Career Pathways And Opportunity Pluralism For Young People
Bruno V. Manno, Forbes ContributorPathways programs expand career opportunities for young people.
Many educators have a dim view of how well their high schools prepare students for the workforce following the pandemic. The National Center for Education Statistics recently reported that barely half (52%) of educators in low-poverty neighborhoods said they do a “very good” or “excellent” job. The results are worse in high-poverty neighborhoods, where fewer than half (43%) believe they do a “very good” or “excellent” job.
For young people to participate successfully in the workforce and flourish generally, they need to develop knowledge, relationships, networks, and personal agency. While the status quo has failed to ensure this development, what Joseph Fishkin in his book Bottlenecks calls a new opportunity pluralism creates career pathway education and training programs that offer students a better way forward.
Pathway Programs Explained
Pathway programs engage individuals in education, training, and work experiences that are linked with employers and labor market demands. These programs include apprenticeships and internships; career and technical education; dual enrollment in high school and postsecondary education; career academies; early college high schools; bootcamps for learning specific skills; and staffing, placement, and other assistance for those seeking jobs. They equip students with knowledge and mentors, while providing personal support services and ways to navigate jobs and careers.
Pathway programs are built on two essential elements that help individuals develop purpose and control or self-agency: knowledge and relationships. As the adage goes, it’s what you know and who you know. The pursuit of opportunity combines knowledge that pays and relationships that are priceless. There are downstream multiplier effects that come from blending expertise and information with relationships and mentorships—and this blend can decisively shape a person’s aspirations and behavior. In short: Knowledge + Networks = Opportunity.
Common Program Elements
Career pathway programs have five common features:
an academic curriculum linked with labor market needs, leading to a recognized credential and decent income;
career exposure and work, including engagement with and supervision by adults;
advisors who help participants navigate the questions and issues they confront, ensuring they complete the program;
a written civic compact among employers, trade associations and community partners; and
supportive local, state, and federal policies that make these programs possible and that track participant outcomes.
Pathways programs create opportunity pluralism, offering individuals many pathways to work, career, and opportunity. In this respect, they differ sharply from the old high school vocational education programs, which tracked students into occupations based on family background and other characteristics.
Pathways In Action
The promising proliferation of career pathway programs is bolstered by both top-down and bottom-up efforts. The former includes statewide programs created by governors and legislators from both political parties and implemented locally by civic partners. Two examples are from former governors—Delaware Pathways by Democrat Jack Markell and Tennessee’s Drive to 55 Alliance by Republican Bill Haslam. Similar programs exist in politically diverse states like California, Colorado, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Indiana.
Meanwhile, examples of bottom-up local programs form between K-12 schools, employers, post-secondary education, and civic partners. Examples include 3DE Schools in Atlanta, YouthForce NOLA in New Orleans, Washington D.C.’s CityWorks D.C., and Cristo Rey, a network of 38 Catholic high schools in 24 states.
Organizations like Pathways to Prosperity Network, P-Tech Schools, and Linked Learning Alliance form regional or local partnerships to provide advice and practical assistance in program creation. Other organizations map the specific pathways from lower-paying occupations to higher-paying ones.
For example, Burning Glass Institute and Multiverse have identified 425 source careers that are pathways to 149 higher-paying target occupations. This source-to-target approach allows, for example, an individual looking to become a medical services manager to follow different pathways to that job, including working as a manager in administrative services, general and operational roles, and social and community services.
Program Results
Research studies of these programs are promising. The U.S. Administration for Children and Families’ Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse examined over 8,000 research studies identifying 221 pathway interventions. It found that 38% of the interventions “improved outcomes in at least one domain of interest.”
The International Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development likewise studied the link between teenage activities, experiences, and adult career outcomes in eight countries. It concluded that “evidence that secondary school students who explore, experience, and think about their futures in work frequently encounter lower levels of unemployment, receive higher wages, and are happier in their careers as adults.” In other words, enhancing education with work experience pays dividends in the long run.
Broader Program Benefits
Pathway programs fill a critical need in education—one that most high schools currently aren’t fulfilling. They provide long-term benefits to participants, communities, and society beyond the immediate success of having someone get a good job. Fundamentally, pathway programs help participants develop an occupational identity and vocational self that assist them in achieving other life goals.
In other words, they teach participants what it means to be a worker with abilities and values, an essential element of general adult success. They also cultivate the connections and bonds that build on the dynamism and innovation nurtured by local initiatives and institutions of civil society. Last but by no means least, they create faster and cheaper ways to prepare individuals for jobs.
