A Stronger Nation: The Lumina Foundation recently updated their data tool, A Stronger Nation, which measures the nation’s postsecondary education attainment rate. It provides data by national, state, county and metro level and disaggregates the data by race/ethnicity, age and credential type. The tool also measures the nation’s progress toward closing racial equity gaps in postsecondary education. The country’s current postsecondary attainment rate is 52% – 8 percentage points lower than Lumina’s 60% goal – and rates are much lower for Black Americans at 32%, Hispanics at 26% and American Indians and Alaska Natives at 11% due systemic inequities in education.

Blurring the Lines: For many students, postsecondary attainment is hindered by misaligned pathways between high school, postsecondary education and the workforce. After interviewing over 50 leaders from education and workforce sectors, JFF envisioned an innovative model that combines grades 11 through 14 to establish a pathway toward postsecondary credentials and career preparation. Institutions under the model would expose youth by the age of 16 to careers and offer two free years of college that provide valuable credentials, allowing young adults to enter the workforce or further postsecondary education. JFF describes four key features that would support this or similar models:

• Incentives driven by accountability metrics based on student success in work-based learning and employment outcomes, and financial rewards that provide funding to programs that assist students in the transition to postsecondary education, such as dual enrollment courses.
• Alignment of high school and college curriculum starting in grade 11, building on existing curricular alignment across CTE programs of study in high-demand career fields.
• A governance system, such as a state cabinet-level team, that oversees, secures funding and supports unified grade 11 through 14 structures.
• Staffing structures that equip specially trained educators and leaders to teach learning and work experiences for students in grades 11 through 14.

Pathways Matter to Families: ExcelinEd released a report to assist state policymakers and education leaders to increase awareness of education-to-workforce pathways. The report emphasizes that greater awareness can empower students and families to advocate for high-quality pathways. Researchers surveyed young adults and parents of middle schoolers, high schoolers and young adults and found the following:

• Parents and young adults agree that gaining skills and work experience set up learners for success after high school, but 20% stated that they are unaware if CTE is offered in their district.
• Schools do not advertise CTE to both groups as frequently as honors and advanced coursework. One-third of parents and young adults said they do not receive CTE information from their schools, and 45% of parents and young adults stated that they want more information about CTE.
• Information relevance and quality matter more than quantity when educating parents and students about pathways.

The report offered three solutions for states, districts and schools to increase awareness of education-to-workforce pathways: establish clear definitions and metrics for high-quality pathways, empower families with information and ensure high-quality pathway navigation support.

Invest Forward: The Education Strategy Group recently created the Invest Forward initiative to equip district and state education leaders with strategies to use their American Rescue Plan funds in ways that support postsecondary and career success. The website provides resources for district and state leaders and outlines four areas of potential investment:

• Building college and career momentum early in high school.
• Providing students with knowledge, experiences and relationships necessary for career success.
• Implementing opportunities to earn college credit or stackable credentials before graduation.
• Enrolling students in postsecondary programs leading to credentials with labor market value.

Similarly, the Alliance for Excellent Education released a policy guide outlining how states and school districts can use funding from coronavirus relief packages to support transitions from high school to postsecondary education. The guide emphasizes the following four key strategies:

• Implement enhanced college and career advising, develop strategies to assist low-income and first-generation college students during the college application process, and create summer bridge programs, which prepare students for college during the summer after graduation.
• Expand dual enrollment and early college high schools to expose students to postsecondary coursework and use as a credit-recovery strategy for those who struggled with virtual learning.
• Adopt college and career pathways that integrate rigorous academic coursework, CTE, work-based learning and support services to increase engagement and create pathways through postsecondary education to the workforce.
• Redesign high schools to include early warning systems to identify students at risk, opportunities to earn college credit and systems of support.

ACTE proposed similar strategies and provided additional CTE-specific ideas for deploying coronavirus relief funding in our spring 2021 publication High-Quality CTE During COVID-19: Leveraging Federal Relief Funds at the Local Level.