developed through training, mentorship and clear pathways for advancement.

Imagine a nationwide framework modeled on the ASVAB but deliberately tailored to the civilian economy and introduced in middle school. Such a system could help students discover hidden talents in areas like coding, design, logistics, manufacturing or health care 鈥� fields they might never have considered. It could also help educators and counselors provide more targeted support and connect learning with purpose.

Other countries already do this fairly well. In Germany, students undergo aptitude assessments as part of their dual education system, which channels them into vocational or academic tracks based on strengths and interests 鈥� a model credited with supporting Germany鈥檚 robust manufacturing and engineering sectors.

In Australia, subject-specific aptitude exams help students identify suitable academic and career paths early on, especially in competitive fields like medicine and engineering. In Illinois and Texas, school systems have begun integrating vocational aptitude testing into broader educational assessments. While not yet as comprehensive as the ASVAB, these pilots reflect growing recognition of the need to align education with individual strengths.

The costs of the current misalignment are staggering. Nationally, about one in five high school students fails to graduate on time, and those who do often struggle to connect their education to meaningful work.

Among young men especially, college enrollment has , and completion rates are even lower. Today, nearly one in ten prime-age men in the U.S. are neither employed nor seeking work 鈥� a troubling indicator of disconnection and unrealized potential. A national aptitude initiative could help reverse these trends by giving young people earlier insight into their strengths and connecting them to motivating study and career paths.

It鈥檚 an ironic reality that even as the United States leads the world in innovation 鈥� in fields from artificial intelligence to clean energy 鈥� too few students can see themselves as part of these industries because they aren鈥檛 exposed to the skills or pathways early enough.

A national aptitude and career-exposure program for middle schoolers could help close opportunity gaps by identifying talents in underserved communities, reduce dropout rates by linking education to purpose, and strengthen the future workforce by aligning education with emerging economic needs.

Of course, any approach to expanding aptitude testing in American schools should be geared to expanding opportunity, not limiting it. The goal shouldn鈥檛 be to track or label students, but to open more doors by helping every child 鈥� especially those from under-resourced communities 鈥� discover a wider range of possibilities and pathways they might otherwise never have encountered.

Done right, aptitude testing can actually decrease the likelihood of tracking by revealing previously hidden strengths and ensuring that potential, not privilege, is what guides opportunity.

If we want to prepare America鈥檚 students not just to graduate, but to thrive, we must start earlier. Let鈥檚 give them the tools to discover who they are and what they can become鈥攂efore they鈥檝e already decided what they鈥檙e not.

On the surface, this is good news. Today鈥檚 CTE looks nothing like the 鈥渧ocational ed鈥� of the past. Students are earning credentials and college credits in fields like health sciences, IT, engineering, and advanced manufacturing. And the results are clear: show that high-quality CTE increases graduation rates, boosts college enrollment and improves access to well-paying jobs, whether it鈥檚 after college or in a skilled trade.

But beneath the headline numbers lies a harder truth: In too many places, CTE remains a loose set of electives with little structure or alignment to industry standards. Courses may look modern, such as 鈥淚ntro to Business,鈥� but without clear pathways or rigorous content, they rarely lead to meaningful skills, credentials or good jobs. Much like other 鈥渆vidence-based鈥� initiatives, how a program is structured matters much more than whether or not it is offered.

The danger of low-quality CTE is that it risks giving a false sense of progress. Labeling courses 鈥渃areer-ready鈥� doesn鈥檛 make them so. Worse, inequities creep in if students are steered into career tracks with weaker labor market returns. And we鈥檝e seen this film before: In the 1960s, federal vocational education bills promised to reduce inequality but by the 1980s, it was clear that the system had too often reinforced tracking, essentially segregating some students from rigorous academic coursework. Without high standards and greater accountability, low-quality CTE risks repeating that history.

So, what distinguishes CTE programs that truly pay off from those that don鈥檛? By studying models that have demonstrated success, we can identify the features that should be scaled across more schools. A new does exactly this, looking across the existing research to identify clear lessons about what makes CTE programs high-quality.

The strongest CTE programs offer structured, sequenced pathways, not a few disconnected electives. Students who take at least three aligned courses in a single career area consistently fare better than those who take standalone courses. Benefits accrue to these students in the form of higher graduation rates, as well as either higher college enrollment or stronger earnings. High-quality programs also make work-based learning a core feature rather than an afterthought. Well-designed internships, apprenticeships and employer-linked projects give students the kind of hands-on experience that builds both confidence and skills.

Just as important are partnerships with employers and with colleges. Industry partners ensure students are learning on up-to-date equipment and tackling relevant problems; higher education partners create early-credit opportunities and smooth transitions into degree programs. The most effective programs also recruit teachers with real-world experience, valuing practical expertise as much as traditional certification.

Finally, equity must be a design principle, not an afterthought. Schools should make sure CTE courses fit within students鈥� schedules, expand access to underrepresented groups, and track participation and outcomes to identify gaps. After all, the promise of CTE is not simply to prepare some students for good jobs but to ensure every student can connect learning to opportunity.

Nebraska is taking a bold approach in rural communities with its .听

Rather than leaving small districts to build programs in isolation, the state requires each district to conduct a data-driven needs assessment and supports regional collaboration through reVISION Action Grants. Districts then pool resources, staff and industry partnerships to design stronger, more equitable programs. 

The result: regional CTE hubs, mobile labs, and virtual courses that bring specialized programs like cybersecurity to even the most remote towns. By embedding collaboration and workforce alignment into state policy, Nebraska shows how geography doesn鈥檛 have to limit opportunity.

Washington state is rethinking who can teach CTE through its pathway, which allows skilled professionals with substantial industry experience to get certified without a bachelor鈥檚 degree. Candidates complete a streamlined pedagogy program, making it easier for industry experts to transition into classrooms. This approach maintains instructional training requirements and expands and diversifies the CTE teacher pipeline so that students learn from educators who know both their craft and how to teach it.

Ultimately, high-quality CTE is tied to real-world experiences that are hard to measure, vary across states, and available data provide only a partial picture. The federal government has a key role to play in tracking the results of these programs. Yet the latest would scale back what little we already collect, making it even harder to identify high-quality programs.听

If Washington is serious about preparing students for good jobs, it should strengthen, not shrink, its role in collecting and sharing useful data. We lack the equivalent of a 鈥淣ation鈥檚 Report Card鈥� for career readiness: common, rigorous measures that show which programs align with labor-market needs and promote economic opportunity. Without stronger data and federal leadership, CTE risks becoming a black box: highly visible in name but opaque in impact.

To deliver on the promise of CTE, we cannot settle for programs that look good on paper but fail to prepare students for real opportunity. Every student needs access to a rigorous program connected to postsecondary education and local workforce needs. That鈥檚 not the case today, but it can be, if leaders prioritize quality and equity in every CTE investment they make.

This year鈥檚 edition devotes particular attention to career education, workforce readiness and the critical transition from grades 10-12 鈥� what the report calls 鈥� into employment or further study. The findings are stark: While some countries provide clear pathways from classroom to career, many 鈥� including the United States 鈥� leave too many teenagers unready for the next stage of life.

Released each autumn since 2010, the report compares data from 38 member nations and about a dozen partner economies. The current version covers more than a billion students worldwide. It is filled with tables and charts on topics from preschool enrollment to the wage premium for education and training beyond high school, including diplomas, academic degrees and vocational certificates 鈥� all of which it groups under what it calls tertiary education.

The report confirms that more schooling typically means stronger earnings and more stable employment, and that adults with postsecondary degrees usually enjoy the highest wages and lowest unemployment. Yet it warns that credentials alone are not enough. In every country, a significant share of young people, including some university graduates, lack the literacy, numeracy and digital skills that employers demand.

Depending upon the country, the decisive years for young people are ages 15 to 19, when students finish compulsory schooling and face choices about university, vocational programs or work. The report highlights that upper-secondary programs, whether academic or vocational, are pivotal to workplace success. In systems with strong vocational education and training, young people typically move smoothly into paid apprenticeships that confer recognized credentials.

Programs such as career-focused community college certificates or industry-recognized credentials can serve as effective bridges between high school and either employment or further study. 

Yet many nations, including the United States, lack a systematic and robust tier of such programs that have a direct link with employers, leaving some high school graduates thinking their only option is a university degree.

Finally, the report underscores how background still influences destiny. Students from low-income families or with less-educated parents are markedly less likely to complete degrees or other credentials, or to find stable work after high school. Without intentional policies, career education may widen, not close, opportunity gaps.

The U.S. illustrates both the strengths and the shortcomings that the report highlights. Here are five examples.

1. General versus vocational pathways. Unlike countries such as Switzerland, Germany or Austria, the U.S. typically does not have a distinct, mainstream vocational track in high school. What does exist is usually tucked into career and technical education or electives rather than embedded in a structured vocational education system. This gives U.S. students flexibility but deprives them of an employer-linked route into skilled trades.

2. Apprenticeship numbers are growing but still small. The number of apprenticeship programs in the U.S. has expanded sharply, with over 667,000 active apprentices in 2024. This includes growth beyond the construction trades in fields like health care, information technology and education. Women now make up roughly 14% of participants. Yet relative to the general workforce population, the U.S. is far behind Germany or Switzerland, where the majority of teenagers enter paid apprenticeships that blend classroom and workplace learning.

3. Work-study and youth employment rates. Roughly 1 in 5 U.S. 18- to 24-year-olds report that they combine work and study in some way, which is similar to the OECD average. But that鈥檚 far below leaders like the Netherlands, where just over half do both. And around 14% of U.S. youth are unemployed, or what the report describes as being in the 鈥淣EET鈥� category 鈥� not in education, employment or training 鈥� also around the OECD average.

4. Community colleges and dual enrollment. Many OECD countries have formal and systematic education and training programs that bridge the gap between school and work. In the U.S., community colleges and dual-enrollment programs play this bridging role. Nearly 2.5 million high school students take college courses for credit, and early college high schools show significant in degree attainment. These efforts partially substitute for the formal vocational bridges that are common elsewhere

5. Access and support services. The U.S. also shares OECD鈥檚 concern about young people who are not looking for work. Barriers such as transportation, mental health and caregiving responsibilities often stand in their way. Federal youth programs and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act offer patchwork assistance, but personal supports remain fragmented compared with the integrated guidance available in many European systems.

But examining the findings on high-performing countries illuminates what the U.S. might learn from them. For example, well-structured vocational options need not limit the pursuit of further education that leads to a college degree. This is typically accomplished by creating clear occupational pathways that provide opportunities for students to follow a course sequence that leads to a collection of credentials that eventually lead to a degree. Many graduates of Swiss or German apprenticeships later complete what we would call associate or bachelor鈥檚 degrees.

One illustration of how this earn-and-learn approach is being duplicated in the U.S. is found in the effort to create that integrate on-the-job training with an accredited academic degree. and are two examples.

is Switzerland鈥檚 approach to apprenticeships, where almost 60% of students who would be in the equivalent of U.S. grades 10 to 12 enter vocational programs that combine three to four days a week of paid company training with classroom instruction. Industry groups co-design curricula and pay apprentice wages. The Swiss model also features early career exploration and allows movement between vocational and academic tracks at multiple points. Indiana and Colorado are at the forefront of adapting this model to their states鈥� needs.

The OECD analysis suggests four priorities for American educators and policymakers going forward.

• Make work-based learning a common experience. Opportunities like internships and apprenticeships should be routine for young people in high school, so earning and learning overlap rather than conflict.

• Double down on bridge programs. Continue to expand dual-enrollment and early college high school initiatives, especially for students least likely to complete a four-year degree.

• Implement wraparound supports for vulnerable youth. Integrate career guidance and navigation, transportation and mental-health services with work-based programs to reduce the share of young people who are not working, training or in school.

• Strengthen credential transparency. Ensure that certificates and associate degrees are based on the skills that employers value, reducing mismatches and boosting confidence in non-bachelor鈥檚 routes.

Education at a Glance 2025 makes clear that America鈥檚 young people need more explicit and direct pathways into work 鈥� pathways that blend a strong academic foundation with work-based opportunities. Achieving that will require schools, employers and policymakers to treat the school-to-work transition as a shared responsibility, not an afterthought. Without such deliberate action, too many young people will continue to leave classrooms with diplomas in hand but no clear route to a fulfilling career.

 In my home state of , 30% of teachers overall and 37% of nonwhite teachers leave public education within five years, and the numbers are . It鈥檚 a big reason why teacher shortages remain such a persistent challenge, particularly in and STEM classrooms and in .

These trends are not new, but the over the last 10 years makes addressing them more urgent than ever. The administration’s recent actions have only made that work harder.

Even in this fractured political environment, though, there鈥檚 continued bipartisan support for career pathway programs that can address these issues by helping young people develop skills that lead to good-paying jobs. Classrooms are filled with talented young people with the potential to become great teachers who understand, through firsthand experience, their communities’ needs. Instead of making them wait until after college to choose teaching as a career, the path to the profession should start in high school.

Efforts to connect high school and educator preparation already exist, through organizations like and the . But school, district and state leaders should seize the opportunity to expand these models much more widely. Here are the first three steps that could make it happen.

First, states should use federal policy and strategic funding to address low starting pay and the high cost of training, which are both barriers for aspiring teachers. For example, Delaware has found innovative ways to boost starting salaries for both and , in which they spend a year in classrooms observing and learning from veterans. Districts in Delaware have combined state and local funding to increase stipends for teacher residents from $20,000 to over $40,000 in some districts by using to shift unused budget allocations into funding for these programs.

Additionally, the state recently introduced new , which help districts or charter schools establish their own teacher pathways. It also teaching as an apprenticeship to help lower the upfront costs of certification by placing aspiring teachers in paid positions in schools while they鈥檙e completing their training.

Second, districts should look to career and technical (CTE) programs as pathways into teaching. CTE leaders, teacher recruitment teams and district career counselors must work together, meeting regularly to identify high school students with potential to become strong teachers and encouraging them to take advantage of education pathways programs. They should also monitor the progress of pathways participants, troubleshoot any issues and brainstorm ways to make programming more relevant and meaningful. These can include offering hands-on learning opportunities, such as tutoring and job-shadowing educators at neighboring schools, that allow students to earn college credit. This, in turn, would help colleges recruit high-achieving students into their education programs to take the next step toward teacher certification.

Third, schools must recruit passionate educators to support aspiring teachers of all backgrounds. Students need teachers who reflect their identities and experiences. It’s not news that the U.S. has a teacher diversity problem 鈥� nationally, only of educators at public schools are people of color. But districts and states can work toward staffing high school teacher pathway courses with educators who can build culturally affirming environments that inspire the next generation of teachers. 

Through its year-long high school CTE course for students interested in teaching, has shown that this strategy works. The program, which includes high school students in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michigan, provides a culturally affirming curriculum and pairs students with passionate educators as mentors. Students who completed the program showed an in teaching 鈥� and, specifically, in teaching Black students.

Schools can nurture the next generation of education changemakers 鈥� teachers who will reflect the diversity of their future students 鈥� even before they graduate.

If education leaders and policymakers are serious about solving the teacher recruitment, retention and diversity challenges that have bedeviled schools for generations, they must move beyond isolated initiatives and build a cohesive, systemic approach that starts in high school. By fully integrating teacher pathway programs into high schools, they can ignite a passion for teaching among students, create seamless transitions into the profession and ensure more classrooms are led by educators who reflect and understand the communities they serve. The pieces of the puzzle already exist 鈥� education leaders just need the collective will to see the big picture and put them together.

In response, a new approach is taking shape: learner-centered ecosystems. These networks refocus K-12 education around young people and whole communities, not just schools, by redesigning and reshaping how school districts operate: where learning occurs (not just in one classrooms, but in libraries, parks and workplaces); how students’ long-term developmental needs are met (not semester by semester); who educates and mentors children (not just certified teachers, but mentors, artists, business leaders and neighbors); what grading looks like and how it counts toward college and career preparation (not just standardized test scores, but participation in local projects that matter to them and earn them credit). Organizations, businesses, cultural institutions and families work together to create more personalized, relevant learning pathways for young people.

Since 2023, 12 participating teams from around the country have joined Education Reimagined鈥檚  , a national effort to bring this system redesign effort to life. Each is creating a shared vision for learning, building partnerships and tackling challenges like providing transportation, ensuring adequate staffing and making sure out-of-school learning counts for in-school credit.

The locales and challenges are diverse, ranging from big cities like Dallas and New York to very rural towns in Missouri and North Carolina, with both struggling and flourishing economies. The participants are diverse as well, ranging from rural and suburban school districts to youth development organizations and urban charter school networks. All are testing out ways to make learning relevant, connected to young people鈥檚 interests and rooted in local needs and opportunities.

In Ojai, California, for example, declining public school enrollment led an organization called to partner with the Ojai Unified School District and other groups to create a flexible, . Young people take on hands-on projects 鈥� like robotics, farming or music production 鈥� and earn credit through the district鈥檚 independent study program. Each student works with an adviser who helps them reflect on their goals and growth, both academically and personally.

In Brooklyn, New York, the team at is developing a learning site at Floyd Bennett Field, a former airfield and national park. Supported by Launch Schools charter organization and NYC Public Schools, the first group of high school students will begin this fall. Momentum for the $40 million effort is growing, with approximately $10 million raised so far 鈥� including a recent $4.3 million commitment from the city.  The kids will focus on local climate challenges and solutions such as sustainable agriculture and hydroponics. Working alongside partners like the , students will choose projects that blend hands-on problem-solving with real community impact 鈥� like restoring wetlands, designing solar-powered systems or monitoring air and water quality 鈥� while learning with college instructors and nonprofit partners.

In Missouri, is working with more than 350 businesses and organizations, along with the school board, educators and families, to expand everyday learning beyond the four walls of the classroom. Liberty serves 12,000 young people from pre-K to 12th grade. Every week, 30 to 35 field trips connect students across the district to learning opportunities of their choice in various fields. Through an internship program called Network 53, students spend up to six hours per week onsite at various companies, earn high school and college academic credit, and, in some cases, are paid for projects in career paths of their choice. Students work with attorneys, physical therapists, professional sports teams and tattoo artists. 

At the high school level,  more than 30 courses involve students with helping business partners solve unique problems. In one example, kids created artwork to beautify old electrical boxes in downtown Liberty. Most recently, the district partnered with William Jewell College and to create a that gives students college credit for addressing real-world challenges 鈥� as serious as working to prevent network attacks in war zones like Ukraine. Participating young people earn Market Value Asset credentials that can translate to post-secondary schooling and professional life.

In North Carolina, is linking the state鈥檚 booming tech economy to the energy of its young people. Through an interdistrict network of SparkLabs, collaborative spaces that feel less like classrooms and more like design studios, young people explore technology fields, build skills and collaborate with peers.  

Through self-paced, peer-supported projects, they earn credit for work that matters to them, like building robots, designing their own video games or developing apps to help them manage their spending. They work alongside tech industry pros, including teams from Apple and SAS, and solve real-world challenges for companies through . This year, students organized a statewide 鈥溾�� tech competition, where they showcased inventions and projects in match-ups against SparkLab students from across the state.

These efforts are still works in progress, but as they take root, earning funding and momentum, they demonstrate the difference it makes when young people play a role in shaping the future of their communities. As these 12 teams share what they鈥檙e learning with one another through the national Lab, they鈥檙e uncovering common challenges and building collective solutions.

These learning networks are not about abandoning school, but about expanding what counts as education. They represent a commitment to personalized, relevant and real-world learning that helps young people thrive. Communities become more connected and stronger in the process, because education isn鈥檛 just about preparing kids for the world. It鈥檚 about co-creating the world with them.

The pathway to higher education brought me to Rutgers University-Camden in 1981, where I am now a professor and director of the Community Leadership Center. Enrolling there helped me build the social and political capital to establish LEAP Academy 鈥� Camden鈥檚 first charter school 鈥� in 1997. Since then, the school has grown from five trailers on an abandoned lot to a complex of transformed historic buildings along Cooper Street. 

Thousands of students have passed through our doors, and we have maintained 100% high school and college graduation rates. That has been our mission for 30 years. It is an ambitious goal, especially in a city like Camden, where nearly 30% of residents live below the poverty line and the district鈥檚 high school graduation rate hovers around 65%. Many young people in the city are left without a diploma and few opportunities ahead.

I am incredibly proud of what LEAP Academy has achieved for Camden鈥檚 students, families and educators. But K-12 education alone is not enough. Real generational change 鈥� especially for Black and Hispanic students 鈥� comes from obtaining a college degree and the financial support necessary to make that possible.

While a strong K-12 education provides essential groundwork, access to quality post-secondary education, career training and a broader approach to addressing systemic inequalities are all necessary to truly break the cycle of poverty.

This past June, I watched 160 students 鈥� all Black or Hispanic, many first-generation college-goers 鈥� walk across LEAP鈥檚 graduation stage. Each one took a step toward a degree, a career and a brighter future. For them, college is more than an academic achievement, it is a generational breakthrough.

So how does LEAP鈥檚 approach to college access work?

We set high expectations at an early age, remove financial barriers for families and challenge high school seniors to complete a full schedule of college courses.

At LEAP, getting ready for college starts in pre-K. With sponsorship from Rutgers University, young children can attend an early learning program that continues into LEAP鈥檚 K-12 school. Parents volunteer 40 hours each year, helping to make the school stronger for everyone. Even in the early grades, students at LEAP spend 10 more days in school than those attending neighboring public schools. We also serve as a community hub, opening our buildings at 7:15 a.m. for breakfast and keeping them open until 6:15 p.m. to provide students with additional instruction, tutoring, extracurricular clubs and intramural sports.

Each of our five buildings has a College Access Center. For students in K-8, center staffers  monitor their grades, explain how their academic progress connects to college readiness and update parents on how their children’s performance stacks up to college-ready skills. These services intensify in high school, as students prepare to apply to college. In addition, the team presents programs that introduce students to career possibilities in areas such as STEM, law, architecture, business and writing 鈥� all fields that can be pursued through college study.

In high school, students take real college classes taught by professors at Rutgers and Rowan universities. This helps these inner-city students build strong skills and feel more confident about life after high school. Graduate students from Rutgers-Camden, tutor LEAP students during the school day and after school when needed, for example, in tough classes like statistics.

Over 1,200 LEAP students have graduated with a full year of college credits, positioning them to finish college in three years and saving on tuition costs for families.

In addition, LEAP pays full tuition through the Alfredo and Gloria Bonilla-Santiago Endowed Scholarship for graduates who maintain a 3.5 GPA during their time at LEAP, have four or fewer unexcused absences during the year and need financial aid. Hundreds of students who maintain a 3.0 GPA at Rutgers University’s three campuses receive full tuition. 

An added benefit: As our students achieve college success, Camden receives a surge of intellectual capital.

Without an educated workforce, sustainable economic investment is unlikely. Companies will invest only if they believe they can find prepared, local talent. A city filled with college-educated citizens is not a dream 鈥� it is an economic imperative.

Today, Camden鈥檚 workforce is expanding, and residents are actively working to revitalize the city. From growing waterfront businesses to local hospitals and universities, LEAP graduates are shaping the city鈥檚 future while delivering valuable services to the broader community and helping to renew civic pride.

Yet troubling trends are emerging. Across the country, skepticism about the value of college is growing. One survey found that only have confidence in higher education. Another showed that believe earning a bachelor鈥檚 degree is important for getting a good-paying job.

This level of doubt is both misguided and dangerous. While some companies have removed degree requirements from job postings to demonstrate skills-based hiring, is still a criterion that managers use to determine whether a candidate brings the right skills to the table. College isn鈥檛 just about skills 鈥� it鈥檚 about learning to think critically, collaborate effectively and broaden perspectives. It鈥檚 where students meet peers from different backgrounds, build lasting relationships and expand their world views. Hiring managers compare job candidates against one another, and having a college degree weighs in favor of applicants who’ve earned one.

Undervaluing higher education risks breaking the very link that lifts up both students and cities. Disrupting the cycle of poverty requires year-round work and unwavering dedication. It takes educators who believe in their students, families who stay engaged and communities willing to invest.

Parents, educators and policymakers invested in K-12 education must never lose sight of what truly matters when transforming urban communities: helping every student envision a future beyond high school, and equipping them with the tools to reach it.

Located in an engineering-themed magnet school near the Rio Grande, Coffey鈥檚 workrooms are packed to the literal rafters with pieces of metal displaying good welds and bad, crude joinery and more sophisticated bezels and, on a ledge ringing the front room, boxes that students make to prove they know how to use the spark-spitting tools 鈥� safely.

Those boxes represent a concrete step toward real careers. In an arrangement unusual for a U.S. high school, Valley鈥檚 partnerships with local trade unions give students a head start on apprenticeships 鈥� the years-long paid training paths that are the first building block of a solid career. 

Last year, leaders of Sheet Metal Workers Local 49 had paid Coffey鈥檚 shop a visit. The clock immediately caught their attention: The two years of 鈥渟hop hours鈥� documented on the students’ time cards would entitle some of them to leapfrog the lowest rung on the welding career ladder. 

High schoolers aren’t yet eligible to call themselves apprentices, something that changes the day after graduation. But thanks to the time clock, Coffey’s graduates not only got to wear a sash proclaiming their new trade union home over their graduation gowns; on the strength of the hours and training recorded on their cards, many received 18 months of credit toward completing a four-year apprenticeship and, for some, a starting wage of $24 an hour, rather than the usual $18.50 entry-level pay.

The $15 an hour Albuquerque Public Schools pays Valley鈥檚 student-interns to tackle projects throughout the district also counted as work experience in the union鈥檚 eye, adding several dollars an hour more.

Welding is one of six career preparation pathways that make up Valley鈥檚 magnet program, Engineering the Future. The others are architecture, computer science, carpentry, JROTC and engineering. Last spring, three graduates went directly into carpentry apprenticeships. 

Nationally, the number of partnerships between trade unions and schools is 鈥� particularly in states where officials push for better career and technical education. But if students get any credit for their high school experience, it鈥檚 usually deemed a pre-apprenticeship. An estimated 5% or fewer get paid internships.

For people looking to enter the trades, though, apprenticeships are the gold standard. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in 2024 just 10,000 of the of the more than 13 million students ages 16 to 18 began apprenticeships nationally, including 18-year-olds who started after graduating high school. Average starting pay for those who complete any four-year apprenticeship training track is . 

Valley鈥檚 Engineering the Future program predates the current college- and career-readiness push. It launched in the 2018-19 academic year as a magnet school, enrolling students from anywhere in the district. More than a fourth of Valley students overall are learning English, while an eye-popping 36% receive special education services. 

Students who spend at least three years in one of the training programs, participate in an outside STEM competition or school showcase and complete a self-reflection earn an Engineering the Future 鈥渄istinction stole鈥� 鈥� a sash embroidered with emblems signifying their accomplishments, and in some instances their new trade 鈥� to wear at graduation.

Altogether, 436 of Valley鈥檚 949 students participate in a career pathway, with some enrolled in more than one program. In 2025, 45 seniors earned Engineering the Future stoles, which were bestowed several days before graduation at a separate ceremony celebrating students鈥� new jobs and union affiliations. 

As chocolate-meets-peanut butter moments go, Coffey鈥檚 decision to put up a punch clock was spectacularly well timed. New Mexico has long lagged in students鈥� academic and post-secondary outcomes, ranking for nine consecutive years in the Annie E. Casey Foundation鈥檚 Kids Count Data Book report. 

In 2018, a district court found the state violated students鈥� , as guaranteed in New Mexico鈥檚 constitution. Among other shortcomings, the judge overseeing the case said, students have a right to be college- and career-ready, and she ordered state education officials to ensure that historically underserved children are set up for success after high school. 

State officials and attorneys for the families who brought the lawsuit were still going back and forth when COVID-19 forced schools to close for in-person classes. Attendance rates have traditionally lagged in New Mexico, but coming out of the pandemic they were in free fall.

Between 2019 and 2023, the number of students missing 10% or more of school days shot up 119% 鈥� the largest increase in the country 鈥� to 40%. In the 2021-22 school year, 43% of Albuquerque Public Schools students were chronically absent. 

In January 2022, the district released to address basic academic outcomes, student habits and mindsets, and college- and career-readiness. One goal is to increase the percentage of high school graduates who earn a bilingual diploma, credit in college prep courses or an industry certification from 40% in 2023 to 50% in 2028.

A year ago, a member of the team that created the plan, Gabriella Duran Blakey, was tapped to lead the district. In a speech outlining her agenda, Blakey lauded Coffey for propelling graduates into careers. 

When school starts Aug. 7, two high schools will launch 鈥渇reshman academies鈥� 鈥� year-long programs where ninth graders are introduced to different career pathways in nine-week cycles. The goal is for every student to choose a career-focused academy during sophomore year. Eventually, district leaders want each of the system鈥檚 13 comprehensive high schools to have a college or career focus. 

It鈥檚 a huge undertaking, according to Mia Howard, a leader of the New Schools Venture Fund鈥檚 innovative public schools team. The district will need to ensure that the new programs align with the community鈥檚 priorities and regional workforce needs, for starters.

Also crucial: Seeing partnerships like those Coffey created as part of the infrastructure needed to sustain the program over time, Howard says. In addition to creating the kind of seamless pathways Valley鈥檚 students enjoy, having community partners makes teachers鈥� jobs more sustainable.  

In short, school system leaders will have to figure out how to do what Coffey did 鈥� banging on employers鈥� and union locals鈥� doors to ask about opportunities 鈥� in a more systematic way. 

Here, too, the welding teacher may have paved the way. In addition to Local 49, he forged partnerships with carpenters unions, the UA Local 412 Plumbers and Pipefitters and several of the businesses that employ the unions鈥� members. These arrangements piqued the interest of the state Department of Workforce Solutions, which Coffey says is contemplating creating summer pre-apprenticeships.

Getting a leg up on entering the workforce or pursuing a degree is one goal. But Albuquerque leaders say they believe students will find the model more engaging, be more likely to show up for school consistently and ultimately get better academic outcomes. 

Kids who find the engineering program are often square pegs, says Cassandra Gonzales, the assistant principal who oversees the career track. Some want to continue STEM studies they started in elementary or middle school. Others have struggled academically or floundered at large, traditional high schools.

May graduate Signe Conley is now on a fast track to medical school. But when she showed up in Coffey鈥檚 classroom in ninth grade, her highest ambition was to make herself invisible. 

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to talk to anybody,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 was scared of everything.鈥� 

Her mother signed her up for welding but then emailed the teacher and asked him not to call on Conley or make her do anything, lest the girl have panic attacks. Coffey received the email as a gantlet dropped.

He handed Conley a stick welder, a tool that is both basic and finicky. He showed her how to make the electrical arc that generates enough heat to join two pieces of metal in a precise weld. 

鈥淚t was loud, overwhelming,鈥� says Conley. 鈥淪parks were flying.鈥�

The girl鈥檚 family tends 1,600 head of cattle, so Conley got plenty of practice fixing cattle guards and gates and other things on their ranch. The ability to control molten metal changed her.  

She stayed in Coffey鈥檚 class but enrolled in a dual college program in nursing at another Albuquerque high school. In the fall, she will use the credits she earned to jump-start the process of earning a bachelor’s in nursing at the University of New Mexico, which will in turn give her preferential enrollment at the university鈥檚 medical school. 

Junior Tobias Romero has also stayed in Coffey鈥檚 program even though he鈥檚 not pursuing an apprenticeship. He likes making metal art, and he is happy he has welding as a backup possibility for earning money. But his plan is to get a Ph.D. and work in New Mexico鈥檚 aerospace engineering industry. He鈥檚 gunning for an internship at NASA鈥檚 White Sands Test Facility. 

Coffey is perhaps proudest that Dominic Duran was among the new apprentices receiving a stole last spring. Two years ago, then-sophomore Duran announced he was dropping out and would enroll in a commercial welding training program. 

鈥淚 said, 鈥楧ominic, why would you pay $40,000 to get a certificate?’ 鈥� Coffey recalls. 鈥� ‘I can help you get it for free.’ 鈥� 

A high school dropout himself, Coffey taught himself metallurgy. He bought a cheap welding tool at a hardware store and made a gate to keep his chocolate lab, Chuy, from escaping. Then he started turning random metal objects into art to give to friends. Soon, he was producing prototypes to be sold as d茅cor in big-box stores. 

After a health crisis ended that career, Coffey decided to become a teacher. As the boss of an in-school metal fabrication shop, he is both tough and committed to creating a second home for kids. He鈥檚 known for bringing homemade red chile stew to share for lunch 鈥� and for encouraging his budding metalworkers to apply their talents not just to industrial settings, but to making art. 

As freshmen and sophomores, students have to meet his high standards if they want to be considered for a district-paid internship. Watching their junior- and senior-year classmates cash paychecks is a big motivator.

鈥淚 put the apprenticeship bug in kids鈥� ears their junior year, so by the time they are seniors they know whether they want to do it,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 just sit back and watch until then.鈥� 

In a bittersweet twist of recognition, last year was Coffey鈥檚 last at Valley. The unions he has built relationships with are so pleased that Local 49 offered him a job setting up partnerships with schools throughout the state. 

Can Valley’s brave experiment survive the loss of its senior foreman, the guy who built its student welders鈥� reputation one cold call to a local at a time? Coffey, the person who goes in search of ways to ignite kids鈥� passions, is determined to see that it will.

This is largely because the transfer process is inefficient and not designed for non-traditional students. Students who transfer after earning an associate degree often lose significant credits and must retake courses, which is a considerable barrier to earning a baccalaureate, or bachelor’s.

Community colleges could be a big part of the solution by expanding their capacity to offer bachelor鈥檚 degrees in fields that are in high demand in their regional labor market, and by doing more to help students transition to four-year colleges.

Today, over 200 community colleges in 24 states offer more than 736 . The focus on business, health care and nursing, education, information technology and other areas that address shortages in these and other fields. The bachelor鈥檚 degrees conferred by the community colleges typically cost about half the tuition charged by four-year public colleges. The programs help award four-year degrees to many underserved college students, keeping them close to home, putting them on pathways to good jobs and helping communities thrive.

At MiraCosta College in San Diego, for example, college leaders learned from biotech industry partners such as Pfizer and Abbott Labs that they needed more employees with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in biomanufacturing production. After coordinating with four-year college partners, MiraCosta created the first-ever community college biomanufacturing bachelor鈥檚 degree program conferred by a two-year college.

The program not only has significant employer buy-in and a 93% completion rate, but it also provides equitable opportunities to students. About two-thirds of MiraCosta鈥檚 biomanufacturing graduates are women (62%), two-thirds are non-white (64%) and 20% are the first in their family to attend college. The school is clearly meeting an industry need, employers are engaged, and together they have created a pathway to good-paying jobs in an expensive region of the country. Likewise, graduates of similar baccalaureate programs delivered by community colleges nationwide are 50% people of color and 64% female.  

In northeast Ohio, Lorain County Community College has offered 100 bachelor鈥檚 and master’s degrees on its campus for nearly 30 years as part of a voter-approved

University Partnership that includes 13 colleges and universities. The degrees 鈥� in everything from biology, human resources, nursing, public safety and respiratory care to computer science and supply chain management 鈥� and include the kind of personal attention, career guidance, tutoring, writing instruction and nonacademic assistance with child care, transportation and food that are more common at community colleges than at four-year institutions.

But state officials recognized that more community college baccalaureate degrees were needed to fill talent gaps in emerging fields in the state. Lorain County Community College was given permission to launch an applied bachelor鈥檚 degree in microelectronic manufacturing, to prepare workers in fields such as advanced manufacturing, automation, aerospace and biomedical technology.

In the first two years, students spend three days a week working in paid internships and two days in the classroom. They graduate with an associate degree and up to two years of real work experience, then enter the bachelor’s degree program already holding a full-time job, often by the company where they interned. 

The college also launched a bachelor鈥檚 degree program to prepare technicians and engineers who are helping companies digitize and automate their operations, integrating robotics, control systems, machine learning and cyber-physical systems into modern factories. More than 100 companies have offered internships, advised on curriculum and committed to hiring graduates. 

But making baccalaureate programs available where they are needed is only one aspect of what community colleges do. Achieving the Dream, the reform network of more than 300 community colleges, includes more than 50 that offer baccalaureate degrees. These colleges are making it easier to transfer to four-year degree programs by creating better advising and support so students can move seamlessly from adult learning programs that provide certificates but not degrees; dual enrollment programs in which high school students also earn college credits from community colleges; and associate degree programs that lead to four-year degrees. 

These community colleges are also working to connect their students and graduates to programs and careers that pay a family-sustaining wage. In focusing on areas from which people from similar demographics have previously been excluded, the schools are sparking upward mobility.

The debate over who and where bachelor’s degrees should be offered is too often driven by institutional priorities and policies set in the past. As jobs increasingly require a bachelor鈥檚 degree and employers continue to seek skilled workers, and as too many high school graduates and employees neither master new skills nor earn a living wage, it is time to shift the discussion from what type of institution offers a bachelor’s degree to their programs’ costs, benefits and value to students, employers and communities. 

Community colleges can play a central role in helping graduates achieve a bachelor鈥檚 degree. States and all colleges should support these low-cost, high-value degree pathways. 

鈥淕uam doesn’t have a lot of STEM opportunities at all,鈥� Kim said. 鈥淓ven at the University of Guam, it’s so small that we barely have any basic laboratory [equipment], like what other universities would have.鈥�

When the 17-year-old student learned of a highly competitive U.S. summer science program, she applied. Little did she know that she would not only be accepted, but flown to the small, rural town of Chadron, nestled in the sandhills of western Nebraska.

In June, Kim began the biochemistry program at , a nonprofit that has offered residential summer STEM research opportunities to teenagers since 1959. She and 35 other rising seniors spent five weeks at Chadron State College, conducting research with professors and graduate students to help prevent fungal infection of agricultural crops.

The college is one of 14 universities across the nation that housed 600 students this summer to tackle research projects in fields like astrophysics and cell biology. Chadron State 鈥� a school of roughly 2,000 students 鈥� joined the organization鈥檚 list of partners this year to expand the biochemistry program, which also takes place at Purdue and Indiana universities. 

Rachel Avard, a biology professor at Framingham State University in Massachusetts, worked with SSP International students at Purdue University last year. This summer, she came to Chadron for the same reason: to help aspiring scientists gain key STEM skills, along with personal growth and preparation for college.

鈥淔or many of them, this is the first time in their lives that they haven’t been 鈥榯he best鈥� immediately walking in the door,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’re really able to hold their hand through the process of learning how to grow these skills and how to work in a team, how to adjust to failure, how to work through all these challenges.鈥�

The three colleges in SSP International鈥檚 biochemistry program are working on the . When the last session ends, students will have designed a molecule that could inhibit enzyme activity and prevent fungal infection of crops. It鈥檚 a task that SSP International students have been working on for a few years, Avard said. The organization is collecting participants鈥� research results that can hopefully be used to help create a drug to protect crops in the future.

鈥淔ungal pathogens are killing sometimes 鈥� up to 50% or 60% of crops every year. And we have all these pesticides and fungicides, but they’re all extremely toxic,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o the goal for this project is to develop a drug that is going to kill fungi.鈥�

The workload includes 60-hour weeks in the college鈥檚 science and math wing. Days are filled with in-depth classroom lectures and team discussions before students pull on latex gloves to conduct experiments in the lab.

Everyone gets one-hour breaks for rest or meals, but the students often end up in the lab after sunset or during personal time on weekends. Dinners are always business casual and include professional networking opportunities with guest speakers. Avard and other faculty also take the students on field trips or host games in the evenings to help them work as a team. 

The rigor of the summer science program was a surprise for many, including Kim.

鈥淚 didn’t know it’d be this intense. The first three days, I would say, were the most intense of my life 鈥� like exam season 鈥� but it makes me feel productive, and I think that’s what’s really important,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd good results are going to come out soon. Science is exciting. You don’t know what’s going to happen. So it keeps us on all of our toes and wanting to do our best.鈥�

Researchers have found that high-quality academic preparation and exposure to STEM is a in high schoolers’ chances of landing a STEM career. In a 2023 , 75% of Gen Z youth said they were interested in STEM occupations but only 29% listed a STEM role as their first career choice.

A 2021 Purdue University study on SSP International鈥檚 summer science program found that 鈥渆ngaging in authentic research as a high school student has the ability to in STEM.鈥�

鈥淭he thought is not just that we are trying to teach science to some students, but we wanted to give students a transformational experience at a pivotal time in their life,鈥� said Amy Belote, the organization’s vice president of program operations. 鈥淲hen they’re leaving the summer science program, they’re getting ready to start their senior year of high school 鈥� thinking about their future, what they envision for themselves. We’re giving them some hands-on experience before they start making all of those plans.鈥�

The program accepts only about 15% of applicants, Belote said, and tries to balance the number of males and females in each cohort. In Chadron, the group consists of 18 girls and 18 boys. 

The program comes with a hefty price tag: $9,800. Nearly half of participants last year received financial aid, and about a third were able to go for free. Students can also receive spending money and $3,000 stipends to replace wages they would have earned during the summer if they were at home.

Avard said these facets of the program allow students of a variety of backgrounds to experience something that can change their life trajectory. Witnessing each student鈥檚 personal growth 鈥� secluded on a college campus with a small group of people for five weeks, working long hours 鈥� is her favorite part.

鈥淥n day one, they’re not making eye contact. They’re very shy. They’re all very unsure,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey’ve never really been alone or without parental supervision all day, every day. And so the growth that we see in just even the first couple weeks is phenomenal.鈥�

This summer was Aiden Fee鈥檚 first time visiting the Midwest. A 16-year-old from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he said he learned to love the open landscape and friendly people in town. He also became more comfortable with meeting new people in unfamiliar settings.

鈥淚’ve learned a lot more about teamwork and asking questions,鈥� Fee said. 鈥淎 lot of the students here are some of the highest-achieving at their school. Whenever you have so many people like that, it’s about not being a leader, but relying on other people.鈥�

Kim said she鈥檚 looking forward to using the organization鈥檚 alumni network, which provides group and one-on-one mentoring for recent participants as they transition from high school to college. 

鈥淭hese [past] weeks will be the most intense and challenging time of my life. But it’s been so eye-opening. I’ve met so many people from different cultures, and I just can’t wait for the future, because we all aspire to be some type of scientist,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o I can’t wait to see where this program leads us.鈥�

That鈥檚 the message of a new , The State of Global Teenage Career Preparation, by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The surveys approximately 690,000 15- and 16-year-old students from more than 80 countries, including the United States. Here are five key insights from the report:

• Roughly 4 out of 10 students are unclear about their career expectations, double the number from about a decade ago.
  
• Almost half (49%) agree (35%) or strongly agree (14%) that school has done little to prepare them for adult life.
  
• There鈥檚 a gender gap in students鈥� aspirations to work in sectors like information technology and health care. For example, around 11% of boys report that they will work in information technology at age 30, compared with 1.5% of girls.
  
• Job preferences focus on a few, well-known professions, such as teaching, psychology and sports. For example, around half of girls and 44% of boys report that they expect to work in one of just 10 jobs, with little change in career preferences since 2000.
  
• The majority of young people don鈥檛 get connected to workforce professionals who can help them understand the opportunities available to them. Only 35% report attending a job fair, and just 45% visited a workplace.
  

The report a Teenage Career Readiness Dashboard that covers roughly two dozen issues and allows for comparisons among countries, organized by eight topics:   

Career uncertainty: Do students have clear plans? Does it matter? The report suggests that career uncertainty contributes to behaviors including disengagement from school. 

Planning: What are students鈥� job expectations? Have they changed over time? How do they compare to actual employer demand? Low-income students are particularly lacking in access to career planning resources. 

Alignment or misalignment: Do students understand what they need to do to achieve their job plans? Many teens hold unrealistic or outdated career goals, prioritizing a narrow band of high-status occupations while neglecting in-demand technical careers. 

Aspirations: Are students鈥� education plans driven more by social background than ability? The report finds that socioeconomics significantly influence aspiration levels. Disparities are particularly stark, with low-income students less likely to envision themselves in professional careers than wealthier peers. 

Guidance: Do students participate in career guidance activities that make a positive impact on their lives? Most report limited access to career counseling, with the quality and consistency varying dramatically. 

Career development: Is the guidance students do receive responding effectively to social inequalities? Career fairs, job shadowing and internships are critical but underutilized. Roughly 1 out of 5 U.S. students report speaking to a career adviser outside of school, the fifth-lowest rate among the countries surveyed.

Fear for the future: How well do students think they are prepared for their future careers? Roughly half (47%) agree that they worry about not being ready for life after they complete school.  

Employer engagement: How are employers involved in school activities and career development? Does this make a difference? The U.S. significantly lags behind other countries surveyed in providing students with career development activities, such as internships and job shadowing.  

This is illustrated by recent from Gallup, the Walton Family Foundation and Jobs for the Future that reflects a growing sense among America鈥檚 young people that they are adrift in the transition from high school to the next stage of their lives. This survey included over 1,300 16- to 18-year-old Gen Zers and their parents.

It reports that fewer than 3 out of 10 teens feel 鈥渧ery prepared鈥� to pursue any of eight post-high school pathways, including college, a job, the military or a certification program. Even among students most eager for a particular path, less than half feel ready to take the first step.  

The report also finds that just slightly more than half of parents (53%) frequently discuss life after graduation with their teenagers. One in three parents of seniors who are weeks from commencement have still not had that conversation.

When discussions do happen, they typically stick to familiar territory, such as a four-year college or a paid job. Teens’ knowledge mirrors this narrow horizon, with about one-third reporting they know 鈥渁 lot鈥� about bachelor鈥檚 degrees or full-time work.

Both reports suggest there are at least two career-launch pain points that prevent young people from successfully navigating life after high school. The first is an exposure gap 鈥� too few students are aware of available career options or understand the various paths to achieve them. The second is an experience gap 鈥� too few young people engage in work-based activities, such as internships or apprenticeships, that help them connect learning to the world of work

If students are neither exposed to nor experience career options, they are unlikely to acquire the knowledge, networks and vocational identity needed for adult success. According to the OECD report, students who recall speaking to career professionals or participating in job shadowing are far more likely to have career goals aligned with labor market needs.

So what can state and district leaders and advocates do?

First, start the formal career conversation sooner. Closing the exposure and experience gaps should begin as early as . The longer the wait, the more likely that young people will become lost in transition from school to their next stage. 

Second, widen the scope of career education. The focus on college should give way to a menu that includes certificates, two-year degrees, skilled trades, military service, and career and technical education.

Third, embed responsibility in career education. Involve young people in undertaking adult-like, consequential tasks, such as community projects, paid work and internships.

Fourth, help parents. Many programs and activities are available that can educate parents and guardians, such as workshops on local labor market careers or the different certificates and credentials that young people can earn.

Both the OECD and Gallup reports serve as reminders of the importance of integrating career exposure and experience into the everyday classroom experiences of young people. A central part of this remedy includes a dose of genuine adulthood 鈥� offered earlier, explained better and practiced alongside the grownups teenagers are expected to emulate.

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to 社区黑料.

The broad political support for career pathways isn鈥檛 a fluke: It was between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign. With the law supporting these programs due to be and the , career pathways will be on a short list of issues that could move quickly in this divided Congress.

Given this bipartisan momentum, how can leaders in Washington create programs that truly prepare students for jobs and fulfillment in the real world? They can start by learning from successful career pathways programs that are already flourishing in red, blue and purple states across the country. 

For example, Colorado demonstrates that successful career pathways programs can鈥檛 be one-size-fits-all: They must meet the needs of students in communities with very different economies and job markets. That means policymakers designing pathways programs should speak to local government leaders, school leaders, educators and students to understand potential barriers to student participation and success. 

Leaders of the Colorado Succeeds career pathways initiative conduct a local needs assessment that covers every region of the state every two years 鈥� and adjust policies, funding or programming based on what they hear. Through this assessment, leaders learned that high school students participating in dual enrollment were limited to attending their local community college, regardless of whether it was affordable or offered the program they wanted. Colorado Succeeds leaders shared this information with the state Department of Higher Education, which then changed the policy to enable high school students to enroll regionally and virtually at community colleges across the state.

By regularly gathering and acting on feedback from communities, Colorado Succeeds has not only strengthened its statewide programs, but built trust among business leaders, educators and students.

Knowing that flexibility and innovation are essential to building effective pathways programs that meet changing student and economic needs, leaders in Indiana embrace creative, outside-the-box ideas and refine them as they go.

Recently, the state’s Department of Education redesigned its in an innovative way 鈥� a process that required many rounds of refining that ultimately offered graduates three pathways: college, career or military. The state also created the Indiana Career Scholarship Account program to provide funding to high school students for work-based learning opportunities like internships and apprenticeships. And they expanded course options by allowing more people with relevant industry experience but no traditional teaching license to head up classes that require highly technical knowledge.

In Delaware, new approaches show that while bold new ideas are important for innovation in career pathways, so are adaptability and resilience. Leaders shouldn鈥檛 expect to get everything right on the first try, but they should expect that regular adjustments will bring them closer to creating programs that effectively serve more students. That requires a well-designed data system and using it to decide whether specific programs should continue, shift or end.

Delaware regularly reviews its career pathways programming and uses data to make necessary changes. Committees of educators, students and employers review all career and technical education programs in the state every five years. By regularly working with a wide range of partners, state leaders ensure that this programming remains up-to-date and relevant for students.

Delaware鈥檚 data also inform ongoing adjustments to program offerings and funding. For example, when data revealed that high school students with disabilities participated in pathways programs in lower numbers than students without disabilities, Delaware officials made policy changes that improved access for all students.

Building successful career pathways programs is hard work, but Colorado, Indiana, Delaware and many other states show what鈥檚 possible by listening to local leaders, thinking creatively and using data to guide improvement. Leaders in Washington have a rare opportunity to embrace common ground on this issue, give students a leg up in high-demand careers and help maintain America鈥檚 competitive edge in the global economy. They must not squander it.

In some versions of dual enrollment, students take college classes on top of their required high school course load. Requiring extra courses in order to reap the benefits of early college creates a disadvantage for those who work, help with siblings at home or have long commutes to and from school. It can also be a challenge for students already struggling to keep up with advanced courses.

In addition, while some states pay for or subsidize college courses for high schoolers, others make parents shoulder the financial burden. Postsecondary institutions may offer financial aid for economically disadvantaged high schoolers, as they do for their own students, but this adds just another hurdle to what should be a seamless early college experience.

Taken together, this lack of equal access to the time and financial resources needed to pay for, and do well in, college courses can skew participation and successful completion.

By contrast, concurrent enrollment 鈥� swapping a college course for a high school class instead of adding it on top of the regular course load 鈥� increases students’ opportunity to pay little to nothing for the advanced coursework while enhancing their readiness for college and a future of work.  

The terms dual and concurrent enrollment are often used interchangeably. But in their purest form, they are quite different. Policies that prioritize concurrent enrollment can have a substantial impact on student outcomes and postsecondary access. 

 In Arizona, for example, state law defines concurrent enrollment to mean a student enrolls in a state university or local community college course instead of the high school course he or she would otherwise take. It also requires that the student cost be as close to free as possible. 

In the context of public policy and program design, the seemingly semantic distinction between dual and concurrent enrollment can help improve lifetime outcomes and deliver a future-ready workforce.

Swapping college for high school courses also makes it easier to integrate workplace and college campus experiences into students鈥� normal school day. Instead of taking extra classes, students can spend their time in career-aligned projects and clubs or even commute to a nearby college to take courses on campus. 

In addition, concurrent credit can limit financial burdens on schools and districts by relieving them of the burdens of having to pay for doubled-up coursework, educators and space, as well as the costs of procuring college-equivalent programs in lieu of actual college courses.

A related policy change 鈥� simple, yet critical 鈥� would allow for the smooth transfer of earned concurrent credit. When students move from one high school to another, they must often retake courses or submit to a test to transfer college credits they have already earned. It鈥檚 a hiccup that adds cost across the system while slowing high school graduation or postsecondary attainment. States can ensure that these concurrent credits transfer when students move or otherwise change schools, and require that the new schools accept credits earned in these rigorous classes without onerous testing. Inefficient transfer policies not only threaten early college, but on-time high school graduation.

Concurrent enrollment can also respond to the increased demand from families and students for a transformed high school experience that is more relevant in today’s world. As the leader of a college prep network, I know firsthand how concurrent enrollment is meeting the demands of a new generation of parents and students.

Millennial parents are seeking ways to save on college costs, and their children want high school to be more engaging and relevant to their futures. Offering them postsecondary opportunities aligned to a career does just that.

Policymakers around the country should adopt equitable policies and funding for concurrent enrollment while helping educators implement these models. This will accelerate the efficiencies, economic mobility and work readiness that postsecondary learning provides. 

Large investments in dual enrollment have boosted interest in and access to postsecondary education. But after decades of implementation around the country, clarity is developing on how best to accelerate these gains, eliminate redundancies and deliver a future-ready workforce. Concurrent enrollment is that promising path forward.

Fortunately, real-time attendance data is standard in most districts. Yet when it comes to understanding what happens to students after high school 鈥� trade school or college enrollment, persistence and completion 鈥� many schools are left with years-old, incomplete or nonexistent information. Without timely insights, schools cannot meaningfully evaluate or improve practices, interventions or partnerships.

Nationwide, schools are making concerted efforts to improve college and career outcomes, but they are hamstrung by data limitations. School and district leaders often turn to publicly available state report cards which provide a snapshot of postsecondary enrollment information. At best, these report cards include data from the previous year鈥檚 graduating class 鈥� though, in many cases, the snapshots are even older. This gap is a serious issue. School and district leaders, as well as the public, need timely access to this data to make informed decisions and improve college and career advising practices. 

The National Student Clearinghouse database, containing enrollment and completion data from over 3,500 colleges nationwide, is shared with the vast majority of states and includes updates on the most recent graduating class. States could combine these statistics with, for example, employment data from their department of labor to offer school districts a comprehensive view of student outcomes after high school. However, most states fail to make clearinghouse data accessible in their publicly available report cards and, based on OneGoal鈥檚 experiences in seven states 鈥� Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan,  Texas and Wisconsin 鈥� this information is also not shared directly with districts.

Our district partners in those seven states report that none received the most recent clearinghouse data release from Nov. 27, which includes enrollment information for the class of 2024鈥檚 first fall semester. In a separate, 50-state analysis of publicly available state reports and postsecondary enrollment data, we found that just 23  states made available college enrollment data from the high school  class of 2022, while nine offered only older data. For researchers interested in general postsecondary enrollment trends, this might suffice. But it鈥檚 not enough for school and district leaders who need timely information to guide their work. 

While some districts with adequate resources buy a StudentTracker subscription directly from the clearinghouse, this option is often unknown or unaffordable. It鈥檚 also unnecessary 鈥� states already purchase this data on behalf of districts. But if it’s not passed on, school and district leaders can鈥檛 improve their advising practices for the next graduating class, as they won’t understand what happened to the graduating class that just walked across their stage.

Still, in the last several years, school districts nationwide have established novel solutions to build bridges from high school to college, supported by data sharing at the state level:

• Wisconsin published class of 2023 enrollment outcomes for the 2023-24 school year in a publicly available that offers interactive visualizations of trends over time and disaggregates data by student subgroups. School leaders can securely access individual student-level data to inform their practices.
  
• Vermont displayed an 鈥溾�� on its state report card to help school and district leaders analyze the difference in postsecondary performance between students who have been historically underserved in schools and their wealthier peers.
  
• Mississippi shares real-time clearinghouse data directly with districts through its state student information system and is training school and district leaders to use it.
  
• Indiana combines two- and four-year enrollment statistics with employment data through its (Graduates Prepared to Succeed) dashboard to paint a holistic picture of what happens to students after high school graduation, including non-degree pathways.

These efforts are a good start. But as every teacher, counselor or leader knows, real-time, disaggregated data is needed to meaningfully inform advising practices and interventions.

• School leaders should advocate for access to their state鈥檚 most recent student data. Almost every state has a direct contract with the clearinghouse. If feasible, they can also consider purchasing a .
  
• State education agencies nationwide need to follow the lead of states like Wisconsin and create better systems for sharing data as soon as they receive it. They should also form collaboratives with other state agencies like the department of labor to obtain data on students who enter the workforce directly after graduation. These agencies also need to join a organized by the Council of Chief State Schools Officers, which is working with the Department of Defense to help standardize the process of sharing military enlistment data with school districts.
  
• Partnerships with organizations like and the can complement school district efforts by providing robust data analysis expertise.

Developing a shared understanding of postsecondary enrollment patterns can inform schools’ advising practices, course sequences and partnerships with local organizations, colleges and universities, community colleges and employers. More access to data means a more inclusive approach to postsecondary preparation and better access to pathways aligned with students鈥� interests and workforce needs.

Disclosure: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies and Heckscher Foundation for Children provide financial support to OneGoal and 社区黑料.

Natalie Watts loves her computer science classes at Campbell High School. The junior has studied everything from coding robots to creating online computer games and was initially attracted to the career track because of the technological skills she could gain and the high-paying jobs that could follow. 

But when Watts recently participated in a presentation highlighting Campbell鈥檚 STEM programs, she received an unexpected question from the audience: Is being in the program 鈥渓ike going to an all-boys school?鈥�

In the 2022-23 school year, 70% of students in Campbell鈥檚 information technology classes were boys. The school had a similar gender gap in its architecture and science programs. 

Watts has always felt supported and welcomed by her male peers and teachers, but she also wants more girls to see computer science and engineering as a part of their futures. 

Campbell is one of 46 Hawaii public high schools enrolling students in career and technical education courses, which provide hands-on learning, internships and training to prepare students for life after graduation. Students usually enroll in a single CTE program throughout high school, taking multiple classes related to careers in fields such as nursing, teaching and engineering. 

The number of students enrolled in CTE pathways has exploded in Hawaii in recent years, amid debates about how to help students secure high-paying jobs after graduation and combat the state鈥檚 high cost of living. Nearly two-thirds of the class of 2023 participated in a high school CTE program. 

But the programs  across the state. 

In the 2022-23 school year, boys made up nearly 75% of Hawaii CTE programs focused on STEM and information technology, and roughly 70% of programs focused on manufacturing. On the other hand, girls made up three-quarters of health care programs like nursing. 

Researchers say these patterns reflect and reinforce larger trends in the state鈥檚 workforce, where men dominate lucrative careers such as engineering and computer science. Statewide, women make 86 cents for every dollar men earn, in part because of which careers they pursue,  from the University of Hawaii. 

Federal legislation requires states to track gender enrollment in these programs and dedicate funds to address enrollment disparities that help perpetuate longstanding  and shut women out of higher-paying opportunities. But many states 鈥� including Hawaii 鈥� have made little progress in closing the gender gap over the past five years. 

Hawaii has slightly better success than mainland districts in getting boys interested in careers in education 鈥� and has equal participation in some career tracks like business and hospitality 鈥� but the state is lagging behind the national average when it comes to enrolling girls in fields most likely to lead to high-paying jobs in the future.

The Hawaii Department of Education declined multiple interview requests for this story, but individual principals say they are exploring a range of strategies to address the problem, from career fairs highlighting women in STEM to presentations encouraging middle schoolers to keep their minds open about future jobs. Outside organizations and employers have also stepped in to help schools close gender gaps.

But efforts vary by school, and some CTE coordinators say the state isn’t doing enough to help schools create gender-balanced programs.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no real systematic approach,鈥� said Jeremy Seitz, who leads the engineering CTE program at Farrington High School. 

Federal Funds And Few Plans 

Eden Ledward is the face of the University of Hawaii鈥檚 CTE carpentry program. A minute-long video on the university鈥檚 website shows Ledward building houses, studying construction plans and operating a handsaw as she explains how CTE classes help her pursue her passion for building.  

鈥淢y classmates and instructors are solid, and we get real experience doing real work,鈥� she says to the camera. 

The promotional video is the product of federal funds Hawaii receives annually to support CTE programs at the high school and college level under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. Of the $7 million the federal government provided Hawaii for its CTE programs in 2024, the state was required to set aside $60,000 to address gender disparities.

Many of these dollars have gone toward creating promotional videos posted on the . The videos feature students who are pursuing CTE programs that have traditionally been dominated by a single gender, such as construction or nursing, said Warren Kawano, career pathways and strategy director at the organization .

UH isn鈥檛 required to report on the outcomes of specific gender equality initiatives using Perkins funds, and it鈥檚 difficult to measure the impact of these marketing campaigns, Kawano said. But he hopes the videos help broaden students鈥� understanding of the careers they can pursue. 

鈥淚f you’re interested, there’s a place for you,鈥� he said.  

The state Department of Education gets about $1.4 million a year of the state鈥檚 Perkins funding. In the past, department spokesperson Kimi Takazawa said, schools have used some of the federal funds to purchase safety gear for girls in CTE programs, bring in female guest speakers to speak about their experiences in STEM fields, and more.

But the department could not say how much money was spent on initiatives around gender equality and doesn鈥檛 track in detail how schools use the funds. 

Schools receive Perkins funds based on the number of students enrolled in their CTE programs, said Wai膩kea High School Principal Kelcy Koga, but staff have a lot of flexibility in how the funds can be used. Wai膩kea has used the money on everything from hiring CTE staff to running a daylong program teaching elementary and middle school girls about robotics and engineering.

State leaders have said that equity and access in these programs is paramount, but there are few details on how they will achieve that. When the state submitted a comprehensive plan in 2020 to the federal government outlining how it would improve equity and enrollment in its CTE programs, there was not a single mention of how Hawaii would close its gender gap in the 157-page document.

That doesn鈥檛 mean that the state disregarded the issue completely, Kawano said, since the $60,000 designated for gender equality is only a small portion of the funding Hawaii uses for CTE. It鈥檚 up to the education department and individual schools, he said, to determine how to achieve greater equality in their CTE programs. 

Since the plan鈥檚 implementation, the state has made some progress, but the change hasn鈥檛 been the same across all programs. The proportion of girls enrolled in STEM programs rose from 20% to 27% between 2020 and 2022, but the percentage of boys participating in the health science career track stayed roughly the same, at 25%. 

‘Highly Segregated By Gender’

Hawaii is not alone in this.

A 2024 analysis from the U.S. Department of Education found that high school girls earned roughly the same number of CTE credits in architecture and construction in 2019 as they did in 1990. At the same time, the gap between the number of boys and girls in CTE health care programs grew as female students enrolled in classes at higher rates.   

鈥淭hese results underscore the need for continued leadership in this space and an urgent, strategic focus on better engaging females in career pathways that lead to good jobs,鈥� U.S. DOE Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical and Adult Education Amy Loyd wrote last year. 鈥淐TE programs in some career clusters remain highly segregated by gender, as do the occupations for which they prepare students.鈥�

A number of factors can explain states鈥� ongoing challenges in achieving gender equality in career-based learning, said Emily Passias, deputy executive director of the national advocacy group Advance CTE. Gender gaps may persist as students gravitate toward the same classes as their friends, she said, or feel family pressure to pursue traditional careers. Sometimes, she added, CTE programs like welding may not have equipment specially fitted for girls, further enforcing gender stereotypes. 

鈥淭hose are things that signal to young people, I’m welcome or not welcome here,鈥� she said.  

Some schools have shown that it鈥檚 possible to address gender segregation in CTE. 

Roughly half of students in STEM programs in the District of Columbia were girls in the 2021-22 school year, compared to the national average of 30%. The district said its success comes from teaching girls about careers in STEM from a young age and hosting career fairs and guest speakers emphasizing the importance of gender diversity in fields such as health care and engineering. 

But efforts in Hawaii are mostly piecemeal.

When Jeremy Seitz began teaching engineering and design technology classes at Farrington High School in 2008, all his students were boys. Roughly a quarter of students in the school鈥檚 engineering program are now girls. 

Making engineering classes a more welcoming place for girls has taken time, Seitz said. Growing up in Kalihi, he said, students have few opportunities to explore career options, and girls are often expected to stay home and take care of their younger siblings. 

The school brings in female engineers as guest speakers, Seitz said, and high school girls visit nearby middle schools to give lessons and show younger students what it鈥檚 like to study construction and architecture. 

Watts, the junior studying computer science at Campbell High School, is working with classmates on events that encourage girls to sign up for STEM programs. 

鈥淚f you want to do it, you should do it,鈥� Watts tells younger students. 鈥淒on鈥檛 let male domination keep you from doing what you want to do.鈥� 

‘You Just Have To Keep Trying’

There鈥檚 been little statewide effort to make sure all programs are taking similar steps. The state education department has occasionally completed equity audits of schools鈥� CTE programs, Seitz said, but he hasn鈥檛 seen any action taken based on that data.   

The CTE program at Waipahu High School, formerly under the leadership of Superintendent Keith Hayashi, is considered one of the trailblazers in providing career-based learning to all students during their four years on campus. Over 90% of Waipahu鈥檚 graduating class of 2023 participated in CTE, and the school opened a  hosting the culinary and natural resources programs just over a year ago. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 an opportunity for us in the department to lead change not only in Hawaii but, I believe, across the country,鈥� Hayashi said at the learning center鈥檚 grand opening in December 2023. 

Even the state鈥檚 premier CTE school has significant gender gaps in its health care and engineering programs. Only 15% of students in the industrial and engineering technology program are girls. Meanwhile, only a quarter of students are boys in the health and science program.  

Waipahu High School Principal Zachary Sheets said achieving gender equality in CTE is a top priority. He tries to make sure there鈥檚 equal gender representation in the presentations and promotional materials the school gives to students choosing their CTE programs and has added career tracks like kinesiology to try to make the health care program appealing to more boys. 

鈥淒on鈥檛 limit yourself,鈥� Sheets said he tells students. 鈥淚f you really have a passion about it, we want you to pursue that.鈥� 

Sheets is optimistic that efforts by feeder schools to provide career education to younger students will help close some gender gaps at the high school level.

An equal number of boys and girls are enrolled in classes such as woodworking and aquaponics at nearby Waikele Elementary, said Michelle Tavares-Yamada, the school鈥檚 academy pathway director.

Younger kids aren鈥檛 always aware of gender stereotypes around certain jobs, she said, and the school capitalizes on this by encouraging students to explore their interests.

鈥淚 think our students see that, so they don鈥檛 think about those gender inequities,鈥� she said. 

With limited statewide guidance, some community groups and local employers are also stepping in to help schools close their gender gaps. 

Since 2018, the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii has led a pilot program targeting middle and high school girls who are interested in careers in STEM. The program, taking place in the Castle, Campbell and Waipahu complexes, connects schools with female leaders in the field and hosts activities and panels teaching girls about engineering at partner campuses. 

Kathleen Chu, who helps lead the initiative and works at the local engineering firm Bowers + Kubota, said young girls aren鈥檛 always aware that engineering is a high-paying career path. When talking to girls about their CTE options, she shares the challenges of working in a male-dominated field but also emphasizes that women can bring leadership skills and new perspectives to the job. 

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 give up,鈥� said Chu, adding that she doesn鈥檛 want girls to disregard a career in engineering because they struggle with math or haven鈥檛 seen many women at a construction site before. 鈥淵ou just have to keep trying.鈥� 

In the three school complexes hosting the pilot program, the percentage of girls in engineering CTE programs has increased from 17% to 26% over the last five years. The Chamber of Commerce is trying to expand the program and identify new schools as future partners, said Lord Ryan Lizardo, vice president of education. 

Even with these partnerships and guest speakers, it鈥檚 still difficult to encourage students to pursue programs where they鈥檒l be in the minority, said Tracie Koide, a teacher at Campbell High School. Teachers try to create welcoming environments for all students, regardless of their gender, she added, but many kids want to enroll in the same programs as their friends.

Looking Ahead

Hawaii has the opportunity to ramp up its efforts to achieve greater gender equality this year, as the state prepares to submit a new CTE plan to the federal government. 

The  offers few details on how schools will address gender gaps, but the public will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the document beginning next month.

For now, said UH research economist Rachel Inafuku, differences in career preparation for boys and girls can contribute to gender gaps already existing in the workplace. 

Nearly 80% of Hawaii鈥檚 elementary and middle school teachers are female and earn a median income of $63,000. Electrical engineers, 90% of whom are male, have a median income of more than $100,000. 

At the Chamber of Commerce, Lizardo said he鈥檇 like to see more professional development for teachers when it comes to helping students make informed decisions about CTE. It鈥檚 important for schools to be honest about gender inequalities in the workforce, he added, but students should also have as much information as possible when deciding what CTE programs to pursue so they鈥檙e not swayed by their families or friends.  

David Sun-Miyashiro, executive director of HawaiiKidsCAN, said the state should take a closer look at the way schools are marketing and administering CTE programs with clear differences in enrollment for boys and girls. CTE programs should open up new opportunities for students, he added, rather than confining them to the limited representation they currently see in the workforce.   

鈥淚 think we need to have those really honest and sometimes tough conversations,鈥� he said. 

This story is a collaboration between  and , with support from Ascendium Education Group.

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

Part of NYU鈥檚 Tandon School of Engineering, the center offers roughly a dozen summer courses that engage students in advanced STEM research before they graduate from high school. Half of the classes are free 鈥� an effort to reach those underrepresented in STEM fields, such as students of color or youth from low-income families.

Each program provides experience that can鈥檛 be found in the typical classroom, said center director Ben Esner. The courses tap into research that鈥檚 externally funded and managed by NYU undergraduate and graduate students. 

鈥淭here is nobody teaching chemical engineering at a New York City public high school, right? Nobody’s doing protein engineering,鈥� he said. 鈥淜ids get coding experience, software development experience, but even if you’re getting that in school, and even if you go to a top [STEM] high school, it’s still limited in what they’re teaching.鈥�

Over the last five years, the center has served more than 3,000 middle and high school students from around the U.S., Esner said. In 2023, there were more than 2,855 applications for roughly 587 openings, according to the . Just under half of the students took classes for free.

Last year, the number of applications jumped to more than 4,800.

The center used to offer professional development programming at all grade levels, including for elementary teachers, but now it focuses on grades 6 through12.

Students have programmed robots to operate more like humans, analyzed local traffic to make transportation more efficient and experimented with proteins that deliver cancer drugs. last several weeks and include subjects like noise pollution, digital media, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and computer engineering. 

One of the center鈥檚 most popular programs is Applied Research Innovations in Science and Engineering (ARISE). The 10-week, tuition-free course allows high school students to conduct research among university students in NYU professors’ labs.

In 2023, one ARISE lab , and students used stone tools to learn about human history and behavior. Other include researching a link between cerebral spinal fluid and depression in elderly adults and analyzing data-driven cyberattacks.

LuAnn Williams-Moore, the center’s assistant director, said one of her favorite programs is called Innovation, Entrepreneurship and the Science of Smart Cities. The free course teaches students how to apply engineering skills like circuitry, electronics and coding to challenges in urban areas 鈥� and how to market the solutions they come up with. Students learn the process of product development, from building their idea to creating pitch presentations for patents and copyrights. At the end of the program, they participate in a Shark Tank-style event and showcase their projects to entrepreneurs.

One product that students helped develop is a sensor network called , which monitors water levels and collects readings . The project received more than $7 million in city funding in 2023.

鈥淎 lot of our programs are about teaching students to think about innovations they want to bring based on the training that we are giving them,鈥� Williams-Moore said. 鈥淥kay, now that we’ve trained you, what smart innovation would you bring to your community? What are the problems you see in your community?鈥�

New York City classroom teachers are also involved. Williams-Moore said the center turned to local educators to help create lesson plans and curriculum for last summer’s programming, and teachers act as program supervisors or evaluate course content. It’s one of the ways, Williams-Moore said, that she tries to keep the center’s courses relevant and up to date with current STEM education practices.

鈥淲e go to conferences. We look at research papers. I鈥檓 thinking about the latest trend, or what’s the latest issue that’s happening or developing in education and what’s happening on the ground in the schools,鈥� she said. 

When sifting through middle school applications, Esner said, the center looks for students with an extreme interest in STEM, as shown through personal essays, teacher recommendations and in-person interviews where candidates complete hands-on activities while being observed by professors. For high schoolers, the center also looks at academic records, extracurricular interests and prerequisite STEM classes.

鈥淲e want students who ask questions,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou’re going to come here and we’re going to teach you this. Why do you want to learn it?鈥�

Esner said it鈥檚 important to expose young people to in-depth STEM education before they graduate from high school because it鈥檚 easy for them to dismiss those fields before they realize what kind of potentially interesting jobs are out there.

鈥淲hen students say, 鈥榃hy do I need to learn this?鈥� Well, you need to learn it because you want to build a robot that helps care for elderly people, or you want to discover a protein that can efficiently deliver a chemotherapy drug to the cells that are damaged,鈥� Esner said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 showing a connection between basic science and math skills and the kinds of fabulous and important things you can do that are socially relevant and personally important to a lot of these young people.鈥�

fall between February and May, depending on the program.

That鈥檚 a fancy way of saying bots are increasingly capable of sounding human, putting humans increasingly at risk of bonding with them. OpenAI admits its own catch-22: These improvements create 鈥渂oth a compelling product experience and the potential for overreliance and dependence.鈥� In short, as the tech gets better, the social risks get worse.

Ed tech tools are not immune to this challenge. As AI floods the market, technology companies and district leaders alike must start asking the hard question: If bots are increasingly built to emulate human relationships 鈥� if they are being engineered to sound human 鈥� are they also being designed to help connect students to actual humans?

If not, AI tools run a big risk of displacing their human connections. That poses long-term risks to students鈥� well-being, their ability to maintain human relationships and their access to networks that open doors to opportunities.

In a new report, , Anna Arsenault and I set out to analyze whether and how that question is being addressed in AI-enabled college and career guidance.

This is a domain where chatbots are especially likely to take hold. On average, high schools have one guidance counselor for every . Research suggests a mere of high school counselors鈥� time is spent on career advising. Such scarce human resources create gaps where chatbots can help, offering students on-demand personalized advice about applying to college, graduating and launching careers.

Our report features insights from founders, CEOs and chief technology officers at over 30 technology companies that build and implement chatbots to support students as they apply to college and continue through to their careers.

Based on these interviews, Open AI鈥檚 warnings about anthropomorphization 鈥� attributing human characteristics to non-human things 鈥� ring true. For example, most college and career bots have names and are designed to mimic cheerful, upbeat personalities. Many go beyond informational support to offer students emotional and motivational assistance when counselors can鈥檛.

Are students over-relying on these bots? It鈥檚 too early to tell. But while most of the leaders we interviewed envision a system of hybrid advising that gives students access to both bots and human coaches, the majority admitted that some students gravitate toward bots in hopes of avoiding human interaction altogether.

In short, the possibility that students may start to bond with and rely on bots, rather than humans, is very real.

Luckily, a number of the leaders are taking steps to build bots that foster relationships, rather than just mimicking them. Here are five examples of efforts to ensure that authentic human connection is an outcome, rather than a casualty, of AI products:

Promoting frequent social interaction offline: , which spun out of Arizona State University鈥檚 student-led , is an AI companion that supports students鈥� personal growth. The bot has been trained to learn about the relationships in students鈥� lives. If students tell the bot they are struggling or bored, it will suggest reaching out to specific friends or family members. Axio has also worked to curb overreliance by limiting students鈥� time on the app.

Involving students鈥� families and friends: is a nonprofit that operates a virtual community center where students can interact with AI-powered coaches that help them apply to college. To ensure that those digital relationships don鈥檛 replace real ones, Uprooted Academy asks students to identify up to five supportive individuals in their lives when they enroll. The tool automatically updates those five people by text message every two weeks with recommendations for supporting students鈥� college progress.

Prompting conversations 鈥� even the hard ones: , an AI counselor and tutor, coaches high school students throughout the college application process. Through conversations with the students, CollegeVine鈥檚 bot, Sage, keeps track of how they describe their interactions with advisers and teachers. When it comes time to ask for recommendation letters, the bot can coach students on whom to ask and how to address any challenges they might have faced in interacting with those adults.

Matching students and mentors: is a platform that recruits online volunteer mentors to coach high school students on projects related to their academic and extracurricular interests. The company recently released an AI success coach, Lubav, which helps students find the right mentors on the platform and craft messages to them.

Practicing networking through online role-playing: is a chatbot designed to help students practice asking for help. The platform includes a series of career development activities in which students practice for interviews with the bot and draft networking and job-hunting emails, social media messages and letters asking for references.

These examples highlight AI’s potential to strengthen human connections. However, the incentives to build relationship-centered AI tools are weak. Few schools are asking for these social features or evaluating tools for their social impacts.

If things remain as they are, the more anthropomorphic bots simulate relationships across guidance, tutoring and student support, the more they could foster student isolation. 

But that outcome is not inevitable. Research underscores the importance of relationships in and . To live up to their mission, schools should prioritize human connection, ensuring that AI tools work for 鈥� not against 鈥� expanding students鈥� networks. Information technology coordinators and purchasers, superintendents, principals and educators who are involved in procuring new technologies should demand evidence that AI enhances relationships and implement data systems to track that progress. Entrepreneurs taking steps to safeguard and expand connections should be rewarded for their efforts.

Otherwise, ed tech companies risk the same catch-22 as OpenAI: building artificial intelligence that gets better and better, but to the detriment of the human relationships students need to thrive.

Disclosure: Julia Freeland Fisher serves as an unpaid adviser to Backrs.

He won one of 20 available slots in a new 鈥�  just one of three at Accenture 鈥� in a city of 20,000 public high school students. 

Three years later, Brown-Weaver, now 19, has become a full-time employee, earning more than $20 an hour as a package app developer at Accenture.

But a good friend who missed out on the apprenticeships is struggling. 

鈥淏ecause of the luck of the draw that I had (I’m working) 鈥� in the field that I want to be in,鈥� Brown-Weaver told a recent .

His friend, he said, 鈥渨orks part time at Target, making minimum wage.鈥�

鈥淚t’s sad to see that I simply just got lucky that day,鈥� Brown-Weaver said.

Providing high school students like Brown-Weaver a chance to try out possible careers has become a growing focus for families, public officials, schools and even businesses the last several years. 

But all work opportunities aren鈥檛 created equal. 

There’s a hierarchy of experiences that rise in commitment, intensity and benefit for students and providers 鈥�  with career days and job fairs at the low end. At the top end are internships, where students work with adults; and apprenticeships, longer programs where students are paid to work and earn career credentials.

Schools and communities routinely boast of making great efforts to better connect students with real work opportunities, but the reality is these efforts rarely go beyond career exposure events like career days or job shadows.

鈥淭he ultimate internship…a paid experience鈥e still have a long way to go to provide more opportunity for young people to experience those,鈥� said Julie Lammers, senior vice president of American Student Assistance, a non-profit connecting students to career training.

The best estimates available suggest five percent of students or less have the chance for the gold standard of work experiences 鈥�  apprenticeships or internships. 

At the request of 社区黑料, the U.S. Department of Labor compiled data showing a little over 10,000 16- to 18-year-olds started apprenticeships nationally last year 鈥� less than a tenth of a percent of the more than 13 million students that age. That鈥檚 including 18-year-olds who started apprenticeships after graduating high school.

It鈥檚 a dramatic difference from European countries such as Switzerland, where more than half of students use apprenticeships to start a career or as a stepping stone to university. Apprenticeships in Switzerland have the attention of Linda McMahon, the new appointee for U.S. secretary of education, who on the day her appointment was announced. 

There are more internships than apprenticeships for high schoolers, but still not many. A 2018 survey of more than 800 students by American Student Assistance, a non-profit that works with students on career choices, showed while 79 percent were interested in trying a work experience, only 2 percent completed an internship in high school.

Though the percentage of employers offering high school internships has, ASA estimates only four to five percent of students actually are participating in internships.

鈥楾hat鈥檚 still a very small number of young people,鈥� Lammers said. 鈥淭hose organizations may only be offering one or two opportunities, so the volume is still not there.鈥�

Lammers said schools are instead adding 鈥渢hings that expose young people to work, but are not necessarily training them in specific skills.鈥�

ASA鈥檚 recent survey found that close to half of employers offer mentorships, job shadowing, open houses and field trip visits 鈥� all valuable experiences for students but that barely scratch the surface of providing  the skills and training needed for the world of work.

Noel Ginsburg, co-chairman of the U.S. Department of Labor鈥檚 said schools and businesses can鈥檛 stop at just exposing students to careers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a bad thing,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not enough.鈥�

鈥淚t’s a lack of understanding what quality actually means when a school says, 鈥榃e have these partnerships with XYZ company, and they come in, they’re helping us in class, and sometimes they’ll donate old whatever (equipment to train with),鈥� Ginsburg said. 鈥淭hat’s not what apprenticeship is鈥ut that’s historically what it has been for them.鈥�

Experts have agreed on a rough hierarchy of work experiences for several years, often distinguishing between those where students 鈥渓earn about work鈥� and those where they 鈥渓earn how to work.鈥�

As a co-written by Advance CTE, the national association of state directors of career technical education, notes, 鈥淲ork-based learning includes a continuum of experiences ranging from less intensive opportunities such as career awareness and career exploration to more intensive opportunities such as career preparation and career training.鈥�

The Advance CTE hierarchy below is similar to those created in 2009 like, a Bay Area non-profit that has worked on career efforts in California and New York. It鈥檚 also similar to those used by nonprofits like Brookings, ExcelInED, ASA or adopted by states such as , , , or , sometimes labeling the top level as career immersion, development or participation.

Some take that hierarchy even farther. As officials in Indiana started developing plans for a statewide expansion of high school apprenticeships they ranked student work experiences with full registered apprenticeships at the top, pre-apprenticeships and other apprenticeships a level below, internships below those and work opportunities that teach students general employability skills a step lower.

The trouble is that while low-level career experiences like job fairs take just a few hours of time for students and businesses, apprenticeships and internships require much more effort from both sides. 

CityWorks DC, the program that organized Brown-Weaver鈥檚 apprenticeship, would like to expand to many more students, but is growing slowly.

鈥淲e definitely need more opportunities and hope to offer more, but one reason there are so few are the systemic barriers that make what we do very resource intensive and challenging,鈥� said Lateefah Durant, CityWorks鈥� vice president of innovation.

She said it can be hard to find students that can commit to working several hours a week and fit that within their high school class schedules. It鈥檚 also hard to find companies willing to take on high school students and train them.

In 2019, the program鈥檚 first year, one of nine companies that took on apprentices backed out. And one of the other Accenture apprentices alongside Brown-Weaver had trouble meeting standards and was dropped.

ASA鈥檚 2023 survey highlighted several common challenges businesses see as they start high school internships, including finding appropriate work for them, devoting staff to training them, scheduling around class schedules and whether students have transportation to work.

Companies are less likely to view high school apprenticeships as a key part of building a workforce than just as a way to give back to the community. Using apprenticeships and internships as a real talent strategy, as they are in Europe, is key to them ever becoming widely available, experts say.

Those findings are in keeping with challenges experts have pointed to as holding growth of internships and apprenticeships back.

Transportation is a big problem for lower-income students, who often need to improve their career chances the most but rarely have their own car. And class schedules, along with extracurricular activities, can be a big hurdle too since they can limit the time a student can spend in a workplace each day.

Indiana is among states trying to overcome these issues. Transportation costs could be covered by new Career Savings Accounts – state grants to students for training expenses. And the state is considering more flexible class schedules, so students can work at an apprenticeship a few days each week.

In many cases, with few companies stepping up to take on interns or apprenticeships, students are placed instead in government offices or with nonprofits that advocate for work opportunities. The D.C. program has apprentices with the Department of Labor and with New America, a left-leaning think tank that is part of the national Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship.

Indiana also placed early apprentices with Ascend Indiana, a non-profit that helped create them.

Schools and communities also lean on experiences that partly simulate or mirror work experience. These can include students doing exploratory summer internships with industry associations or schools that partner with companies so students earn money by doing a project, such as a small coding or marketing task, through school for the company.

Though there鈥檚 no consensus on where these fall on the continuum of work experiences, ASA鈥檚 Lammers said they can be worthwhile, if students are working on real-world problems for employers that intend to use the work product.

鈥淚f it is high- intensity project based learning, where young people are still exposed to a career鈥nd are able to understand that it’s not just sort of an academic exercise鈥� there is huge value in that,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t might not just be the nine-to- five paid experience that we sort of see in an internship, and that might be okay.鈥�

Others look to third parties that the field is calling 鈥渋ntermediaries鈥� to navigate some of the complex legal, liability and training issues, as well as to recruit, select and train students, along with training company staff in how to work with teenagers.

In Boston, the city鈥檚 Public Industry Council helps run paid summer internships for high schoolers, while also running staff training sessions to make sure students and companies benefit. CareerWise acts as an intermediary on some levels. Genesys Works, a non-profit, fills that role in eight regions 鈥� Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, Tulsa and Washington, D.C., with Jacksonville coming next year.

Genesys gives students eight-week of unpaid training in the summer after 11th grade before placing them in paid internships for 20 hours a week as seniors. Students are paid employees of Genesys, not the companies, but they work in the offices of companies like Accenture, Medtronic or Target, the latter in corporate offices, not stocking shelves or working a register like Brown-Weaver鈥檚 friend.

鈥淲e’re going to our corporate partners saying, like, what are the roles, entry level roles in your corporate offices that you are filling over and over again?鈥� said Mandy Hildenbrand, chief services officer of Genesys. 鈥淟et’s talk about how we can be a pipeline for that.鈥�

For many apprenticeship advocates, some of the barriers are more about attitudes than real problems. 

鈥淐ulturally, U.S. companies haven’t traditionally viewed themselves as a training ground or an extension of the classroom,鈥� said Ginsburg, founder of CareerWise, the nation鈥檚 largest youth apprenticeship program. 鈥淭here’s a big difference between having an intern look over your shoulder and actually expecting real work from an apprentice.鈥�

He said businesses should recognize that while they won鈥檛 see immediate returns, they will if they are patient and take the time to train students well.

鈥淚t’s hard,鈥� he said, 鈥渂efore it gets easy.鈥�

By 2030, Gen Z will make up . These young people represent the future of education, and K-12 leaders need a comprehensive plan for attracting and retaining them.

As superintendent of Bellwood School District 88 near Chicago, I believe teaching can be an attractive career choice for today鈥檚 youth. I鈥檓 proud that 21 Gen Z teachers (11% of our instructional staff) are working at Bellwood, where nearly all our students are identified as low-income. Here are five strategies I鈥檝e found to be effective in recruiting and retaining Gen Z educators.

First, we used the shortage we experienced as an opportunity to innovate. Like many districts nationwide, we saw our teacher retention rate plummet during COVID. At the start of the 2020-21 school year, 48 of Bellwood鈥檚 167 full-time educators did not return. But because the administration sought new ways to position Bellwood as an employer of choice, the retention rate increased from 71% in 2020 to 79% in 2022. In 2023, it reached a seven-year high of 87.5%. 

We reimagined classrooms to make them more functional and inviting for teachers and students. We also expanded recruitment by teaming up with the teachers union and local colleges. In partnership with , we launched a 鈥済row your own鈥� talent initiative this year, which aims to create a diverse pipeline of future educators from within the community by developing a residency-like advancement program. One candidate piloted the program last school year, nine candidates began the certification program this fall and 10 will enter the cohort in spring 2025. One of the administrative assistants in the program has already transitioned to a teaching role.

Second, we’re making sure young people know that teaching is a largely stable career that brings significant value to society. Education is one of the , with high demand across the country for qualified teachers 鈥� especially in hard-to-fill subject areas like special education, bilingual education, and math. But in the 2020鈥�21 school year, just 591,000 students were enrolled in teacher preparation programs, a decline of from 2010-11. 

In Bellwood, teaching is seen as a way to give back to the community. Many of the staff have deep roots here, and 38 have been with the district for more than 10 years. Some have spent as many as 20 years here. This commitment is a powerful draw for those who value purpose-driven work. Bellwood鈥檚 鈥済row your own鈥� program shows prospective teachers that the district is invested in their success, which encourages them to invest in their students in turn. 

Third, we leverage Gen Z鈥檚 desire for professional growth and career flexibility. Research suggests these benefits are extremely important to today鈥檚  young adults. , more than three-quarters of Gen Z employees want more opportunities to learn new skills, and 61% would like to move up in their careers or increase their responsibilities. 

Teaching can be a dynamic career choice, with opportunities for advancement into positions of leadership, policy or advocacy. This is something that district leaders should emphasize in their recruiting. But, they must also walk the walk.

In Bellwood, educators have access to flexible career pathways that align with Gen Z鈥檚 expectations for growth. We engage teachers in discussions about their own professional development, ensuring they feel a sense of agency and investment in their career trajectory. We have that count toward master’s degrees, with financial incentives tied to their professional advancement. Recognizing educators and supporting their ambitions makes the profession more appealing to the next generation.

Fourth, because new teachers likely have significant financial challenges such as student debt, policymakers and district leaders can make the profession more attractive to young people by creating affordable pathways such as apprenticeships, loan forgiveness and other incentives.

Bellwood鈥檚 on-the-job training program, created in partnership with BloomBoard, offers prospective educators a teaching degree paid for by the district. Instead of requiring participants to quit their jobs to complete a student teaching internship, they work full time in K-12 classrooms for the duration of the program, with hands-on practice and learning fully integrated into their workday. And instead of writing papers or taking tests, participants submit lesson plans, videos of themselves teaching and student work to their professors.  In addition, the district offers stipends and bonuses to teachers willing to take on hard-to-fill positions.

Lastly, Gen Z can be attracted by promoting teaching as a field ripe for innovation. Gen Z鈥檚 digital skills are essential in today鈥檚 classrooms, where how and what students need to learn is rapidly shifting as technology evolves. District leaders can appeal to young people by positioning teaching as a career where their understanding of technology can lead to meaningful change.

Bellwood鈥檚 investment in tools such as Chromebooks or tablets for every student, interactive whiteboards, fast and reliable wi-fi, and Google Workspace, ensures that the district’s classrooms are equipped for Gen Z educators to create dynamic and interactive learning environments. We also provide training on the use of technology for instruction, and district leadership has created a culture where teachers can feel safe to innovate and try new approaches in their classrooms, including lessons that incorporate new technology, project-based learning, or cross-curricular collaboration.

By investing in innovative recruitment and development strategies, districts can attract and retain the next generation of educators 鈥� ensuring students’ long-term success.

She was guided to enroll in early college classes. 

Early college or dual enrollment courses are growing in popularity. According to , the number of students taking early college classes nearly doubled between 2011 and 2021. And for students in my home state, enrolling in these courses that they will start college immediately after graduating from high school and then persist for a second year.  

However, this opportunity is not unfolding equally. A recent showed that in Massachusetts, 64% of students taking dual enrollment classes are white, while just 10% are Black and 14% are Hispanic. Eighty percent are from high- or middle-income neighborhoods, while just 20% are from high-poverty areas.

How can schools close those gaps and allow more students to benefit? By embracing the idea that with the right support, everyone can succeed in them.

There are many essential elements to setting up a successful early college program.

First, make all students sign up. When these programs are limited to just some students, it creates a deficit mindset that others aren鈥檛 college material. In the early college program started in 2022 at my high school, all students are required to try at least one college class, some as early as ninth grade. This sends the message that all students can reach their full potential in a college environment. 

Second, have committed higher education partners whose professors are open to teaching high school students. At my school, all early college classes are headed by professors. Some come to Veritas to teach their courses, while for other classes, students travel to local colleges.

Third, make sure the classes will earn students college credit. These courses must have the necessary rigor so students will earn credits that will travel with them no matter when or where they choose to use them. Right now, 41% of juniors at my school are on track to graduate in 2026 with both a high school diploma and an associate degree, which will give them an invaluable head start academically. And 80% of them have earned credits that will be accepted at any community college, state college or state university in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This will save them both time and money. 

Fourth, provide extra support. Besides the professor, there should be an additional teacher in the class who understands the material and can show the students how to manage their time and ask for help when they need it. This extra guidance should happen both during the class and in companion classes held on off days, when the professor isn鈥檛 present. Such help students learn essential study skills and raise their awareness of the support that will be available to them when they reach college. Since are often reluctant to take the initiative to engage with faculty members, working with these extra teachers can increase their comfort level, setting them up for success. 

Beyond awarding credits, early college classes change the way students view themselves. Most of our early college courses have a 100% pass rate, and the students say their confidence has increased because they know they can handle challenging material. They also report having increased awareness of the value of a college degree, opening up the possibilities to pursue new fields of study and careers.

Students have said early college classes have made them less scared about the prospect of going to college. They are comfortable calling their teacher 鈥減rofessor鈥� and they know what a syllabus is. The classes have helped them build habits of success like time management and self-advocacy. Upperclassmen taking courses at the community college now know how to navigate a campus and are better able to picture themselves attending college full time. They have access to college-level labs and equipment that are more sophisticated than a typical high school can afford; have experienced the benefits of visiting a professor during office hours; and are versed in how to leverage administrative resources if they need extra accommodations.

They also learn from their mistakes. For example, a few students were surprised by how much a final paper impacted their grade in their Principles of Marketing course. They revised their work and won鈥檛 make that error again.

The students鈥� success validated the high expectations set for them and proved that the support offered paid off, giving each one a strong educational pathway, wherever it may lead.   The five most powerful words any student can utter are, 鈥淚 am a college student.鈥� That ninth grader is now in 11^th grade. Since starting her first Early College class 18 months ago, she has not started one fight, has near-perfect attendance and has passed all her high school and early college classes. Helping her and other students 鈥嬧�媟each her potential will set them up for a brighter future.

Unfortunately, most American high school students, on both college and career pathways, are not receiving an education that delivers high-quality preparation for either path after graduation, and work-based learning in particular isn鈥檛 making the grade. Multiple surveys in recent years show that a large majority of and believe there is a significant gap between the skills they need and those that workers possess. 

In our own state of North Carolina, we see the business impact of the choices made in the state鈥檚 education system. Once tops in the nation for business, North Carolina was recently dethroned by its neighbor to the north, Virginia. Experts and media outlets point to Virginia鈥檚 as making the difference.

It鈥檚 past time to address this challenge, provide students with real entry to high-quality careers and give them meaningful opportunities for financial security through collaboration between education and business leaders, both in the Tarheel State and nationwide.

In Guilford County, North Carolina, future-focused partnerships between local industry and public schools are pushing in that direction, getting more students into career pathways in high-demand fields. The effort is offering young people a chance to gain the qualifications they need to successfully participate in the growing number of careers that require expertise in areas such as advanced manufacturing, cloud computing and AI, and logistics, both locally and nationally.  

In 2018, Guilford County Schools and local employers convened a blue-ribbon task force that included representatives of industry, nonprofits and colleges to identify the high-growth sectors for our region. Through a comprehensive local employment and skills needs assessment, this coalition created a vision and game plan for career-connected education. 

Today, six Signature Career Academies offer that equip students with skills and in artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, biotechnology, global logistics and supply chain management, and more. 

The experiences students have in the classroom, the technology and tools they use and the on-the-job training aspects of the curriculum are shaped by input from local employers and practitioners in the field. Many students earn wages while they learn 鈥� and certain pathways provide full benefits as students spend three days on the job and two days in traditional classes. They graduate with highly desired credentials and qualifications, debt-free, ready to step into good-paying careers or further education. 

Career exposure experiences start early for the district’s students, in upper elementary and middle school. Through a range of virtual 鈥淕et Into Industry鈥� tours; workforce symposia; AI skill simulators; and industry-specific computer applications that let students practice what they would do on the job, young people can see and feel what it means to work in a particular field. The objective is to spark curiosity that can uncover personal passions and, ultimately, career aspirations. And if students change their minds, there are multiple ways throughout high school for them to switch programs, try another industry or field and get into a new pathway.

More than 300 experienced instructors lead students through structured programs that mix classroom, virtual and on-the-job learning. To stay up to date on the latest advances and practices in their industry, instructors spend time during the summer in the field, bringing new knowledge and expertise back to their students and ensuring that programming stays current.

The results speak for themselves. In 2020-21, amid the pandemic, Guilford County students earned 2,966 industry-recognized credentials. The following school year, that number jumped to 7,118. This past school year, students earned 10,766 credentials, a more than threefold increase.  

In a moment when communities nationwide are struggling with chronic absenteeism and is markedly lower than that of , enabling young people to pursue fields and pathways of their choice makes education more relevant and, therefore, more engaging. that because of its relevance and engagement, high-quality career and technical education 鈥� like that in our Signature Career Academies 鈥� improves attendance and student outcomes. It also produces higher graduation rates. This past school year, the district’s four-year graduation rate hit an all-time high of 92.2%.

Our high-quality credentialing offers district students evidence of skill attainment while providing a powerful signal to employers 鈥� as well as those considering moving to the area 鈥� that the region is positioned to have a skilled workforce that endures, and a local economic base that is resilient and future-focused. 

When young people have access to high-quality, career-connected learning, .

A quarter of the way into the 21st century, and more than 40 years after warnings of A Nation at Risk, business and education leaders can help make learning relevant and engaging for students by working together, in ways both big and small. Doing so is not simply an investment in our students 鈥� it鈥檚 an investment in the future of America’s neighborhoods, towns, cities, states and the entire nation. 

Why? In 2023, employers added 3.1 million jobs 鈥� but many of those openings are going unfilled. In fact, there are 88 available workers for every 100 available jobs in the U.S.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s , 36% of people aged 25 to 34 say they鈥檙e primarily focused on acquiring new skills, education or training before they re-enter the job market. In an ideal world, the time to train them would be while they’re in school. However, counselors are stretched too thin to provide students with tailored guidance and steer them toward pathways that are essential for selecting degrees and certificates that align with their interests and aspirations. 

This shortage of high-quality advising and college and career exploration creates gaps not only between higher- and lower-income populations, but even within the same school, as students from specific populations 鈥� like those with disabilities, children of color or English learners 鈥� face additional barriers. Federal support is crucial for helping students from these underserved groups. It can help bridge these gaps and safeguard against disparities, ensuring that young people are guided to opportunities that will set them up for long-term success. By investing in these pathways, the federal government can help create a more equitable education system, which in turn contributes to a stronger economy. 

As detailed in our new report, “,” at the heart of a successful system is navigational support 鈥� dedicated guidance that helps students and their families make informed decisions at every stage of their educational journey.

Our vision for an ideal system is built on five key elements:

• Clear Choices: Students need a thorough understanding of their educational and career options. This includes knowing what pathways are available 鈥� from a traditional four-year degree to a certification earned at a community college to an apprenticeship 鈥� what each entails and potential outcomes.
  
• Start Smart: It is crucial that students and their families understand these available paths before high school. Early exposure and education about these options can help set students on a successful trajectory.
  
• Access for All: Information must be accessible to all students 鈥� in multiple formats and languages 鈥� to ensure that no one is left behind.
  
• Guided Beginnings: Students should have regular opportunities to explore postsecondary options beginning early in high school, and these should be integrated into the regular curriculum. This will allow students to make informed decisions as they progress toward graduation and will ensure that they don’t miss out on opportunities.
  
• Final Prep: As students approach the end of high school, they need dedicated, targeted support to prepare for their next steps. This includes help with college applications, financial aid guidance and career readiness programs.

For these reforms to be properly implemented in every school, All4Ed and EdTrust are advocating for a comprehensive federal response. This could include enhanced support and oversight through new grant programs and legislation mandating universal access to pathways counselors. Innovation and best practices must be incentivized, with partnerships fostered among K-12 schools, higher education and industry. Additionally, national training and certification for pathways counselors should be established, alongside robust monitoring and accountability.

These measures can help eliminate barriers that stand in the way of equitable access. Among these are the legacy of racialized tracking in career and technical education, a shortage of counselors and insufficient data-sharing about how long it might take to reach the top salary in a certain profession, job-associated health risks and similar issues. These are in addition to challenges faced by specific student populations, such as those in rural areas and multilingual learners.

This vision is not just an educational or economic imperative; it is a moral one. America must ensure that all children, regardless of their background, have the opportunity to pursue their dreams and contribute their talents to society. Federal leadership is essential in making this vision a reality, transforming pathways counseling from a privilege for a few into a right for all. Only then can the United States build a future in which every young person is empowered with the resources, opportunities and guidance needed for success.

In the 2020-21 academic year, just 4.4% of charter school students with disabilities and 2.8% of those in traditional schools took Advanced Placement classes, versus 21% and 15% of general education students, respectively. 

Just 2.6% of charter school special education students and 3.4% of those in district-run schools took dual-enrollment college and university courses, versus 11.5% and 8% of their general education classmates. 

The number of youth with disabilities taking college admissions tests was less than 10% in district-run schools 鈥� half the rate of general education students. Almost 9% of special education students in charter schools took the ACT or SAT, compared with 13% of their non-disabled peers.

Researchers cautioned that those rates were likely impacted by COVID-related school closures and an increase in the number of colleges making the assessments optional. But they noted that the disparity has persisted since 2012.

鈥淭he bottom line is that the overall percentages are just unacceptable,鈥� says Jennifer Coco, the center鈥檚 senior director of strategy and impact. 鈥淭he research shows that 85% of students in special education are capable of achieving on grade level. There鈥檚 no barrier that鈥檚 stopping them if their needs are met.鈥�

The report is the center鈥檚 fifth analysis of charter and district school enrollment of students with disabilities, based on the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 Civil Rights Data Collection, which documents educational disparities. Analyzing recently released data from the 2020-21 school year, the new report is the first to look specifically at access to career- and college-readiness opportunities.

鈥淚n our minds, it鈥檚 a clear call to action,鈥� says Coco. 

The center was launched in 2013 as the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools, with a focus on improving conditions for children with disabilities in the charter sector. Though gaps have narrowed, charter schools have long enrolled fewer students who qualify for special education and are often ill-equipped to serve those with the most profound challenges. 

Charter schools were conceived in part as places where educators could innovate, and the most effective have refined approaches that create better outcomes for low-income children and students of color. But to date, except for a handful of schools, they have not identified better special education practices. 

The proportion of rose from 10.7% in 2018 to 11.5% in 2021, an increase of 87,444 children. During the same period, the number of students in traditional district schools who have Individualized Education Plan, the legal documents that spell out how their needs will be addressed, rose from 13.2% to slightly more than 14%. 

The disparity in enrollment between charter and traditional schools is almost entirely in elementary and middle schools; high schools in both sectors serve special education students at roughly the same rate. Charter schools are much more likely to serve disabled children , a practice that increases achievement for special education students. 

“85% of students in special education are capable of achieving on grade level. There鈥檚 no barrier that鈥檚 stopping them if their needs are met.”

The report notes 83% of charter school special education students spend more than 80% of their day in a regular classroom, compared with 67.5% in traditional schools. Just 1.3% of children with disabilities participate in gifted and talented programs in district schools, compared with 6.4% of all students. In charter schools, 0.6% of disabled pupils participate in gifted programs, compared with 2.4% of the general student body. 

In the 2019-20 academic year, some , according to the National Center for Education Statistics. They are less likely than non-disabled college students to attain a degree, however, raising concerns about making sure they graduate high school prepared for higher education.

In 2023, the for disabled students attending four-year colleges was 49.5%, compared with 68% of non-disabled students. Just 37% report their disability to their college, and of those who do, many don鈥檛 receive accommodations. A bill before Congress, the , would require colleges to make it easier for students to get disability supports.

Finally, the center took at 176 charter schools that have a specific focus on students with disabilities, especially those with autism, emotional disturbances and intellectual disabilities. More than half of these schools are located in Florida, Ohio and Texas. Further study is needed to understand why families choose these segregated schools and how student services may differ from those provided in district-run classrooms.