Essential Questions for Postsecondary Completion: Support Networks that Build Social Capital

Parental Press for Academic Achievement: The extent to which parents pushed student to do well in school. Students were asked the extent to which their parents/guardians: (1) encourage me to work hard in school; (2) talk to me about how I am doing in my classes; (3) encourage me to continue my education after high school; (4) talk to me about what I am studying in class; (5) talk to me about my homework assignments; (6) help me select courses that will prepare me for college or work; and (7) push me to take the steps I need to make my plans happen. The measure is constructed using Rasch rating scale analysis (Roderick, M. From high school to the Future). 

Parent/Guardian Structured Support: The extent to which parents helped student in the college search and application process. Students reported the extent to which their parents/guardians: (1) encourage the student to apply to several different schools; (2) talk to the student about what college would be like; (3) help the student fill out applications for colleges or vocational/technical schools; (4) help the student find scholarships to apply for; (5) help the student decide which school to attend; (6) discuss with the student how much tuition she can afford; and (7) help the student with college application essays or personal statements. The measure is constructed using Rasch rating scale analysis (Roderick, M. From high school to the Future). 

Peer Support for Academic Achievement: The extent to which peers provided support for academic success. Students were asked the extent to which their friends: (1) try hard in school; (2) discuss class activities; (3) help each other prepare for tests; (4) think it is important to do well in school; (5) help each other with homework assignments; and (6) think it is important to attend every class. The measure is constructed using Rasch rating scale analysis (Roderick, M. From high school to the Future). 

First-generation status of college applicant. The IHEP Toward Convergence framework recommends defining first-generation students as students whose parents’ highest education level was some college but no degree, or below (e.g., some college, no degree; vocational/technical training; high school diploma or equivalent; did not complete high school). According to the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) Longitudinal Study, degree completion rates increase from 35 % for students whose parents have no education beyond high school, to 56% for students whose parents have bachelor’s degrees or higher. While there is a linear increase in students’ completion rates as their parents’ education level increases from high school to some college, to associate’s degree, to bachelor’s degree, to professional degree, there is a sizable difference between students whose parents have less than an associate’s degree (43%) and those whose parents have an associate’s degree or higher (59 %) (IHEP, Toward Convergence).

KIPP Forward supports students to choose and prepare for the educational and career path that fits their goals and sense of purpose. Once on their way, KIPP Forward teams help alumni keep moving forward while pursuing their dreams. In collaboration with the nearly 400 KIPP Forward counselors across the country, KIPP provides high school students with: (a) Quality curriculum and college selection support in high school; (b) Guidance during the transition from high school to college; and (c) Access to partners that support students on their college and career journey (KIPP Forward).

The KIPP charter network has developed a College Match Framework that breaks down the key practices — and aligned performance indicators that schools can use to measure progress — that students and counselors should take throughout the college application and selection process. Students explore their “passion, purpose, and plan” to identify their priorities. They then build a “SMART Wish List,” with students encouraged to apply to at least six institutions, including a balance of schools they are “likely” to be accepted to, schools that are “targets,” and schools that are “reaches” based on their academic performance. Counselors have access to a dashboard that tracks student progress in meeting each of these goals. Schools continue to monitor students as they apply for financial aid, select an institution to attend, and complete the critical steps to enroll and transition in the fall. By following this approach, KIPP has found that students at all levels of performance are more likely to matriculate to colleges with historically strong graduation rates for Black and Latine students than their peers who apply to fewer schools (EdStrategy, From Tails to Heads).

Train youth serving adults in the developmental relationship framework. Search Institute created the Developmental Relationships Framework, five elements  —  expressed in 20 specific actions  —   that are proven to catalyze young people’s lives: express care, challenge growth, provide support, expand possibilities, and share power (Developmental Relationships).

Young people develop resilience when they have at least one well-rounded, strong, and sustained relationship in their lives. And they thrive when they experience a broader web of relationships in their homes, schools, programs, and communities (Developmental Relationships).

PACE is a college-readiness program that aims to boost high school graduation and college enrollment rates among low-income and first-generation students by offering comprehensive support. Established in 2011 in one high school with just seven students, PACE now operates in six Salt Lake County high schools, with plans for further expansion. PACE equips students with critical study and time-management skills, career exploration guidance, and mentorship in overcoming challenges. Graduates of the program earn up to six-semester scholarship to SLCC, empowering them to pursue higher education and contribute to Utah’s future. Through ongoing community investment and donor contributions, SLCC is committed to expanding PACE to serve even more students across Salt Lake County, building a brighter future for all. (PACE Scholarship Program).

The Posse Foundation’s model works for both students and college campuses and is rooted in the belief that a small, diverse group of talented students  —  a Posse  —  carefully selected and trained, can serve as a catalyst for individual and community development. For more than 35 years, Posse has identified and trained young people with extraordinary potential who might be missed by elite schools. Their program places Scholars in supportive, multicultural groups of 10 students   —   Posses. With mentoring and full-tuition leadership scholarships from partner colleges, Posse Scholars graduate at a rate of 90 %. As alumni, they are well prepared and positioned for success. (Posse Foundation).

EdRedesign’s Institute for Success Planning is building a movement toward a broader conception of education and youth development to ensure every child has the opportunity to succeed, irrespective of race, place, and income. Success Planning is a relationship-based approach that connects each child or youth to an adult Navigator who co-creates a personalized plan for action in partnership with their families and other caring adults. The plan highlights the child’s needs and strengths and identifies supports, enrichments, and other resources to remove barriers, help them thrive, and support their goals. Through a whole-child approach, Success Planning provides a mechanism to ensure every child is known, seen, and heard, has a positive connection to a caring adult, and has agency over their pathway to success. (EdRedesign, Institute for Success Planning).

Surround students with adults and peers who build and support their college-going aspirations. high schools should build and support students’ aspirations by developing social networks that encourage college attendance and assist students in preparing for college. College students and college-educated adults can serve as mentors for students, providing guidance and support throughout the college preparation process. Extracurricular activities and college access programs can encourage the formation of college-going peer groups that share an interest in pursuing college. high schools can use career exploration activities to develop students’ career interests and link those interests to postsecondary plans. (What Works Clearinghouse, Helping Students Navigate the Path to College).

Provide mentoring for students by recent high school graduates who enrolled in college or other college-educated adults. Link students to adults who can serve as college-going role models and build students’ interest in college. high schools can recruit college-educated professionals to serve as volunteer mentors by reaching out to local businesses interested in partnering with schools in the community. high schools also can identify volunteer mentors by recruiting local college students  —  particularly graduates of the high school  —  or partnering with a college that has service-learning opportunities for college students willing to work with high school students. Individuals who share the same background as students, such as high school alumni or professionals from the local community, may understand the types of challenges students face in reaching college (What Works Clearinghouse, Helping Students Navigate the Path to College).

Facilitate student relationships with peers who plan to attend college through a structured program of extracurricular activities. College access programs can bring a group of students together on a regular basis throughout the school year to focus on preparing for college. These programs develop college-going peer groups by providing opportunities for students to work together toward a common goal of reaching college. Activities that encourage students to interact and collaborate can encourage new relationships, and these programs can be used to promote a college-going identity. For example, a program might create visible markers of group participation, such as designating a group name and meeting space or developing a group newsletter. (What Works Clearinghouse, Helping Students Navigate the Path to College).

high schools also can develop student groups that encourage academically oriented friendships, such as a debate club or an honor society. Schools can infuse these extracurricular activities with a college-going message. For example, a debate club might visit a college to meet with the college debate team, or a community service club might collaborate with a student organization from a local college. (What Works Clearinghouse, Helping Students Navigate the Path to College).

Provide hands-on opportunities for students to explore different careers, and assist them in aligning postsecondary plans with their career aspirations. A high school can design a sequence of career exploration activities that identify students’ career interests and provide a variety of activities that inform and build on these interests. For example, career or interest inventories can be used to help students identify the type of work or career that interests them. high schools can use this information to invite local professionals from these career fields to speak about their education and career paths. Students can then be matched to job-shadowing opportunities that allow them to follow an adult throughout the day and experience the day-to-day work of a profession that matches their area of interest. By developing relationships with local employers, high schools can link students to job-shadowing activities and help interested students obtain short-term internships. (What Works Clearinghouse, Helping Students Navigate the Path to College).

Serve as college-going role models. Mentors can serve as examples of college-going adults from the community and share their experiences in preparing for college, completing a college degree, and pursuing a career. (What Works Clearinghouse, Helping Students Navigate the Path to College).

Assist with the college entry process. The one-on-one relationship mentors have with students allows them to provide individualized assistance with the college application and selection process for students interested in pursuing a four-year degree. This might include helping with a college application, reading an application essay, assisting with a financial aid application, or researching college options. (What Works Clearinghouse, Helping Students Navigate the Path to College).

Monitor academic progress. Mentors can monitor students’ academic progress by reviewing report cards and discussing students’ high school coursework. Mentors can advocate for students who are struggling academically to receive tutoring or additional help. (What Works Clearinghouse, Helping Students Navigate the Path to College).

Listen and advise. A mentor can simply serve as a caring adult who listens to the student, discusses his or her issues or concerns, and offers advice as needed. (What Works Clearinghouse, Helping Students Navigate the Path to College).

Student Leadership Network’s college access program addresses roadblocks on the road to college. The network creates college-bound cultures in under-resourced schools to increase college enrollment and completion. Dedicated, full-time, school-based counselors provide hands-on support to build early college and career awareness. (Student Leadership Network).

Coaching models: In coaching models, staff work collaboratively with participants in a nondirective way to identify their goals and support their progress toward goal achievement. Unlike many case management approaches where staff set goals for participants and define what actions need to be taken to meet those goals, coaches act as a partner to support and motivate participants. Coaching models have been used in a few Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs and increasingly to engage with and support Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program participants to improve employment and earnings outcomes, which makes these models especially applicable for expanded use with WIOA programs and services (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Intrusive advising: Often applied in an academic setting, intrusive advising involves advisors proactively engaging with students and encouraging them to be participants in the advising process, as opposed to being reactive and responding only to students’ requests for assistance. This model sometimes requires students to maintain attendance in advising sessions as a condition of enrollment in their academic program (Rajecki and Lauer 2007; Donaldson et al. 2016). In a workforce setting, a similar approach could include proactive outreach by case managers to provide career services to job seekers. In instances where a WIOA participant is also enrolled in a training program or where the AJC is co-located with a community college, for example, intrusive advising could be combined with services offered under WIOA (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Navigator models: A career navigator provides guidance in assessing career interests, understanding various steps to pursue a selected career, developing training plans, and guiding participants toward appropriate services offered by partner and other programs (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Strengths-based models: Strengths-based models, used in many settings including when working with individuals with significant challenges to employment, focus on the overall strengths of individual program participants and encourage self-efficacy in receipt of services. Prior studies of the effectiveness of this model for individuals with serious mental health challenges have found positive effects in multiple areas, including employment, independent living, and reduced hospitalizations (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Coaching model example: Goal4 It!™ This model focuses on moving from compliance-driven interactions to engaging, meaningful exchanges with participants to support and motivate them toward change. The model uses four steps  —  Goal, Plan, Do, Review/Revise  —  aimed at improving outcomes for children and families. It uses three main strategies: (1) reducing sources of stress, (2) strengthening life skills, and (3) forming relationships within and beyond the program. This model is currently included in the Evaluation of Employment Coaching for TANF and Related Populations (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Coaching model example: MyGoals for Employment Success (MyGoals). The MyGoals model is built on a sustained, three-year relationship between staff and the participant, focusing on helping participants achieve their goals by addressing challenges in executive functioning skills  —  the mental skills needed to complete tasks such as emotional control, stress tolerance, and time management (Riccio and Castells 2020). This model is currently included in the Evaluation of Employment Coaching for TANF and Related Populations (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Coaching model example: Family-centered coaching. The objective of this model is to support families holistically as they move toward goal achievement and economic prosperity. This includes a family-led and strengths-based approach with seven areas of focus: (1) child well-being and parenting; (2) employment, education, and career; (3) legal assistance; (4) financial assistance; (5) health and well-being; (6) family, friends, and relationships; and (7) basic needs  —  food, housing, transportation, and safety (Derr and Joyce 2020) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Coaching model example: Human services coaching. This model focuses on helping participants identify goals and drive motivation. Specifically, staff assist participants to direct, own, and experience the changes they want to see in their lives. Its core principles are to be person-centered, relationship-based, and goal-driven. Two additional coaching models are also included in the ongoing Evaluation of Employment Coaching for TANF and Related Populations (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Coaching model example: Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS). Administered by the Iowa Department of Human Rights, FaDSS focuses on assisting families at risk of long-term welfare receipt. This approach includes goal setting and ongoing support from a coach, all through a home visiting approach. Coaches conduct at least two home visits during the first three months of participation, followed by visits as needed with a minimum of one visit per month (Moore et al. 2019) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Coaching model example: LIFT. Based in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, LIFT focuses on long-term financial goals of participants, such as a home purchase or college savings for a child. Coaches work with participants to set shortand long-term goals and identify milestones toward achieving those goals. As they move forward with their goals and complete a “three-month goal cycle,” participants can receive financial payments in the amount of $150, totaling up to $1,000 over a two-year period (Moore et al. 2019) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

The number of developmental relationships each young person experiences (The Developmental Relationships Framework).

The number/percentage of mentors representing the student population served (for youth-serving organizations providing mentors).

Programs like iMentor that match 11th and 12th grade students with a committed mentor (iMentor).

My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, a cross-sector collaborative action effort focused on improved life outcomes for boys and young men of color (My Brother’s Keeper Alliance).

Peer mentoring platforms that help mentors track key indicators and monitor progress towards postsecondary enrollment of mentees (The Mentor Collaborative).

Share choosing to re-enroll in the same school (in school choice settings) (Urban Institute, Robust and Equitable Measures to Identify Quality Schools).

Measures of student engagement/enthusiasm/ academic aspirations (Urban Institute, Robust and Equitable Measures to Identify Quality Schools).

Student-Teacher Connections: The average of graduates’ reports on the 2005 CCSR senior survey of the extent to which they know at least one teacher who: (1) would be willing to give me extra help with my schoolwork if I need it; (2) would be willing to help me with a personal problem; (3) really cares about how I am doing in school; (4) knows who my friends are; (5) I could ask to write me a recommendation for a job, program, or college; (6) knows what I will be doing next year; and (7) would be willing to help me even after I graduate. The measure is constructed using Rasch rating scale analysis. The student-level version of this variable is also used in some analyses. (Roderick, M. From high school to the Future). 

Student-Teacher Connections: The extent to which student had a teacher she felt personally and academically connected to. Student reports of the extent to which they know at least one teacher who: (1) would be willing to give me extra help with my school work if I need it; (2) would be willing to help me with a personal problem; (3) really cares about how I am doing in school; (4) knows who my friends are; (5) I could ask to write me a recommendation for a job, program or college; (6) knows what I will be doing next year; and (7) would be willing to help me even after I graduate. The measure is constructed using Rasch rating scale analysis. The school average of this variable is also used in some analyses. (Roderick, M. From high school to the Future). 

Counselor Press for Academic Achievement: The extent to which student said her counselor: (1) helped select courses needed for work or admission to college; (2) encouraged taking AP/honors courses; (3) encouraged continuing education after high school; and (4) talked about college/schools that were suited to the student’s interests and abilities. The measure is constructed using Rasch rating scale analysis. The school average of this variable is also used in some analyses. (Roderick, M. From high school to the Future). 

Teacher Press for Academic Achievement: The extent to which student said her teachers: (1) helped select courses needed for work or admission to college; (2) encouraged taking AP/honors courses; (3) encouraged continuing education after high school; and (4) talked about college/schools that were suited to the student’s interests and abilities. The measure is constructed using Rasch rating scale analysis. (Roderick, M. From high school to the Future). 

Teacher/Counselor Structured Support: The extent to which teachers or counselors helped student with her college search and application process. Student reports of the extent to which a teacher or counselor has: (1) encouraged the student to apply to several different schools; (2) talked to the student about what college would be like; (3) helped the student fill out applications for colleges or vocational/technical schools; (4) helped the student find scholarships to apply for; (5) helped the student decide which school to attend; (6) helped the student plan how to pay for tuition and other expenses; and (7) helped the student with college application essays or personal statements. The measure is constructed using Rasch rating scale analysis. The school average of this variable is also used in some analyses. (Roderick, M. From high school to the Future). 

Discussions on College Planning: Student reports of the extent to which she received information on postsecondary education from someone at school. Students were asked the extent to which someone at school has discussed: (1) different admissions requirements of community colleges vs. four-year colleges; (2) different admissions requirements among four-year colleges; (3) how to decide which college to attend; (4) the likelihood of being accepted at different types of schools; (5) ACT/SAT scores needed to get into colleges; (6) opportunities to attend out-of-state schools; (7) readiness for college-level coursework; (8) the kind of study skills needed in college or vocational/technical school; and (9) how to pay for college. The measure is constructed using Rasch rating scale analysis. (Roderick, M. From high school to the Future). 

Importance of high school for the Future: The extent to which student felt her high school academic experience is important for her future. Students were asked the extent to which they agree that: (1) my classes give me useful preparation for what I plan to do in life; (2) high school teaches me valuable skills; (3) working hard in high school matters for success in the work force; (4) what we learn in class is necessary for success in the future; and (5) I’m getting a good education at my school. The measure is constructed using Rasch rating scale analysis. (Roderick, M. From high school to the Future). 

Relationship quality between student and teacher as measured through closeness, commitment, and complementarity (Jowett, S. et al., Teacher-Student relationship quality as a barometer of teaching and learning effectiveness).

The Student–Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS, Pianta, 1994, 2001; see also Koomen et al., 2012; Koomen & Jellesma, 2015) is the most often used assessment tool that has been specifically developed to examine teachers’ perceptions of relationships with their students through three relational dimensions: closeness (interactions and communications are warm and open), conflict (the degree of friction and discordant between the teacher and student), and dependency (the degree to which the student is overly dependent on the teacher). Its conceptual basis is derived from parent–child attachments. Bowlby’s (1973) attachment theory describes these attachments as either warm or secure, angry or dependent, and anxious or insecure (Jowett, S. et al., Teacher-Student relationship quality as a barometer of teaching and learning effectiveness).

Provide training for teachers on the Developmental Relationship Framework (Developmental Relationship Framework).

The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network’s 15 Effective Strategies for Dropout Prevention: Mentoring/Tutoring  —  Mentoring is typically a one-to-one caring, supportive relationship between a mentor and a mentee that is based on trust. Mentoring offers a significant support structure for high-risk students. Tutoring, also typically a one-to-one activity, focuses on academic support and is an effective practice when addressing specific needs in collaboration with the student’s base teacher (The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network, 15 Effective Strategies for Dropout Prevention).

Students whose relationships with their teachers are characterized by high levels of support and low levels of conflict obtain higher scores on measures of academics, and behavioral adjustment than do students whose relationships with teachers are less positive. Prospective studies find that a more positive teacher-student relationship is associated with a greater sense of school belonging, lower levels of externalizing behaviors, improved peer relationships, and higher achievement. Longitudinal meditational analyses find that the effect of a supportive teacher-student relationship on achievement is due to the direct effect of teacher-student relationship quality on students’ engagement in the classroom (Wu, J. et al. Teacher student relationship quality type in elementary grades).

The % of college educated mothers at high schools. Recent evidence suggests that the composition of one’s high school classmates can also influence college enrollment. Bifulco, Fletcher, and Ross (2011) finds that students whose school cohorts have higher percentages of students with college educated mothers are more likely to attend college (Do high school Peers Have Persistent Effects on College Attainment and Other Life Outcomes?).

The frequency of conversations between high school graduates preparing to attend college in the fall with near-peer mentors. 1-3 conversations with a peer mentor throughout the duration of the program reduces summer melt significantly for historically underserved racial and ethnic groups and first-generation students (The Mentor Collective).

Encourage student-athletes to network with college-accepted student-athletes to understand how they got into their top-choice college (Student Athlete Scholars).

Encourage collegiate athletes to mentor student-athletes applying to college (Student Athlete Scholars).

In 2016-17, 10 Idaho high schools hired near-peer mentors   —   recent college graduates who help seniors apply for colleges, scholarships and federal financial aid. high schools with near-peer programs had a higher college enrollment rate than other comparable high schools, according to the study (Near-peer Mentoring Programs Show Promise).

The College Advising Corps partners with universities across the country to place recent college graduates in under-resourced high schools where they serve as near-peer advisers (The College Advising Corps).

Required peer cooperative learning in STEM courses has been shown to improve retention in STEM majors (International Journal of STEM Education).

AdviseMI places college graduates in selected high schools across Michigan, particularly high schools that are located in communities with low college-going rates, to serve as college advisers. Serving alongside high school counselors and other school professionals, advisers support students as they explore their postsecondary options and complete college-going steps.  Advisers make a difference in the lives of Michigan students, families, and communities (MCAN).

The state of Idaho spent $9 million (2018) on college and career advising programs   —   all designed to help high school students chart their future, and improve Idaho’s stubbornly low postsecondary completion rates. School districts and charter schools can choose from several advising approaches, including near-peer mentoring (Near-peer Mentoring Programs Show Promise).

The extent to which students have quality, positive attachment peer relationships. Researchers studying emerging adults have described a significant link between the quality of college students’ peer relationships and their adjustment to college  (Project Muse). Assessments of relationship quality include the use of friendship quality measures, which assess variables such as the extent of intimacy, validation, or conflict resolution and measures of attachment style between partners in the relationship. 

The degree to which students become interested, engaged, comfortable, and successful in the school environment (Project Muse).

The extent to which high school students have positive attachments to their caregivers during times of stress. Researchers found that attachment to one’s parents, but not to one’s peers, was beneficial to high school students’ well-being–being following a stressful life event (Project Muse).

The extent to which college students have positive peer relationships during college. Researchers studying emerging adults have described a significant link between the quality of college students’ peer relationships and their adjustment to college. In contrast, poor attachment was associated with better social adjustments (Project Muse).

The extent to which students have strong social support over the first two semesters of college. Researchers reported that increased social support over the first two semesters of college predicted improved social and emotional/personal adjustment (Project Muse).

The extent to which students develop new, positive friendships at their new institution. The quality of students’ relationships with their “old” high school best friend and their best new college friend determined how students adjusted socially to their new environment. Bean (1985) described that if students have greater attachments to “outsiders” then they are not likely to be as successfully socialized to the new institution, thus suggesting the importance of making friends in the new school environment (Project Muse).

Assessment of relationship quality to identify at-risk students who have the potential to be lost from the system (Project Muse).

Providing opportunities for peer interaction and friendship formation is crucial to helping students adjust to their new environment (Project Muse).

Counselors could help new students learn how to balance time with “old” friends back home and time with new peers in the new college setting (Project Muse).

Institutions should establish cohorts of students, as research indicates that students perform the best through sustained interaction with a group of peers. By gathering college-bound students together, they create a peer group in which students can support one another and motivate each other to succeed. (Center of Higher Education Policy, University of Southern California).

Make program identity visible–by giving students T-shirts, backpacks, folders, etc., emblazoned with the program name and logo so they can be identified as members of a discrete peer group (Center of Higher Education Policy, University of Southern California).

Percentage of students who participate in a work-based learning opportunity before graduation (Education to Workforce).

Percentage of workforce training program participants who participate in a work based learning opportunity before program completion (Education to Workforce).

Number of new apprenticeships over time (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Demographic characteristics of apprenticeship cohorts (e.g., age range, gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, veteran status, justice system involvement) (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Change in demographic characteristics over time per enrollment cohort (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Representation of women in apprenticeship programs. Analysis by the Center for American Progress found that women are much less likely to participate in apprenticeship programs than men. In 2017, 92.7 % of those completing Registered Apprenticeships were men and 7.3 % were women (CAP, The Apprenticeship Wage and Participation Gap).

Earnings of women who complete apprenticeship programs. Analysis by the Center for American Progress found that women who participate in apprenticeship programs make far less than men. In 2017, among people who completed a Registered Apprenticeship, a woman made only 42 cents to a man’s dollar. Surprisingly this trend has worsened since 2008, when women made 53 cents to a man’s dollar (CAP, The Apprenticeship Wage and Participation Gap).

Black and Hispanic participation in apprenticeships. Analysis by the Center for American Progress found that Black and Hispanic participation in apprenticeships roughly mirrors these groups’ participation in the labor force (CAP, The Apprenticeship Wage and Participation Gap).

Earnings by race/ethnicity of those who complete apprenticeship programs. Analysis by the Center for American Progress found that Black or African American apprentices had the lowest exit wages of all racial and ethnic groups examined, at $14.35 per hour in fiscal 2017. White apprentices had the second-lowest earnings at $26.14  —  still more than 50 % greater than black or African American apprentices’ wages. Median exit wages for completing apprentices were highest for AIAN, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian apprentices  —  all of whom earned around $30 per hour (CAP, The Apprenticeship Wage and Participation Gap).

Occupations of enrollment cohort (e.g., electricians, child care workers, plumbers, nursing aides, orderlies and attendants, carpenters, home appliance repairers, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, sheet metal workers, electrical power-line installers and repairers, correctional officers) (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Changes in apprenticeship occupations over time (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Amount of on-the-job training (OJT) and related technical instruction (RTI) required per apprenticeship program and changes in program requirements over time (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Program outcomes for Registered Apprenticeship participants (i.e., completed, cancelled, active) and average time spent in program (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States). 

Average Annual Earnings Differences for Apprenticeship Participants Versus Nonparticipants, both short term (i.e., sixth year after enrollment) and medium term (i.e., ninth year after enrollment). Data source: RAPIDS and state UI wage records  (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Estimated Expenditures per Apprentice (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Social Costs and Benefits: Medium-Term (i.e., for 9 years after enrollment) and Career (i.e., for 36 years after enrollment) Under Baseline Assumptions. Data source: RAPIDS, state UI wage records, and OA and SAA annual budget estimates. Mathematica calculated social benefits as the sum of productivity benefits and reduced administrative costs of unemployment insurance, welfare, and food stamps (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Female apprentices views of Registered Apprenticeship (RA). Mathematica explored these issues through discussions with women who have participated in the program, executive directors of community-based organizations that received DOL grants from the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) program, and state apprenticeship directors (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Recommendations for increasing women’s success in Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs – Undertake Targeted Outreach: Grantees from Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) and four of the state RA directors agreed that school-age girls should be a target audience for advertisements about RA in the skilled trades. They explained that teaching girls and young women about the trades through career fairs, summer camps, subsidized summer employment programs, and visits to schools may help break down stereotypes that women should not or cannot work in industries such as construction (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Recommendations for increasing women’s success in Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs – Develop Skills and Manage Expectations Through Pre-apprenticeship Training. According to the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grantees, many women they work with lack the basic occupational skills required to have a successful RA experience in the skilled trades, such as trade-related math skills, Occupational Safety and Health Administration training, and the appropriate level of physical fitness. To address this and prepare women for the rigors of construction apprenticeships, four of the WANTO grantees operate pre-apprenticeship training programs (when they have adequate funding). Through these programs, women acquire the basic required skills before entering an apprenticeship. They also meet tradeswomen (and tradesmen) and learn about the sometimes complicated RA application process. Armed with this knowledge, a woman is better equipped to decide if the trades are truly the best career path for her and select the occupation that best matches her skills, interests, and life circumstances (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Recommendations for increasing women’s success in Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs – Provide Child Care Support or Classes That Better Accommodate the Schedules of Single Mothers. Finding adequate child care that accommodates rigorous apprenticeship schedules is challenging, as is finding the money to cover these extensive child care needs. RA could consider providing child care subsidies, as suggested by directors in two states and by women respondents. Alternative, more convenient, class schedules or online learning (when possible) could be arranged. A focus on setting up detailed child care plans before the apprenticeship begins, perhaps as a step in the application process, could also be helpful. For example, one Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grantee requires women to have a child care plan, a backup child care plan, and a backup to their backup plan before helping them get into an RA program. According to the grantee, this has been a successful strategy (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States). 

Recommendations for increasing women’s success in Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs – Address the Culture of Male-Dominated Construction Worksites. Help employers create and enforce policies to prevent harassment and discrimination at worksites. The WANTO grantees provide technical assistance to employers to develop methods to recruit women and to develop and implement effective sexual harassment policies. However, because of limited funds, it is not possible to provide these services to all employers that could benefit from them. WANTO grantees suggested that employers use existing resources like Hard Hatted Women’s TOOLKIT to develop procedures and train male employees to follow them. This manual reviews effective methods for developing, revising, implementing, and monitoring sexual harassment policies on job sites (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Recommendations for increasing women’s success in Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs – Set goals for enrolling women in RA. State RA offices recommend targets for the percentage of women apprentices in a program based on calculations of the percentage of women in the local area, but these are not quotas. An administrator in one state noted that his state used to have targets for women in construction trades (2 to 6 %, for example), but they have not been able to meet those goals for the past 20 years (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Recommendations for increasing women’s success in Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs – Increase monitoring of sponsors and employers. Monitoring RA programs for compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws focuses on ensuring that program sponsors are making “a good-faith effort” to recruit women, but it is perhaps less successful in ensuring that women are treated well in the workplace. Although EEO laws offer continual protection to workers from harassment or discrimination, and women can make a complaint at any time, women and the WANTO grantee directors stated that harassment and discrimination are prevalent across construction industry worksites. Moreover, some women we spoke to had hesitated to file complaints for fear of being labeled troublemakers or inviting further harassment (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Recommendations for increasing women’s success in Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs – Connect Women with Effective Mentors and Peer Support. The learn-while-working model of apprenticeships means that new apprentices rely on peers at the worksite to teach them vital occupational skills and help them acclimate to workplace cultures and norms. The WANTO grantees emphatically suggested that apprenticeship programs should teach effective mentorship techniques to all workers. State RA directors from two states concurred that connecting women to a mentor is the single most important form of support for women in the program (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Internship programs for youth and young adults also have shown encouraging findings. A study of the Young Adult Internship Program (now known as Intern & Earn), which offers disconnected youth a 10- to 12-week paid internship, along with job readiness workshops and individualized supports, found that the program increased earnings for participants a year after completing their internship (EW Framework).

YearUp—which offers six months of intensive training followed by paid six-month internships in the fields of information technology and financial operations to youth from low-income households—improved earnings measured three years after participation (though not after four years) (EW Framework).

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) recommends that youth programs include multiple elements, including education and other supportive services, work experience, occupational skills training, mentoring, leadership development opportunities, and follow-up support (EW Framework).

Sector-oriented training programs are designed to prepare workers for a particular industry or sector in demand by local employers. There are several examples of sector-oriented training programs that have proven effective in improving long-term employment, earnings, and educational attainment outcomes for participants. For example, the WorkAdvance model, which provides employee assessments, career readiness services, occupational skills training, and job development and placement services in different sectors, led to higher rates of credential attainment of 26 percentage points and increased earnings by an average of almost $3,000 several years after participation in the program (EW Framework).

The Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership’s sectoral employment program provides training lasting two to eight weeks, along with case management and job placement assistance. It has been shown to increase earnings by more than $6,000, on average, over two years after acceptance into the program (EW Framework).

Common industries targeted by sector-oriented training programs include health care, information technology, manufacturing, and transportation. Research suggests that key aspects of effective sector-oriented job training programs are on-the-job training and technical instruction that lead to an industry-recognized credential in demand by local employers, job search assistance and placement supports, and post-employment job retention services (EW Framework).

Intentionally design and structure career pathways to enable students to further their education, secure a job, and advance in employment. A basic career pathway model includes multiple entry points to facilitate access to training in occupational skills and knowledge valued by employers and stackable credentials that match labor market demand. Multiple exit points aligned with employment opportunities offer participants flexibility to access employment at different stages of the career ladder. Individuals may enter and exit career pathways at multiple points as they advance in their careers (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Align career pathways to industry needs. When developing career pathways, community colleges should assess and identify regional industry needs to ensure the pathways will provide students with the occupational skills and knowledge that employers demand. Community colleges developing career pathways should collaborate with employers and industry partners to review labor market information and consult them to identify occupations for which training is needed (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Define and create accessible pathways with clearly defined entry and exit points. Career pathways options that are clearly defined enable students to see how the education and occupational training along a pathway can lead to specific occupations or clusters of occupations. When pathways align with in-demand occupations within an industry sector, colleges can optimize the chance that students acquire the skills and knowledge needed to earn a credential and gain employment (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Stackable credentials: Well-designed career pathways provide students with opportunities to continuously build or “stack” content knowledge and indemand credentials as they progress along the pathway. Stackable credentials promote vertical movement to the next-higher-skill job in a sector, with each new credential providing a new set of skills to master (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Allow sufficient time for curriculum development and approval, but seek accelerated approval when feasible. If new courses will be required for a pathway, community colleges will need to allow sufficient time for curriculum development and approval. College administrators should carefully review their program development steps and processes to identify institutional roadblocks that could potentially be removed. They can also consider whether there are any fast-track program approval options in their state, which may facilitate their efforts to respond more quickly to industry changes (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Connect students to pathways that align with their knowledge, skills, educational interests, and career goals. Students interested in pursuing a career pathway can benefit from recruitment and intake procedures that are designed to assess their knowledge, skills, and educational and employment background as well as their career aptitude and goals (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Deliver contextualized or integrated basic skills instruction to accelerate students’ entry into and successful completion of career pathways (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Assess CTE instructional materials to identify the math, literacy, and writing skills students need to successfully progress along career pathways, assess students to determine their skill levels, and identify opportunities to contextualize instruction. Reviewing course textbooks, assignments, and other materials from courses offered at various points along a career pathway is one way to determine the skills students need in order to be successful and master the occupational content in a course. Community college faculty and staff can better design instructional supports for students if they know the levels of skills required to understand the course content as well as the skill levels of their incoming students. Data from intake assessments of basic skills proficiency can inform what types of skills instruction students need, as well as how much instruction they need to help them better understand course content (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Determine strategies for teaching basic skills that are appropriate for the student population served and the resources available. Two common strategies for teaching basic skills needed to succeed along a career pathway are (1) pre-pathway bridge programs that offer contextualized basic skills curricula and (2) integrated instruction, where students begin an occupational training course on a pathway, but are team taught by an occupational instructor and a basic skills instructor. Bridge programs are offered just before or as the first step of a career pathway and can be designed to help students master basic skills needed to support their transition into pathway courses, especially when contextualization helps them see direct connections and applications of those skills in the occupations they are pursuing. Integrated instruction, on the other hand, embeds basic skills instruction into the technical content and is applied at each pathway step (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

If implementing a team teaching model for courses with integrated instruction, select a model that best fits your institution and faculty. Options for team teaching may range from monitoring, where one teacher is responsible for instruction while the other circulates around the classroom monitoring students’ needs, to shared teaching duties, where the occupational instructor and basic skills instructor each focus on their own area of expertise. Considerations for selecting a specific model include instructional needs of students, abilities of instructors, and how adaptable the subject area is for team teaching (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Provide professional development and collaborative planning time to support team teaching. The What Works Clearinghouse expert panel believes occupational instructors can learn pedagogical approaches from basic skills instructors; conversely, basic skills instructors can ensure basic skills are applied in more meaningful ways when they understand the contexts in which those skills need to be applied. Adequate, ongoing planning time for faculty to coordinate their teaching styles and the instructional content can promote more successful team teaching. Additionally, devoting time and resources to professional development for both occupational instructors and basic skills instructors may help ensure they are adequately prepared for their team teaching assignments (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Assess whether basic skills instruction (contextualized or integrated) is delivered in a manner that is resulting in students achieving their learning goals. Program directors can use a number of approaches to assess the delivery of contextualized basic skills instruction in bridge programs or integrated courses offered on campus. For example, they can observe classroom instruction, conduct interviews with faculty or program staff, or collect feedback from students through surveys or focus groups (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Offer flexible instructional delivery schedules and models to improve credit accumulation and completion of non-degree credentials along career pathways. Students must balance their education and training with jobs, families, and other obligations. Often, that can make traditional course formats and schedules problematic. Flexible delivery of instruction, through non-traditional course times and/or online or self-paced courses, can help students combine college with other commitments to facilitate access, and progress along, career pathways. Acceleration strategies, including awarding credit for prior learning and offering competency-based courses, can also help ensure that students acquire  —  and demonstrate mastery of  —  both technical and basic skills as they progress along a career pathway (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Assess the institutional readiness and resources needed to offer flexible scheduling and/or instructional delivery models. Setting up flexible scheduling and course offerings in multiple formats requires coordination and logistics. For example, academic calendars and schedules may need to be modified to accommodate flexible course scheduling. Designing innovative instructional delivery models requires similar levels of coordination as well as resources for instructional technology and professional development for the instructors who will use the technology. Institutional capacity assessments can help community colleges think about which things they need to work on first when designing more flexible course schedules and models (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Tailor flexible course schedules and instructional models to diverse student needs and instructional preferences. Students have different capabilities, needs, barriers, and learning preferences that influence their ability to engage, to be retained, and to be successful along a career pathway. Community colleges can use various strategies to maximize flexible scheduling, such as block scheduling, evening and weekend course offerings, and self-paced online modules. These should be carefully aligned with, and respond to, the diverse needs of students (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Provide training and support to instructors developing flexible instructional delivery models. Developing hybrid, online, and flipped classroom formats requires skill sets that extend beyond those used in developing more traditional courses. Faculty designing and delivering flexible instructional models for career pathways must learn to leverage instructional technology while remaining attentive to student engagement strategies.15 They must also ensure course learning objectives, instruction, and assessment align to industry needs, as identified during the creation and implementation of the career pathways. Successful design and delivery of alternate course formats may require additional funding for instructional technology, as well as time and resources for instructors to collaborate with instructional designers to ensure their new hybrid or online courses are effective (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Use acceleration strategies, such as prior learning assessments and competency-based education, to reduce the time between students’ pathway entry and their attainment of non-degree credentials. Awarding credit for prior learning, offering co-requisite courses, and/ or offering competency-based courses, programs, and assessments can accelerate or compress students’ time to earning credentials. Prior learning assessments (PLAs), one mechanism for awarding credit for prior learning, help students move from the non-credit- to the credit-bearing parts of a career pathway. Another acceleration strategy is Competency-Based Education (CBE). CBE is a curriculum design in which students acquire and demonstrate their knowledge and skills by engaging in learning exercises and activities that target clearly defined competencies. Credentialing is based on mastery of targeted competencies, rather than on seat-time, clock-hours, and face-to-face instruction (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Continuously monitor and respond to students’ needs regarding flexible course offerings and delivery modes. Administrators, instructors, and staff in career pathways should continually assess whether students are able to access the courses they need to make progress toward credit accumulation and credential attainment. This includes ensuring required courses are offered frequently, and at varied times. Community colleges must also consider whether students have the necessary hardware and internet connectivity to connect to and participate in courses that require remote lectures, labs, or other activities. Many Learning Management Systems now incorporate surveys that continuously monitor students’ progress and challenges, including scheduling and student attendance problems. These types of student data may indicate unmet needs that could be addressed. As needed, community colleges may use data on student progress and outcomes to inform adjustments to when, how frequently, and in what format courses are offered (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Provide coordinated comprehensive student supports to improve credit accumulation and completion of non-degree credentials along career pathways. Students often need to navigate a variety of academic and non-academic challenges that can affect their ability to complete coursework and progress toward earning a credential. These challenges include choosing the right program of study and career, balancing education with family and work obligations, and covering tuition costs and related educational expenses. Providing comprehensive student supports in a coordinated fashion helps students to be resilient to these challenges. The What Works Clearinghouse expert panel believes colleges should provide a broad range of academic and non-academic, career, and financial support services. These may include proactive academic advising, mentoring, coaching, counseling, career navigation, and financial aid, as well as referral to other support services. The panel believes these student supports should be intentionally integrated into the student experience so they are unavoidable as students progress along their career pathway  —  from intake to completion (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Conduct an inventory of available supports and clearly define which college departments are responsible for delivering specific supports. Student support services may be provided by a large network of professionals, including those within a community college and those in the surrounding community. For this reason, the What Works Clearinghouse expert panel suggests it is important to conduct an organizational review of the services offered and clearly define who is responsible for them. Resource mapping provides an organizational overview of who will offer academic supports, non-academic (personal) supports, career and employment supports, and financial supports to the students. Further, colleges should consider how to engage internal and external partners so that they can collectively identify gaps in support services and improve how students access available services (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Assess students’ needs and connect one-on-one to provide them with relevant supports, from intake to program completion and beyond. The What Works Clearinghouse expert panel recommends that during the career pathways recruitment and intake process, student support staff conduct a comprehensive needs assessment with each student. This needs assessment should be holistic, focusing on both academic and non-academic (personal) issues. The primary aim of the assessment is to ensure students are matched with and connected to the right supports to help them be successful. Students should leave the intake process with a clear overview of the steps and available supports along their chosen career pathway (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Integrate available supports into the student experience. Students may be unaware of student support services, unsure of how to access or make use of student supports, or even reluctant to seek out relevant supports. Therefore, the What Works Clearinghouse expert panel believes faculty and staff should proactively provide student supports. There are several ways to integrate student support services into the student experience. For example, faculty could introduce career navigators as part of their instructional teams, have them participate actively in class activities, and integrate student support services into class exercises. In addition, making student support staff accessible in the evenings and on weekends will enhance accessibility for students balancing work and family obligations. For some student populations, using technology and online formats can increase accessibility and nudge students to make better use of existing student supports (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Monitor student progress, academic and non-academic needs, and supports accessed. Identifying needs and connecting students with relevant supports do not end at intake. The What Works Clearinghouse expert panel encourages all staff and faculty who engage with students throughout their program of study to be attentive to changes in students’ academic and non-academic barriers. Upon detecting barriers, faculty and staff should refer or connect students to services that can help meet students’ emerging needs. This requires that faculty be keenly aware of and understand all the support services available, and that faculty and student support staff work in tandem (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

There are several strategies for monitoring student progress. Some pathway programs have proactive advisors, who initiate contact with students several times during their progression along the career pathway; other programs also dedicate resources to provide follow-up supports to students after program completion. The What Works Clearinghouse expert panel encourages staff to pay particular attention to student progress at transitions between education and employment, where students may experience challenges re-entering the career pathway, as these phases may offer practical opportunities for building in new supports (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Consider hiring sector-specific career navigators. The transition from college to career can be difficult. Discipline- or sector-specific career navigators, advisors, mentors, or coaches can tailor their advising and career guidance to the occupational sector in which a student plans to seek employment. When implemented well, navigators and career coaches can positively affect a student’s retention in a program and completion of a credential. Navigators can provide students with individual coaching, career planning, and assistance navigating the transition to further education and employment. Navigators can also serve as an important resource in connecting students to necessary services (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Develop and continuously leverage partnerships to prepare students and advance their labor market success. Career pathways that leverage employment-focused partnerships offer students both classroom- and work-based experiences to acquire the skills needed to be ready for work on day one. The benefits of investing in, building, and deepening employment-focused partnerships include: (a) improving the relevance and alignment of the curriculum to employer or industry needs; (b) expanding the opportunities for students to engage meaningfully with employer partners through employer presentations, onsite visits, work-based learning opportunities, and career fairs; and (c) increasing the potential for job placement and advancement. Ultimately, improving student labor market outcomes benefits students, employers, and colleges alike. There is an incentive for administrators, faculty, and staff to work together with employment-focused partners to design, implement, and continuously evaluate career pathways (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Identify ways to get employers strategically engaged in each aspect of planning and implementing career pathways. When employers and industry partners are continuously engaged in all aspects of career pathways design and implementation, students are better prepared when they take an exit along the career pathway for employment. Community colleges can engage employment-focused partners in a variety of ways and at various stages of career pathways planning and delivery. Employer engagement can be in the form of curriculum planning and review, assessment of local labor market information, assistance with student recruitment, provision of mentorship or work-based learning opportunities, as well as active promotion of the career pathway program (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Conduct an inventory to identify current and potential employment-focused partnerships. In order to best leverage employment-focused partnerships to support students’ labor market success, community colleges should conduct an inventory to identify current and potential partners and think critically about how to engage with them. To identify new employment-focused partners, colleges can first connect with local workforce boards. They can also reach out to local, state, or regional industry associations. Colleges may consider conducting a “self-check” to identify opportunities to strengthen or deepen partnerships with leaders in specific occupational sectors that are relevant to the career pathway(s) offered by the college. The National Council for Workforce Education suggests colleges should develop an employer engagement plan that includes an environmental scan of internal and external perceptions of employer engagement and its effectiveness; college goals; an employer checklist and database; and a communication plan that covers internal and external communications (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Designate staff time and resources to build and sustain employment-focused partnerships. Engagement with employment focused partners allows college administrators and staff opportunities to better understand employer and industry expectations and labor market needs. Involving employers and industry partners in the planning and design of career pathways may improve job placement rates when students complete their pathway studies (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Collaborate with employers and industry partners to provide students hands-on learning opportunities that are relevant to occupations along their chosen career pathway. When career pathways provide students with hands-on exposure to occupations they are pursuing  —  or might pursue in the future  —  students can develop realistic expectations about those occupations. Project-based learning, high-fidelity simulations, and experiential field trips are strategies that instructors can use to align course content and delivery with students’ career interests. Internships, work-based learning opportunities, clinical placements, and apprenticeships allow students to gain employment experience as they progress along a career pathway. As appropriate, faculty and staff can advise students to take advantage of employment opportunities at transition points along the career pathway. When doing so, they should consider how and when they will encourage students to return for additional education and training, and what kinds of supports students will need to successfully re-enter their career pathway program (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Regularly review the employment-focused partnership inventory to assess whether or not the right partners are involved to help advance students’ labor market outcomes. Community college administrators and staff can use partnership inventories to identify gaps that may need to be filled by strategically engaging employers and industry partners. Ongoing communications with current and former students and employers is important for program improvement. Colleges should consider developing and implementing mechanisms to allow employers the opportunity to provide feedback on their pathways programs and student hires, including the extent to which colleges are preparing workers with the right skills (What Works Clearinghouse, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges).

Registered Apprenticeship (RA) is a career-training program that offers structured on-the-job training combined with related technical instruction tailored to industry needs. The program, created in 1937, seeks to produce well-trained workers whose skills are in high demand. In 2010, almost 450,000 people across the nation were enrolled in RA. Apprenticeship programs range from one to six years and are offered in approximately 1,000 occupations, including the traditional skilled trades such as electrician, plumber, and carpenter, as well as such occupations as truck driver, child care worker, nursing aide, and correctional officer. For apprentices, RA provides on-the-job training, related technical instruction, incremental wage increases as skills are attained, and, upon completion, nationally recognized certification in the chosen career area. (Mathematica, An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States).

Support apprenticeship systems and program designs through support models, like Jobs for the Future’s Center for Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning, which aims to connect a diverse population of youth and adults to quality jobs and enable businesses to develop workers with the skills they need to grow (Jobs for the Future).

Leverage third party, external support to employers for building high-quality apprenticeship programs. Creating and sustaining high-quality apprenticeship programs poses significant challenges for many employers, particularly small and midsize businesses. In addition to demanding substantial resources, apprenticeships are difficult to develop and require time, training expertise, and organizational capacity  —  resources that many employers feel they lack . Without external support to help employers establish and manage apprenticeship initiatives, scaling such programs nationally remains a formidable task (Jobs for the Future).

Apprenticeships: Apprenticeship models involve an industry- and employer-driven structured approach to occupational training. Apprenticeship models typically combine paid, work-based learning; on-the-job training and mentorship; related technical instruction, often provided in a classroom setting; and an industry-recognized credential upon completion. Apprentices are paid, productive employees of an employer that sponsors or partners with the apprenticeship program. Apprenticeship has long been dominated by the construction trades, and the existing evidence has largely been focused on these trades. However, DOL and state apprenticeship offices have recently focused on expanding apprenticeship programs in sectors with high demand for skilled workers, most notably health care, information technology, and advanced manufacturing. (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Transitional employment: Transitional jobs, also referred to as subsidized jobs, are a form of earn-and-learn employment program that provide participants with work experience and help them find employment by paying all or some of their wages. Transitional employment programs are not always included with other work-based learning models, because these programs offer a mix of strategies. For example, some transitional employment programs provide only work-based income support, whereas others aim to improve future employability by addressing employment-related barriers such as educational attainment and vocational skills. Transitional employment programs may often provide classroom training, job search assistance, and basic education services. They may also conduct job readiness assessments and tailor services based on career interests or by allowing participants to explore different vocational training opportunities (Sattar 2010) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Career pathways programs allow participants to progress through education and training in multiple discrete, stackable components in particular sectors by offering a clear sequence of education coursework or training credentials aligned with employer-validated work readiness standards and competencies (Kozumplik et al. 2011). Career pathways programs under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act are defined as programs that offer a clear sequence, or pathway, of education coursework and/or training credentials aligned with employer-validated work readiness standards and competencies, and are guided by six essential components. The six components are: (1) building cross-agency partnerships and clarifying roles, (2) identifying industry sectors and engaging employers, (3) designing education and training programs, (4) identifying funding needs and sources, (5) aligning policies and programs, and (6) measuring system change and performance (U.S. DOL and Manhattan Strategy Group 2015) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Sector-oriented training programs are related to career pathways programs and aim to provide training that produce workers with the skills needed by groups of employers in a particular industry or sector that has strong local demand and offers the opportunity for career advancement (Schaberg and Greenberg 2020). These programs are often provided through partnerships between employers and training and educational organizations. Input from employers and published labor market information are used to design these programs, and employers also provide work-based training opportunities, such as internships or on-the-job-training, to participants (Holzer 2015). Many sector-oriented training programs also provide participants with job search assistance and job placement services, and some programs continue working with participants after they find a job (Schaberg and Greenberg 2020). Common industries targeted by sector-oriented training programs include health care, information technology, manufacturing, and transportation (Schaberg and Greenberg 2020). (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Incumbent worker training (IWT) programs provide those who are currently employed with services such as mentoring, on-the-job learning, and other training to help with career advancement and job retention. Under WIOA, IWT programs focus on ensuring that employees of a company can acquire the skills necessary to retain employment and advance within the company, or to acquire skills necessary for averting a layoff (WIOA 2017b). (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Elements of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Youth programs: (a) Tutoring, study skills training, instruction, and dropout prevention; (b) Alternative secondary school services or dropout recovery services; (c) Paid and unpaid work experience; (c) Occupational skills training; (d) Education offered concurrently with workforce preparation and training for a specific occupation; (e) Leadership development opportunities; (f) Supportive services; (g) Adult mentoring; (h) Follow-up services; (i) Comprehensive guidance and counseling; (j) Financial literacy education; (k) Entrepreneurial skills training; (l) Services that provide labor market information; (m) Postsecondary preparation and transition services (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Job Corps, supported under the WIOA legislation, is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive career technical training and education program for at‐risk youth. The program’s objective is to help disconnected youth become more responsible, employable, and productive citizens by providing them with individualized academic education, vocational training, counseling, and job placement assistance. A defining feature of Job Corps is its residential component: Most participants live in a Job Corps center during the week, where all education, training, and counseling services are provided. The National Job Corps Study, a nationally representative randomized controlled trial, found impacts on earnings and hours worked in the fourth year after enrollment (Schochet et al. 2008) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

The YouthBuild program, also funded under WIOA, aims to provide at-risk youth ages 16 to 24 with services to help them attain a high school diploma or equivalent and teaches them construction skills, and it has expanded to offer youth career pathways training in high-demand industry sectors (YouthBuild 2020) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a six-month residential program to improve the education, life skills, and employment potential of high school dropouts. Upon completing the residential phase of the program, participants receive a year of structured mentoring and are placed in employment, education programs, or the military. An RCT evaluation of the program found that three years after enrollment, program participants had higher rates of employment and earnings than the control group (Millenky et al. 2011) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Year Up provides urban young adults with intensive training and offers internship tracks in desktop/network support, quality assurance, project management, advanced system administration, and cyber security at corporate partner locations. An RCT of Year Up’s career pathways program for youth found that the program increased participant earnings, with program participants earning $1,895 more than those in the control group in the sixth and seventh quarters following random assignment (Fein and Hamadyk 2018) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) projects, conducted between 2006 and 2012, were intended to help youth ages 14 to 25 with disabilities who received or were at risk of receiving Social Security disability benefits to become more economically self-sufficient. Participants were offered some combination of benefits counseling, career counseling, and coordination of services, as well as internships, job shadowing, job coaching, competitive paid employment, and empowerment training. An RCT study examining the program implemented in West Virginia observed positive impacts on employment and earnings one year after implementation (Fraker et al. 2012). However, an RCT measuring the impacts for all six YTD project sites 24 months after random assignment found no significant impacts on employment and earnings outcomes (Hemmeter 2014) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Youth Corps provides youth with a stipend as well as educational services, employment and training, and community service activities. An RCT study of Youth Corps found positive impacts on earnings 18 months after enrollment but no impacts on employment or education (Price et al. 2011) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Youth Career Connect (YCC) is a high school-based program designed to encourage America’s school districts, institutions of higher education, the workforce investment system, and their partners to scale up evidence-based high school models that will transform the high school experience for America’s youth to connect them to college and careers. The program blends features of the career academy and sector-based models, including small learning communities; college preparatory curriculum based on a career theme that aligns occupational training with employer needs; and employer, higher education, and community partners (Maxwell et al. 2019) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Work-based learning, a strategy used in many programs funded by WIOA Youth to provide youth with occupational and basic skills training in a work-like setting, is found to have positive effects on employment and earnings outcomes (Carter et al. 2011) (The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Research Portfolio).

Genesys Works recruits high schoolers from underrepresented student groups and places them in year-long paid internships in the IT departments of tech and non-tech companies in their senior year, with the hope that the exposure to computers, corporate culture and adult mentors working in professional jobs will get them on the path to a technology-related college career (Genesys Works).

Promote policies that modernize and expand states’ apprenticeship system to increase access to high-quality apprenticeships (Jobs for the Future).

Advocate for expanded Apprenticeship Budget at the Federal Department of Labor. In Fiscal Year 2024, the government spent $184.35 billion on higher education via the Office of Federal Student Aid and Office of Postsecondary Education alone, while the Department of Labor’s apprenticeship budget for FY24 was only $285 million. This funding gap reflects a longstanding emphasis on traditional degree programs despite growing recognition that apprenticeships offer a high quality, work-based alternative (Jobs for the Future).

Strengthen incentives for employer participation (Policy Blueprint to Modernize and Expand Apprenticeships Nationwide).

Establish a national framework for youth apprenticeship (YA) (Policy Blueprint to Modernize and Expand Apprenticeships Nationwide).

Expand and strengthen pathways into apprenticeship (Policy Blueprint to Modernize and Expand Apprenticeships Nationwide).

Position intermediaries as the facilitators of apprenticeship (Policy Blueprint to Modernize and Expand Apprenticeships Nationwide).

Mitigate the “cliff effect” by disregarding income earned during apprenticeship training from means tested public assistance programs (Policy Blueprint to Modernize and Expand Apprenticeships Nationwide).

As policymakers continue to make investments necessary to grow apprenticeship programs, their policies must center around women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups to ensure equitable access. Policymakers can help facilitate that access by continuing to support equity intermediaries and other workforce intermediaries that can help with recruitment and the coordination of supportive services such as child care, transportation, and legal assistance. The Center for American Progress has called for investments in labor management-led intermediaries that can fill this role (CAP, The Apprenticeship Wage and Participation Gap).

Policymakers should work to eliminate occupational segregation in apprenticeship programs, as well as ensure that women and people of color have access to apprenticeship programs in the highest-paying occupations. Analysis by the Center for American Progress shows that gender wage gaps narrow significantly when women have access to male-dominated apprenticeship programs (CAP, The Apprenticeship Wage and Participation Gap).

Policymakers should ensure that apprenticeship programs are required to comply with the Davis-Bacon Act and support wage progression. These policies help ensure that the highest-wage programs remain well-paying. (CAP, The Apprenticeship Wage and Participation Gap).

Policymakers should seek to expand apprenticeships into new industries, while working to raise the wages in those industries. For example, child care and hospitality apprenticeships are popular among women, yet both industries are plagued by persistently low wages. It is not enough to expand apprenticeships into new industries; wages in historically undervalued occupations dominated by women must be raised as well. (CAP, The Apprenticeship Wage and Participation Gap).

Policymakers should also ensure that incarcerated apprentices are paid at least the federal minimum wage, which can help reduce recidivism and facilitate re-entry. (CAP, The Apprenticeship Wage and Participation Gap).

Policymakers should focus on implementation and enforcement of the 2016 EEO regulations and resist efforts to weaken the labor standards governing apprenticeship programs. (CAP, The Apprenticeship Wage and Participation Gap).

Full-time faculty across race and ethnicity, disaggregated by faculty rank (e.g., full professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor/lecturer, no academic rank)  (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Representational racial and ethnic diversity of instructors. Studies show students assigned to a teacher with similar demographic characteristics experience positive benefits in terms of academic perceptions and attitudes. A study of a large and diverse community college shows that performance gaps in terms of class dropout rates and grade performance between white and underrepresented minority students falls by 20 to 50 percent when taught by an underrepresented minority instructor (Egalite, Anna et al.; Fairlie, Robert et al.).

Students under- or overrepresented by faculty by race and ethnicity. Measured by comparing percent of undergraduates and postsecondary faculty by race and ethnicity (Pew Research).

Percent of undergraduates who are nonwhite compared to percent of postsecondary faculty who are nonwhite (Pew Research).

Percent of postsecondary faculty by academic rank disaggregated by race and ethnicity. That is, the percent of faculty who are professors, associate professors, assistant professors, instructors, lecturers, and other faculty (Pew Research).

Diversity in higher education between faculty in STEM and non-STEM fields. Measured by faculty race and gender representation within academic disciplines (Biology, Chemistry, English, etc.) (Brookings).

Potential wage gaps in higher education based on race, ethnicity, gender (rather than, say, academic field, experience, and research productivity) (Li, Diyi and Cory Koedel).

Total full-time faculty by race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Percentage distribution of institution presidents by race, ethnicity, and gender (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

College and University administrators by position, race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have issued statements and funded initiatives focused on increasing diversity in science, with specific attention focused on expanding access to faculty positions  (American Council on Education).

The Consortium for Faculty Diversity in Liberal Arts Colleges offers residential postdoctoral fellowship awards, fostering the ability of member institutions to build relationships and recruit scholars to their institutions (American Council on Education).

Institutions such as Harvard University (MA), Brown University (RI), and Boston College have developed comprehensive strategies to recruit, hire, and retain a more diverse faculty body. California Lutheran University, a liberal arts college, contracted with the University of Southern California’s Center for Urban Education to increase inclusion and mitigate bias in their faculty search and hiring processes (American Council on Education).

National agencies and consortia such as the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and the Center for the Integration of Teaching, Research, and Learning have encouraged discourse, provided resources, and offered training focused on expanding access to and increasing diversity in the academy at research universities and community colleges, respectively (American Council on Education).

Philanthropic entities such as the Kresge Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and ECMC Foundation have partnered with the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions to support faculty and increase access to positions at minority serving institutions, collaborating to offer mentorship, leadership development, and workshops focused on faculty success. These efforts are a promising start, and should be encouraged, evaluated, and expanded to promote meaningful progress toward a more diverse academy (American Council on Education).

Increasing faculty diversity in the most vulnerable academic positions (i.e., non-tenure track and part-time positions) does not solve the overall problem; rather, it creates new, pernicious inequities (American Council on Education).

One solution is to rethink whether and how institutions recognize the importance and value of multiple forms of scholarly and other contributions to make faculty positions more appealing, and to address the issue of work-life balance (American Council on Education).

Increasing faculty diversity requires attention to departmental and campus climates and environments, including the provision of support and resources necessary for faculty retention (American Council on Education).

Students are exposed to racial and ethnic diversity within their schools. Student body composition by race and ethnicity (%) (Education-to-Workforce).

Student body composition by race and ethnicity (Education-to-Workforce Framework).

Share of students attending high-poverty schools, by race or ethnicity (Urban Institute).

Student enrollment per institution by race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in college by race and ethnicity

Degree attainment by race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Immediate college enrollment of recent high school or equivalent graduates ages 16 to 24, by race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Undergraduate enrollment across institution sector (i.e. public four-year, private nonprofit four-year, public two-year, for-profit) by race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Graduate enrollment across institution sector by race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

First-year persistence rates of bachelor’s degree-seeking students by institution sector (i.e. public four-year, private nonprofit four-year, public two-year, for-profit) and by race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Patterns of borrowing, measured by cumulative debt by sector (i.e. public four-year, private nonprofit four-year, public two-year, for-profit), by degree level (undergraduate, graduate), and by race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Patterns of borrowing, measured by % who borrowed for their education, average amount borrowed per student, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and degree level received (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Unemployment rate for degree holders by race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Median annual earnings of adults ages 25 and older by educational attainment and race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Field of study for bachelor’s degree recipients (e.g., STEM fields, business, education, health care fields, social sciences, humanities, general studies) by race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Field of study for associate’s degree recipients by race and ethnicity (Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education).

Use of research and data tools to understand school and workplace racial and ethnic diversity to understand equity issues and trends (National Equity Atlas).

Creating more equitable school attendance boundaries (Urban Institute).

Developing centralized school lottery application systems that prioritize school diversity  (Urban Institute).

Ending school and neighborhood segregation, including by expanding affordable housing in resource-rich neighborhoods and reforming zoning policies to allow for more diverse, high-density, mixed-income communities (Urban Institute).

Implementing more equitable school funding policies and advocating for reforms to state and federal funding (Urban Institute).

Rethink school district lines by enrolling students across district lines. District lines are responsible for roughly 60 % of segregation in schools. State policymakers should invest in the creation or expansion of interdistrict transfer programs and magnet schools to enroll students across district lines. Controlled choice approaches can succeed with the right design elements to help advance integration rather than facilitating segregation. These elements include four things: (a) Free transportation to make program participation a meaningful option for all families; (b) Fair, transparent, and inclusive lotteries to ensure true diversity; (c) Ongoing, extensive multilingual outreach and communication to families in a wide range of neighborhoods; (d) School siting policies that ensure that historically underserved students are not asked to bear disproportionate commuting burdens (Brown’s Promise, Fulfilling Brown’s Promise: A State Policy Agenda).

Rethink school district lines by changing district lines. State leaders should consider changing existing lines. In many cases, shifting a district line by a matter of blocks can dramatically reduce segregation; in other cases, it may make sense to consider shifting to truly countywide school districts or pursuing other consolidation strategies. Strategically revising district lines can enhance diversity and improve resource equity (Brown’s Promise, Fulfilling Brown’s Promise: A State Policy Agenda).

Rethink school district lines by strengthening anti-secession laws to prevent continued district fracturing and segregation. Without careful attention, efforts to promote integration may be met with backlash and backsliding. This is what happened in Tennessee after education leaders pursued an innovative effort to consolidate Memphis Schools into Shelby County School District, which would have integrated school districts and increased access to resources for the predominantly Black students in Memphis (Brown’s Promise, Fulfilling Brown’s Promise: A State Policy Agenda).

Foster positive student experiences in integration efforts by promoting educator quality and diversity. A truly integrated school is staffed by diverse, high-quality, well-supported educators. State leaders should – every time they invest in an integration program – also do the following: (1) Publish annual educator quality and diversity data in the schools and districts impacted by the initiative, and how they compare to other schools in the surrounding district(s); (2) Set educator diversity, quality, and support goals in the schools and districts that participate, including timelines with interim targets; (3) Identify state resources to support educator quality, diversity, and support in schools and districts that participate; (4) Invest in opportunities to prepare, support, and retain teachers of color in the schools and districts that participate; (5) Require and fund ongoing, job-embedded, evidence-based professional learning for educators in schools and districts that participate, including support for understanding adult mindsets and asset-based pedagogies; anti-bias training; and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging training (Brown’s Promise, Fulfilling Brown’s Promise: A State Policy Agenda).

Foster positive student experiences in integration efforts by encouraging meaningful student, family, and community engagement. State leaders should  —  every time they invest in an integration program  —   also provide guidance, training, and funding to local leaders that is focused on community engagement. This support should focus on four actions that will help educators in integrating schools: (a) Engaging families that live further from a particular school or who speak different languages. This is particularly important for magnet schools and other public, choice-based integration efforts, which cannot create diversity if diverse families are not aware of, connected to, and excited about sending their children to the schools; (b) Leveraging community-based organizations (CBOs) in both the “sending” and “receiving” communities to partner with a school to accelerate student learning and meet whole-child needs; (c) Creating parent and family advisory councils with power to participate in decision-making about a school’s programming, practices, and policies. These councils should include meaningful representation of families from underrepresented communities; (d) Providing ongoing financial and personnel support for the daily work of authentic community engagement (Brown’s Promise, Fulfilling Brown’s Promise: A State Policy Agenda).

Foster positive student experiences in integration efforts by ensuring all students have access to advanced coursework. Districts working to integrate schools are historically prone to segregate students within “integrated” buildings via biased academic tracking policies. State leaders should require  —  and fund  —  all schools, and especially those participating in an integration program, to do two things: (a) Conduct universal screening for participation in gifted and talented programs at the elementary level. For an example, see Maryland’s universal screening requirement; and (b) Implement automatic enrollment policies that put all students who demonstrate readiness on one or more of a wide variety of valid metrics (including grades, end of course assessments, standardized tests, and teacher recommendations) into advanced courses (Brown’s Promise, Fulfilling Brown’s Promise: A State Policy Agenda).

Students are exposed to socioeconomic diversity within their schools. Student body composition by income (Education-to-Workforce).

Share of students attending high-poverty schools, by race or ethnicity. Students from families with low incomes and students of color achieve better academic outcomes when they attend more economically and racially diverse schools (Urban Institute).

Use of research and data tools to understand school and workplace socioeconomic diversity to understand equity issues and trends (National Equity Atlas).

Frequent student interactions with diverse peers. A study by N.A. Bowman found that rare or moderate diversity interactions in college are associated with virtually no growth (and sometimes even slight declines) in leadership skills, psychological well-being, and intellectual engagement, whereas very frequent diversity interactions are associated with considerable growth. The results are similar regardless of students’ race, institutional characteristics, and whether the interactions are interracial or across multiple forms of difference (The Curvilinear Relationship between College Diversity Interactions and First-Year Student Outcomes).

Creating more equitable school attendance boundaries (Urban Institute).

Developing centralized school lottery application systems that prioritize school diversity  (Urban Institute).

Ending school and neighborhood segregation, including by expanding affordable housing in resource-rich neighborhoods and reforming zoning policies to allow for more diverse, high-density, mixed-income communities (Urban Institute).

Implementing more equitable school funding policies and advocating for reforms to state and federal funding (Urban Institute).