Teresa Lundgren is a Senior Policy Analyst at ExcelinEd.
High-quality pathways can be a ticket to postsecondary attainment and long-term success in the workplace. Part of punching that ticket for learners is ensuring that pathways are well aligned with the needs of employers. A mismatch between the credentials that job seekers earn and what industries currently need can be a ticket to nowhere. Yet a common challenge among states is that available pathways do not reflect business and industries’ needs.
Addressing this challenge requires coordination across multiple agencies, sectors and systems. State policy plays an important role, because it can help ensure that stakeholders and systems are closely aligned on desired outcomes and can provide incentives for success.
Consider three critical policy elements that can bring pathway opportunities in line with employer needs:
Let’s look at how states can leverage these elements to strengthen the alignment of their education to workforce pathways.
A biannual state-level Return on Investment Analysis is designed to answer critical questions about what happens to learners who chose certain pathways versus others. The ROI process can be difficult, because pathway programs are often run through multiple government departments that can result in siloes and data and missing or disconnected data. While some questions might be difficult to answer at first, a recurring analysis is necessary so systems can be revised and steadily improved to produce better results for stakeholders.
Mississippi’s Comprehensive Career and Technical Education Reform Act, passed in March 2022, calls for an ROI of its workforce development programs across the secondary, postsecondary and workplace continuum. Preliminary results will be released this winter. The ROI is being conducted by the Office of Workforce Development/AccelerateMS in conjunction with the Mississippi Department of Education, the state’s Community College Board and other partners. AccelerateMS plans to leverage findings to strengthen program offerings – and their outcomes – to better benefit learners.
After the ROI analysis is complete, the work is not over. An ROI should identify which pathways are most successful, which industries need new pathways and which pathways should be de-emphasized or phased out entirely. After evaluating these paths, state leaders can roll up their sleeves and turn to the work of developing, supporting and investing in high-quality CTE programs.
Prepare Rhode Island provides a good example of a clear process and guidelines for accepting new high-quality CTE programs. PrepareRI is a cross-agency initiative with representation from K-12, postsecondary and the Governor’s Workforce Board. Through this collaboration, and the oversight of the CTE Board of Trustees, Rhode Island has implemented a data-driven approach to pathways development. The approach includes emphasis on its culminating credentials, alignment with academic standards, articulation with college programs, employer engagement and work-based learning.
Lastly, states can to encourage development of pathways that include options for learners, including work-based learning, college acceleration opportunities and industry-valued credentials. Industry credentials can be an integral part of a high-quality pathway, but only if they set up learners for future success in the job market and provide employers with the skillsets they need. For example, many software companies including Apple, Tesla and IBM no longer require bachelor’s degrees for entry-level positions, instead accepting certificates or apprenticeships that prove knowledge and experience in programming.
To help incentivize attainment of high-quality credentials, Colorado’s Career Development Incentive Program provides schools with up to $1,000 for each credential earned by students. A form of outcomes-based funding, this approach benefits not only schools but increases the number of students who exit with proof of necessary skills on their resume. The number of students who exit with credentials should ideally be used as a metric of CTE program success for the state’s next ROI, starting the process of pathways improvement again.
ExcelinEd’s College and Career Pathways team helps state-level leaders, thinkers and policymakers from across the country through discussion, analysis and design of pathways policies within the Pathways Matter framework. Our National Summit on Education convened practitioners in Salt Lake City, Utah and featured panel discussion with leaders from Indiana, Texas and Mississippi on how they are leveraging policy and programs to address education to workforce challenges in their states, including running a Return-on-Investment Analysis. Listen to the panel discussion.
For more information, contact Adriana Harrington at Adriana@ExcelinEd.org . We look forward to working with you.
