1. Combine a college-ready academic core with challenging
technical studies and require students to complete real-world
assignments.
Require all students to complete a college-ready academic core
and a concentration – for example, a four-course career pathway
or a set of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate
courses – that provide the foundational learning skills they need
to earn credentials and secure good jobs.
2. Align three stages of learning – secondary, postsecondary and
the workplace – through strategies like dual enrollment and
work-based learning.
Leverage state and federal funds to incentivize school districts,
community and technical colleges, and employers to develop career
pathways that align with identified workforce needs in key state
and regional industry sectors.
Promote structured dual enrollment programs for career pathways
and establish uniform statewide policies so students can earn
credits toward high school graduation that are automatically
added to students’ transcripts at community and technical
colleges.
Incentivize industry partners to expand ongoing, structured,
progressively intensive work-based learning that engages students
in authentic applications of academic, technical, and workplace
skills.
Develop policies with insurers, workforce commissions and other
agencies to protect students and their employers in work-based
learning experiences.
3. Create guidance systems that include career information,
exploration and advisement and engage students in ongoing career
and college counseling beginning in the middle grades.
Mandate career exploration courses and activities in the middle
grades and high school and adopt distributed, curriculum-based
career guidance systems that make career and college counseling
the shared responsibility of every adult in the school.
4. Allow students to choose accelerated learning options in
settings that provide the extended time needed to earn advanced
industry credentials.
Incentivize districts, technology centers, and community and
technical colleges to partner to create early advanced credential
programs modeled after early college high schools. Early advanced
credential programs allow students to graduate with a diploma
plus an advanced industry certification, postsecondary credential
or significant credits toward an associate degree.
5. Lead to further education and training and high-skill,
high-wage jobs in high-demand industries.
Prioritize the investment of state and federal funds to develop
rigorous, relevant career pathways that lead to employment in
state and regional industry sectors with a shortage of skilled
workers.
From the report of the Southern Regional Education Board Commission on Career and Technical
Education, Credentials for All: An Imperative for SREB
States, 2015.
