Adriana Harrington is the Managing Director of Policy for ExcelinEd.
States across the nation have been thinking about how to strengthen their education to workforce pathways. However, many state efforts to develop high quality pathways have been focused on “shiny objects” –those popular programs of themoment. While laudable, these efforts do not recognize that states need to develop a full continuum of policies, programs and supports – if all learners are going to have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. After reflecting on our own work and conversations that we were having with partners, we realized that we often fall into the category of focusing our college and career pathways efforts in a few areas. And while we do still firmly believe in the value of all these efforts, we wanted to make sure that the way we were thinking about our work, and how we were supporting states was comprehensive. PathwaysMatter.org is the tool that will enable us, and policymakers, to look across education to workforce policies and have the necessary conversations around strengths, opportunities and where to prioritize next steps.
SCORE’s guest blog below showcases how Tennessee is doing just that, thinking across its policies, to prioritize, innovate and think holistically to create more seamless pathways.
Building a strong, interconnected set of policies is essential to ensuring learners have on and off ramps for their educational to career journeys. Earlier this year, SCORE served on ExcelinEd’s Advisory Committee for Pathways Matter, a resource that outlines a continuum of 20 key policies that policymakers and systems leaders can use to think about what education to workforce policies exist in their state and what policies are necessary to create a robust learner continuum for all students.
While we have made progress in Tennessee, we continue to see a gap in ensuring the successful transition, persistence and eventual degree completion for too many high school graduates as they move into our community and technical colleges and four-year colleges and universities.
To address these challenges, SCORE is focused on the following policies that can help our state connect across the pathways matter continuum, think strategically on how to leverage existing policies and address gaps simultaneously across the continuum, building a web of supports:
Additionally, we are encouraging and facilitating new and innovative partnerships between K-12 and higher education.
Launched in 2020, Better Together is a joint K-12-postsecondary partnership between Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and Nashville State Community College (NSCC) to support MNPS students to and through college. The partnership focuses on initiatives that support students to successfully move from high school to college, such as dual enrollment, one-on-one near-peer tutoring and a student success course in the summer transition from high school to college. It encourages sharing knowledge, data, and experiences across sectors to address challenges and improve student outcomes for college readiness, access, persistence, and completion.
In Better Together’s first year, MNPS and NSCC changed strict GPA eligibility requirements for dual enrollment to expand access to college-level coursework in high school for 85 students in fall 2020 – a key strategy for improving postsecondary enrollment for students from historically underserved groups. This expansion materialized because foundational policies in college acceleration and college articulation agreements already existed.
Better Together also highlights the opportunities that come with better data coordination across K-12 and postsecondary. The program worked with tnAchieves – the statewide organization that facilitates the Tennessee Promise college access initiative – to construct a shared data dashboard that monitors students’ progress toward key milestones on their journeys to and through NSCC.
MNPS and NSCC continue to learn from this process, developing and codifying data-sharing agreements that facilitate sustained collaboration. This work will ensure that both partners can focus on designing and improving interventions that support students from a shared understanding of their needs.
SCORE is also supporting a similar student transition model between the more rural/suburban Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools and Austin Peay State University, both located approximately fifty miles north of Nashville. The goal of this partnership is to better prepare and guide students from the Clarksville Montgomery County School System into their postsecondary pathway of choice and ultimately to increase each student’s enrollment, persistence, and completion so they enter the workforce career-ready.
