Transcript Summary: Observations from the Pathways Asset Mapping

PATHWAYS TO
PROSPERITY:
The Struggle to Create Better Transitions
from Education to Careers for America’s
Young People
Nancy Hoffman, Jobs for the Future
November 2012
Pathways to Prosperity Network
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Pathways to Prosperity Network
WE CAN AND
MUST DO MUCH
BETTER…..
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THE NINE THROUGH FOURTEEN SOLUTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Intermediary
links between
education and
employers
Engaged
employers
offering WBL and
internships
Early, sustained
career
counseling
9-14
Pathways
linked to
careers
Committed state
leaders and
favorable policy
environment
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BENEFITS TO EMPLOYERS AND THE HEALTH OF THE ECONOMY
Early and
sustained career
advising
Intermediary
links between
education and
employers
9-14 Pathways
linked to careers
Employers
hire wellprepared
Committed state
leaders and
favorable policy
environment
professionals
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PATHWAYS INITIATED VARIOUSLY ACROSS THE NETWORK
• Illinois: Governor, Illinois Pathways Interagency Committee
• Maine: Governor, Employer community
• Massachusetts: Secretaries of Education, Housing and Economic
Development, and Labor and Workforce Development
• Missouri: Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of Education
• North Carolina: State Superintendent, state CTE director, North
Carolina New Schools Project
• Tennessee: Commissioner of Education, state CTE director
• **California: James Irvine Foundation (state membership under
consideration)
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WHERE DID THE JFF/HGSE TEAMS DO ASSET MAPPING?
REGIONAL SPECTRUM from URBAN to SUBURBAN to RURAL
• Metro region with anchor city:
•
IL: Chicago
•
MA: Boston and Metro West; Springfield and Hampden County
•
CA: Sacramento &San Bernardino/Riverside Counties
•
MO: St. Louis and surrounding counties
• Smaller cities:
•
CA: Long Beach
•
IL: Aurora
•
ME: Portland/Lewiston
•
NC: Southwest Region
• Rural with multiple counties:
•
TN: Upper Cumberland
•
NC: Northeast Region
• Regions are a starting place for demonstrating success, with a
focus on scaling Pathways statewide
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REGIONAL INDUSTRY FOCUS AREAS
Healthcare and
Health Science
IT
Advanced
Manufacturing
• Aurora, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis
• Aurora, Chicago, Metro West, Portland/Lewiston, St.
Louis
• Aurora, Chattanooga (STEM), Hampden County,
Portland/Lewiston, St. Louis
Transportation,
Distribution, Logistics
• Under consideration in some regions
Agriculture, Biotech
• Under consideration in some regions
Sustainable
Technologies
• Under consideration in some regions
Financial Services
• Under consideration in some regions
Note: NC is in the process of determining their industry focus areas.
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MOST PREVALENT CAREER AREAS OF FOCUS AND
GREATEST PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT NEED
Information
Technology
Cross-cutting and key
to all 21st century
careers, not just in IT
fields
Health
Careers
Advanced
Manufacturing
Growing field,
career paths must
be carefully chosen
Few know the
opportunities and
salaries, stigma
attached
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OBSERVATIONS:
EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT
• Good news: high interest and willingness to engage
• **Greater interest in engagement when building pipeline to specific
career areas, not general “please engage with schools”
• Opportunities for and experience with young people and their
teachers in many companies, but not systemic
• Understandable sentiment: “School reform is not our job;” motivation
must be “self interest” and a grain of altruism
• Enthusiastic response to the need to establish intermediary “driver”
and lead staff person
• Concerns about student skill deficits and attitudes
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OBSERVATIONS:
INTERMEDIARIES
• Regions recognize the need for intermediary functions
• Some candidate organizations exist, but few currently have capacity
or aligned core mission
• Leaders lack clear idea of what capacities are needed or how they
should be developed
• **All recognize that high schools, community colleges and employers
cannot develop WBL opportunities one by one, and that coherent,
systematized, sequenced WBL is key
• Current organizations manage many programs, but from student/user
perspective, opportunities don’t equal a system
• Candidate intermediaries include chambers, WIBs, built-for-purpose
alliances, school development nonprofits, CBOs, community college
workforce development or outreach offices…
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OBSERVATIONS:
CAREER ADVISING
• All adults agree that young people, teachers, and families need to
understand the educational requirements associated with careers of
the future, especially those requiring technical knowledge
• Regions lack:
 Systemic strategy to introduce young people to the world of careers
beginning in the middle grades (or earlier)
 **Strong and consistent connections:
• between career advising software programs, live human
advisors, and the curriculum
• between career advising and a consistently available sequence
of opportunities to learn about and experience workplaces
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OBSERVATIONS:
9-14 PATHWAYS
• Some high school and community college curriculum is in place—
•
•
•
•
•
•
health academies most prevalent, little in manufacturing
** Community colleges’ “high demand” career programs are often not
easily accessible to young entrants
Few high schools or community colleges know how many and which
young people get into and through “high demand” career programs
** Few 9-14 pathways align and integrate high school with community
college (exception: early colleges in NC and a few in other states)
Few pathways provide an accompanying sequence of advising linked
to WBL experiences
Educators need better understanding of and commitment to
integrated 9-14 pathways
Publicly funded dual enrollment/dual credit programs do not always
pay for tuition for courses outside of core academic areas
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OBSERVATIONS:
STATE LEADERSHIP & POLICY
• Apprehension about the adverse consequences for young
generation of unemployment and underemployment
• Acknowledge public will-building needed to combat stigma and
garner regional support for technical career pathways
• ** Willing to work with and beyond CTE to reach the 50% who
arrive in mid-20s without credentials
• Disconnect in several states between state goals and regional
resources and commitment
• ** Employers at table with education, labor, workforce
development, commerce departments, but need single “driver”
• Dual enrollment policy and financing in place but may need
expansion and consistent application
• Other policy sets re structured pathways may be needed
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EXEMPLARY STATE POLICIES, RESOURCES, AND INITIATIVES:
• New model legislation in some states, such as:
• Career and College Promise, NC
• AB 790 and SB 1070, CA (support Linked Learning approaches
and expansion of career pathways)
• New resources at state level, such as:
• Learning Exchanges, IL
• Innovation Campuses, MO
• Performance Incentive Funds to Community Colleges, MA
• Employers driving interest in advanced manufacturing
pathways and STEM fields, such as:
• Volkswagen and Wacker in Chattanooga
• Maine Manufacturing Association—100 jobs promise
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WHERE JFF CURRENTLY WORKS
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NANCY HOFFMAN
BOB SCHWARTZ
[email protected]
[email protected]
TEL 617.728.4446 FAX 617.728.4857
TEL 617.496.6303
[email protected]
Appian Way
Cambridge, MA 02148
www.gse.harvard.edu
88 Broad Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 02110
122 C Street, NW, Suite 650, Washington,
DC 20001
WWW.JFF.ORG