A Clearer Path to College and Career Success the Great Lakes College and Career Pathways Partnership
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A Clearer Path to College and Career Success The Great Lakes College and Career Pathways Partnership AT A GLANCE AUTHORS This case study details how the four communities Michael Grady of the Great Lakes College and Career Pathways Independent Consultant Partnership are working to systematically move Kyle Hartung the needle to ensure that all young people are Senior Director, JFF prepared to not only meet the current and emerging needs of the workplace, but to also find MAY 2019 value and meaning in their working lives, and fully realize their best possible futures. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A Clearer Path to College and Career Success Across the country, there is consensus that we must better prepare all young people to succeed in today’s rapidly changing economy. But there is little consensus on how to do it. Launched in 2016 by the Joyce Foundation, the Great Lakes College and Career Pathways Partnership aims to meet this need through creating and expanding high-quality college and career pathways to advance equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region. GLCCPP supports four communities that each bring a unique approach to this work: CREATED BY the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, Illinois; Rockford, Illinois; Madison, Wisconsin; and Central Ohio. All GLCCPP communities are working toward ONE COMMON GOAL to create sustainable systems of college and career pathways AUTHORS that increase the number of young people—especially students of color and from low-income households—who successfully Michael Grady Independent Consultant transition from high school into college and career. Kyle Hartung Senior Director, JFF All four are grounded in a shared commitment to equity, collaboration, and sustainability. They draw upon national best practices and strategies to inform how they establish strong leadership and governance structures, seamlessly align students’ academic and career preparation across high school and college experiences, and develop systems to provide equitable access to work-based learning that connect youth to the world of work. 1 The strategies and approaches across the GLCCPP communities elevate promising examples of new and emerging capacity to provide high-quality pathways experiences to all students: In the Northwest Suburbs of In Madison, Wisconsin, school Chicago, leaders in secondary district, city, county, higher education, education, higher education, and and industry leaders engaged the local industry are collaboratively building community in co-designing a system of a system of pathways that is tightly personalized pathways in health services. aligned with regional economic needs and With approximately 25 percent of students in opportunities. Supported by the Northwest grade nine already enrolled in this pathway, Educational Council for Student Success, Madison reports promising first-year which helps to coordinate across partners, academic gains for participants, most notably the region has experienced a significant for black students, and is preparing to offer increase in the number of students taking new pathways and reach more students college credit courses during high school, across the district. Strong collaboration especially among students of color. The with local industry partners is expanding Northwest Suburbs is a national leader in the region’s capacity to provide work-based providing work-based learning at scale for learning at scale. pathways students. Central Ohio’s regional commitment Rockford, Illinois, capitalized on an to pathways has yielded early gains in existing career academy infrastructure equity, including significant decreases in its high schools to develop pathways in racial and socioeconomic gaps in that are more closely aligned to the numbers of students who earn a college industry demand, college and credential degree or credential. The region’s pathways requirements, and students’ interests. The initiative is aided by fully engaged industry local community college and Rockford partners and a supportive state education Public Schools partnered to expand college and workforce policy environment. With credit course opportunities for high school strong leadership from Columbus State students. With the support of Alignment Community College, Central Ohio serves Rockford, the community is now piloting as an example of how to catalyze a vision a grade-level framework for work-based to design a pathways approach that learning that will provide all students with spans a number of districts across a large increasing exposure to the workplace in their metropolitan region. chosen fields of study. 2 Collectively, the GLCCPP communities reduce remedial education needs and show early positive gains for students: expand dual enrollment options for • A greater representation of students students—including defining roles and of color, students from low-income responsibilities for providing student households, students with special needs, supports and English language learners are • Communities need to build the capacity enrolled in college and career pathways of local data systems to collect, report compared to the overall student on, and use student data to continuously population improve upon the implementation of • Increases in students earning college college and career pathways credit during high school • This report offers further key lessons • More pathways students are on track for civic and regional leaders, secondary for graduation compared to their and postsecondary system leaders, non-pathways peers education and industry partnerships, and state policymakers to consider as • Narrowing of racial gaps in they design, launch, and scale college students’ academic achievement and career pathways systems in their The individual and collective efforts own regions or states of the GLCCPP communities hold key The progress within and across the four lessons for leaders in other regions who GLCCPP communities provides insight aim to improve outcomes and expand into how other communities across the opportunities for young people through country can systematically move the equitable pathways systems, including: needle to ensure that all young people • High-quality college and career are prepared to not only meet the current pathways need to be anchored in equity and emerging needs of the workplace, but to ensure that all students, especially to also find value and meaning in their students of color and students from low- working lives, and fully realize their best income households, can access high- possible futures. quality college and career opportunities after high school To learn more, please visit the Great Lakes College and Career Pathways Partnership • Employers need to be strategically website at www.glccpp.com and JFF’s engaged to scale high-quality, work- GLCCPP resource page at www.jff.org/ based learning experiences for students glccpp. • High schools and college partners need to jointly develop policies to 3 Table of Contents Introduction 1 The Great Lakes College and Career Pathways Partnership 4 Building Local Capacity 7 Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, Illinois 10 Rockford, Illinois 19 Madison, Wisconsin 28 Central Ohio 37 Key Lessons from the GLCCPP Communities 46 The Road Ahead to Better Connect High School to College and Career 52 Endnotes 56 INTRODUCTION “It was my experience last year in Medical Terminology that convinced me to pursue a career in medicine.” —Shayla Sanchez, a high school senior in Illinois, on how her path to college and career came into focus Shayla’s experience came through Palatine High School’s Project Excel—a four-year program tailored for first-generation college goers. Project Excel allows academically promising students to explore career options and start earning college credits toward a degree while still in high school. Research shows that students need more than just academic content knowledge to thrive in college. First-generation college goers often face many barriers on the path to college. They need programs and opportunities that remove those barriers. They need a strong connection to a career they’re interested in and to feel that a degree is within their grasp, both academically and financially. Programs like Project Excel create those connections. 1 Working with grade-level groups of about of the obstacles that stand in the way of 75 students each, Project Excel provides success for college-bound, first-generation academic support and counseling, builds students. Now, she sees a clear path to her social-emotional skills and behaviors, and degree and a great career: guides students through the often thorny It’s meant so much to me to have and overwhelming process of college support from both Project Excel and all discovery and application. my teachers for these past four years. I’ve been able to visit colleges and meet “Project Excel helped me discover my college representatives and get help interest in medicine,” Shayla said, “and filling out my college applications and guided me through the courses I needed to FAFSA. And I really needed this help complete so I could take three dual credit because, as a first-generation college courses in my junior and senior years.” student, my parents don’t really know Shayla—who also runs track and cross- all the steps it takes to get ready for country, is a member of the photography college. and student exchange clubs at her school, Shayla can now confidently take the and is deeply involved in her church and next step in her health sciences studies. community—progressed through