The most common image when talking about workforce development is that of a “leaky pipeline;” where we lose people at every key transition point along the way to the labor pool. In high school, we lose the people who drop out before graduation. Among those who do graduate, we lose the ones who don’t go on to some form of postsecondary education. Among those who do pursue postsecondary credentials, we have another round of dropouts who leave before earning a degree or certification. As a result, the final pool of qualified workers is much smaller than the pool we started out with.

Our workforce development model was designed in the 1960s, and it worked because the largest demographic cohort in history – the Baby Boomers – was feeding into the pipeline. We had a huge number of people, and a limited number of jobs requiring advanced skills or credentials. But things have changed – the Boomers are leaving, and the number of jobs requiring advanced education and training has grown exponentially. So, the leaky pipeline model, which is still very much in place, is producing all kinds of worker shortages, as any employer can tell you.

To deal with this challenge, NC3T has instead been advocating for a “gardening” mentality, in which every seed is nurtured. That means providing every single student with opportunities to learn about the world of work, identify their interests, develop a path and pursue the opportunities that provide the best possible fit. It works for them as students – there’s plenty of research on improved outcomes and levels of engagement – and it works for them as entrants into the workforce. And of course, it works for employers as well.

Our approach is one of Career Connected Learning, ensuring that connections to the real world – specifically, the world of work – are made for every student. This is the heart of Career and Technical Education, though it can and should happen outside of a formal CTE program of study. Our role in this is to build awareness, advocate, train, and support the work that educators and policymakers are doing in this arena, and we look forward to working with all of you to build and manage rich, engaging experiences for every single student in our schools. To learn more about our work, visit www.NC3T.com.

Brett Pawlowski is Executive Vice President of NC3T, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (www.nc3t.com). NC3T provides planning, coaching, technical assistance and tools to help community-based leadership teams plan and implement their college-career pathway systems and strengthen employer connections with education.

Dual credit, in which a student receives college credits for taking classes while in high school, has been around for a while. But the idea of an early college high school is newer and has tremendous potential as a more immersive and structured approach for guiding students towards completion of a postsecondary credential.

The Education Commission of the States offers a clear explanation of the early college high school model: “Starting in ninth grade, students embark on a curriculum of high school and, increasingly, postsecondary coursework. Five years later, students will have concurrently earned a high school diploma and an associate degree, technical credential or 60 credit hours of postsecondary coursework, allowing them to enter a four-year postsecondary institution as a junior.”

Most of these schools are built in partnership with a two-year college, allowing students to earn an Associate’s Degree that connects to an in-demand field; one of the more visible examples of this is the Pathways in Technology Early College High School, or P-TECH, which started in New York City as a collaboration between IBM, City University of New York – City Tech, and the New York City Department of Education.

While rarer, there are early college high schools that partner with four-year institutions; my son is fortunate to attend one here in Charlotte called the Charlotte Engineering Early College, or CEEC. CEEC was created as a collaboration between Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC-Charlotte). It’s a five-year school sitting on the campus of UNC-Charlotte; by the time they graduate, they can have gained up to 60 credits with this four-year system.

The first couple of years consist of high school classes, made more rigorous by using Project Lead the Way curricula and by the school’s partnership with the National Academy Foundation (it’s a NAF engineering school). The reason for the rigor: Students start taking college classes, on campus, sitting with college students, in 11^th grade, and the bulk of their classes through 13^th grade will be UNC-Charlotte offerings.

There’s a strong counseling component and a concerted effort on business engagement, with students regularly hearing from guest speakers, doing company tours, and participating in internships in later grades. I’m grateful for the opportunity my son has received (we were lucky, getting in via lottery), and can already see the difference this will make in his future.

Brett Pawlowski is Executive Vice President of NC3T, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (www.nc3t.com). NC3T provides planning, coaching, technical assistance and tools to help community-based leadership teams plan and implement their college-career pathway systems and strengthen employer connections with education.

Here’s a heads up about a new report from Gallup that sheds light on the mindsets of American K-12 superintendents.  The report is called “Leadership Perspectives on Public Education” and you can get a copy here – https://www.gallup.com/education/241151/gallup-k-12-superintendent-report-2018.aspx

A few of my insights from the Career Connected Learning perspective —

1. I was disappointed that career readiness/career development doesn’t appear to be on the Superintendent’s radar as a key challenge for their districts.  Or perhaps it just wasn’t part of the survey by Gallup.  Academic performance, poverty-related challenges, and recruiting/retaining teachers were seen as the top 3 challenges, with nothing relating to career development or work-based learning.

2. On a more positive note, “how engaged students are with school” was seen as the most important measure of school effectiveness, with 91% of superintendents saying it is very important. Other top priorities were “how hopeful students are about their future,” and “percentage of students who graduate from high school.”  Going to technical school, college or community college was seen as very important/somewhat important by over 95% of superintendents, but the engagement, hope, and high school graduation were seen as Very Important, perhaps because these are factors that are more immediate and under the influence of school districts.

3. In terms of strategies to implement relating to college preparation, social and life skills were seen as very important by 66% of superintendents. Career Counseling or other CCL were not listed at all as valuable strategies for college preparation.

4. Job shadowing/entrepreneurship were seen as the top strategy for workforce preparation (69%), and developing social skills was second. Even in the realm of workforce preparation, career counseling was seen as important by only 13% of superintendents.

My Take-Away

This report is helpful because it’s important to know the mindset of superintendents.  Unfortunately, from this research, I think it is safe to say that career planning and career development are not seen as valuable strategies by many superintendents, and certainly not relevant for “college-bound” students.

In short, superintendents, in general, seem to want the right outcomes (engagement, hope, graduation, college-work transitions), but they don’t see a connection or value to Career Connected Learning strategies.

We CCL advocates have our work cut out for us – to help connect the dots between CCL strategies (career development, pathway programs, work-based learning) and the greater student engagement, hope, and successful college and work transitions that superintendents want to achieve.

Hans Meeder is President of NC3T, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (www.nc3t.com).  NC3T provides planning, coaching, technical assistance and tools to help community-based leadership teams plan and implement their college-career pathway systems and strengthen employer connections with education.

From time to time, both through our Engage.Connect newsletter and through this blog, we’ll be sharing resources that will help you strengthen your Career Connected Learning efforts in various ways. This month I’m pleased to share a Partnership Practices Rubric to help you improve the effectiveness of your industry and community partnership efforts.

This rubric, presented in PDF format, highlights effective practices in the following areas:

• Recruiting
  • Communication
  • Outreach
• Partnership Design
• Management/Administration
• Measurement and Evaluation
• Reporting
• Sustainability

If you’re interested in building a strong and sustainable partnership network, these quality standards should help you review your current efforts and build a powerhouse program. And please note that we’d love feedback on this resource; contact Brett Pawlowski to share your thoughts and experiences!

Brett Pawlowski is Executive Vice President of NC3T, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (www.nc3t.com). NC3T provides planning, coaching, technical assistance and tools to help community-based leadership teams plan and implement their college-career pathway systems and strengthen employer connections with education.

Partnership Practices Rubric

Over the last four decades, the national narrative has focused on the hollowing out of American towns that were once hubs of farming or manufacturing.  The narrative goes — as jobs dried up, hopelessness set in and left economic and social dysfunction in their wake.

But is that the REAL story?  I’ve been reading an excellent book that turns this narrative on its head, instead observing that there is a resurgence in many towns and small cities, a resurgence that is not flashy, but is consistent and positive.  It is built on the human energy of relationships, collaboration, and strong local leaders.

The book is “Our Towns, A 100,000 Mile Journey Into the Heart of America,” by James Fallows and Deborah Fallows.  The story follows the Fallows over four years as they travel, in their small propeller airplane, from one small town to the next, talking to the new-age pioneers, listening to their stories, and making observations about what’s happening on the ground.

Here are the towns and small cities in the order the Fallows visited between 2013 and 2016: Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Rapid City, South Dakota; Holland, Michigan; Burlington, Vermont; Eastport, Maine; Greeneville, South Carolina; St. Marys, Georgia; Columbus, Mississippi; Caddo Lake, Louisiana-Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Duluth, Minnesota; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Charleston, West Virginia; Guymon, Oklahoma; Ajo, Arizona; San Bernardino, California; Riverside, California; Redlands, California; Winters, California; Bend, Oregon; Redmon and Prineville, Oregon; Chester, Montana; The American Prairie Reserve, Montana; Dodge City, Kansas; Garden City and Spearville, Kansas; and, Erie, Pennsylvania.

Each chapter is written in a friendly, narrative style, not like a formal case study.

After telling the story of the individual towns, the authors identify 10 (and a half) characteristics they observed, almost all of which were in play in each of these towns.  Not every community had experienced a full level of revitalization, but at the time of the visit, were moving in a positive direction.  It seems to me that at least two of the 10 characteristics have a strong connection to our focus in this blog – Career Connected Learning.

The 10 characteristics are:

1. People work together on practical local possibilities, rather than allowing bitter disagreements about national politics to keep them apart.
2. You can pick out the local patriots (a small group of local leaders really matter).
3. The phrase “public-private partnership” refers to something real.

On this note, several examples of what the authors called public-private partnerships had to do with education and worker training.  The “private” side of this equation was getting employers involved, and the “public” side was tax-payer funded entities like the public-school system, community college, and in one case, a correctional institution.

One example was Technical Employment Training Inc, a non-profit business and education cooperative, in partnership with San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools to provide manufacturing trades education and hands-on skills training to prepare them for a skilled workforce.  Another chapter talks about the Christo Rey high school in Columbus, Ohio, which operates an innovative work-study program with over 100 private sector, non-profit and governmental employer partners.  The school itself is private, but many of the employer partners are governmental and non-profit organizations. (See http://www.cristoreycolumbus.org/workstudy).  As a side note, the documentation on the work-study program at the school’s website is an excellent resource for anyone interested in quality work-based learning.

4. People know the civic story.
5. They have downtowns.
6. They are near a research university.
7. They have and care about, a community college.
8. They have distinctive, innovative schools.

Throughout the book, there are several other interesting examples of schools that had a strong employer presence as a partner.  And even when the authors didn’t uncover it, I know of vibrant examples of CCL happening in places like Louisville, Kentucky, Erie, Pennsylvania, and a more recent work-in-progress, Rapid City, South Dakota.  Sooner or later, I believe that any community that is serious about revitalization is going to discover some form of Career Connected Learning.

9. They make themselves open (welcoming newcomers).
10. They have big plans.

10 ½ was the observation that all of these towns also have good micro-breweries, which is a sign of entrepreneurship and the “hip” factor that attracts and keeps young professionals.

The book brings to life many of the concepts that I learned about in an earlier book by Jim Clifton, “The Coming Jobs War.”  Jim Clifton, Chairman of Gallup, said that Gallup’s research always points to local leaders who really care about the community, and organize the social and economic forces to make positive change happen.  In his words, “Don’t allow your local constituencies to look to Washington.”  Clifton’s sentiments echo characteristic #1 of the Fallows’ list of common characteristics, the one about working together on “practical, local possibilities.”  If we can avoid national political feuds as much as possible, people of good will can actually work together and get great things done.

Let’s start with something that makes eminent sense – Career Connected Learning.

Hans Meeder is President of NC3T, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (www.nc3t.com).  NC3T provides planning, coaching, technical assistance and tools to help community-based leadership teams plan and implement their college-career pathway systems and strengthen employer connections with education.

Student-run enterprises, in which students act as an informal or formal business to provide a product or service to the community or to fellow students, serve as a great way for young people to learn about all the different elements of running a business while generating funds for some purpose.  While doing some partnership workshops earlier this year in South Dakota, an attendee shared a great example of such an initiative. (And regretfully I didn’t get the educator’s name or I’d be able to attribute the example.)

In her rural community, the student newspaper was going to close due to lack of funding. Her students decided to offer a family photo service to the community, charging $20 per session and providing families with a CD of the final photos that they could then take to Wal-Mart or CVS to have prints made. A local photographer offered some older (but still attractive) backgrounds for free, and the students ran the initiative on nights and weekends. They earned enough to keep the program going and gained some valuable experience in the process.

A couple of interesting takeaways: First, people found this to be an extremely valuable offering in the community, with families who otherwise might not be able to afford a session with a studio photographer finally able to get a high-quality family photo done. And second, their work was of such high quality that Wal-Mart told them they needed to get releases before having them printed – they couldn’t believe these weren’t professionally done!

Not only did the students fund their program, but they got great experience in the process and built new relationships across their community. A “win” for all involved!

Brett Pawlowski is Executive Vice President of NC3T, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (www.nc3t.com). NC3T provides planning, coaching, technical assistance and tools to help community-based leadership teams plan and implement their college-career pathway systems and strengthen employer connections with education.

Over the past few years, Hans Meeder, president of NC3T, has been blogging on pathways-related issues on this site under the name Pathways Sherpa. If you’ve been a regular visitor to this space, you saw the Pathways Sherpa blog go on summer vacation, followed by today’s relaunch under a new name, CCL InSight.

What gives?

Simply put, after a lot of thinking and a lot of internal and external conversations, we realized that we needed to speak more broadly than we had been. College and career pathways are an excellent strategy, one which time and again make an outsized impact on the students, staff, and industry and community partners who launch and manage them. But we realized that, while pathways are an ideal, they aren’t always a fit 100% of the time in 100% of circumstances. Sometimes there are other pressing challenges to be addressed; sometimes not all the pieces are in place; and sometimes schools and their communities need a more tangible, shorter-term starting point in order to prove the concept before investing more fully in such a model.

That’s why we’ve decided to start speaking more broadly about the importance of Career Connected Learning (the CCL in CCL Insight). Because any steps that educators at all levels can take in this direction are positive ones. Maybe you can’t launch a wall-to-wall pathways model – but engaging employers as speakers, mentors, and advisory board members still offers a great deal of value and relevance. Maybe you can’t start a career academy – but setting up site visits, job shadows, or internship can make a tremendous difference in the lives of students. Whatever steps you can take to connect learning to the real world, especially the world of work, can immediately improve the learning dynamic, improving engagement, student outcomes, and community support for your students, staff, and school.

Going forward, both Hans and I will be writing regularly about various aspects of Career Connected Learning, touching on theory, major developments (Perkins is top of our list to cover!), resources, and hands-on strategies. We hope you’ll join us as we go forward; the most important voice in this conversation belongs to those doing this important work in school and businesses across the country.

Brett Pawlowski is Executive Vice President of NC3T, the National Center for College and Career Transitions (www.nc3t.com).  NC3T provides planning, coaching, technical assistance and tools to help community-based leadership teams plan and implement their college-career pathway systems and strengthen employer connections with education.