Career “pathways” have become a big idea in high school reform. The goal is to give all students a structured sequence of courses in a career field, along with early exposure to the workplace and opportunities to build practical, job-related skills.
Many aspects of these programs are similar to the curriculums at traditional vocational schools. But this newer incarnation simultaneously aims to make the vocational high school more college oriented and the comprehensive high school more career oriented.
Are the millions of dollars invested in these programs actually helping students get a head start on college and careers?
That question can’t be fully answered yet. But a new research report from Delaware — a national leader in the pathways movement — offers some early clues.
The state launched career pathways in 2014. Today, about 70 percent of high school students, or 30,000 teenagers, are enrolled, according to the nonprofit Rodel, which works with Delaware policymakers to reform education and improve the state’s workforce.
Ideally, students take a sequence of three or more courses in fields like healthcare, construction or education. Many also earn early college credits or make significant progress toward industry certifications, and some participate in internships or apprenticeships.
Researchers at RTI International, a nonprofit research organization, tracked more than 6,000 graduates who had completed at least two courses in a career field and surveyed them to see what they were doing in the years immediately after high school.
Three-quarters of the students surveyed were enrolled in college or another postsecondary training program after graduation, which is higher than the national average of 63 percent. But fewer than half were still studying or working in the field they had chosen in high school.
For example, among students who completed a pathway in architecture and construction, fewer than 20 percent pursued construction-related majors. Many shifted instead to fields like science and engineering (40 percent), business (8 percent) or healthcare (6 percent).
Most popular high-school pathway fields in Delaware
That mismatch isn’t necessarily a failure. For some students, the wrong path was clarifying.
“When the students talked to us about it, they really considered it valuable to learn something they didn’t like,” said Sandra Staklis, lead author of the RTI report. “One student told us, ‘Oh, my mom and my aunt are nurses. And so I tried it out. And it turned out it wasn’t for me, but it was good to know that.’”
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Students also talked about gaining a broader set of skills that are useful in any field. “Students said they were learning those workplace skills like time management and working with other people on a project,” said Staklis. “A lot of academic work traditionally has been more individual, like reading a book or taking a test.”
Still, the findings raise a fundamental question: Are pathways meant to steer students into specific career fields, or help them figure out what they don’t want to do?
Students also described how much they valued the mentoring they received from their instructors, many of whom didn’t spend their professional lives in schools but in industry. One student profiled in the report, Kwame, said his teachers in the healthcare field showed him how to break down dense medical material and so he could study to earn his paramedic certification. He’s now majoring in public health at a four-year college and hopes to become a surgeon.
Two lessons stood out from the Delaware study.
• Workplace experience matters most but is hardest for schools to deliver. Students who participated in internships or apprenticeships were more likely to continue in their field, the report found. Another student named James, also profiled in the report, pursued an education pathway in high school and, during his senior year, he shadowed a teacher, which taught him a lot about managing classroom behavior. He’s now pursuing an associate degree in elementary education.
But these opportunities are difficult for schools to provide, requiring coordination with employers as well as solutions for scheduling and transportation.
Workplace learning was more common in vocational high schools, where students often complete core coursework earlier and can spend more time outside the building during their senior year. By contrast, one-time experiences — such as guest speakers or field trips — had less impact but were easier for schools to arrange.
• Students need better guidance especially when they want to change direction. Once students start a pathway, it can be difficult to switch. “If you’re a junior and you want to switch to a different pathway, you’d have to go back taking classes that are mostly freshmen and sophomores, and it just becomes logistically difficult to allow that,” said Staklis.
Luke Rhine, vice president for postsecondary success at Rodel, which commissioned the analysis, said the findings were encouraging but point to a need for stronger advising, which he calls “navigational support.”
The report also points to more questions for future research.
It’s unclear how much of the higher college-going rate can be attributed to pathways themselves. The study is not causal, Staklis said, and students who complete these sequences may already have been more likely to pursue further education. Other incentives to pursue higher education could also be playing a role, including Delaware’s generous scholarship programs, which cover tuition at Delaware Technical Community College and Delaware State University for many students.
While a majority of students were working, most were in part-time jobs in retail, delivery or fast-food that fit in with their studies. Longer-term outcomes — including careers and earnings — remain unknown.
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Some researchers question the structure of the pathways model in a rapidly changing economy. Kerry McKittrick, co-director of the Project on Workforce at Harvard University, issued a report last week, “Pivots Without Pathways: Career Navigation in a Fragmented Labor Market,” based on an analysis of community college students and young adults. McKittrick argues that it might not make sense to require young students to go through a sequence of technical training classes for jobs that may not exist in five years.
“Pathways are a powerful option, but this linear path to a career is really the exception,” said McKittrick.”In a world where jobs continue to change, we also need to equip students and workers with the skills they need. … I’m talking about adaptability and decision making and information literacy and networking.”
Those skills, argues McKittrick, aren’t learned in a classroom, but through trial and error. What’s most important, according to McKittrick, is for young people to have the opportunity to explore professions beyond what adults in their family do and to develop networks.
Notably, she agrees with one of the Delaware report’s central findings: Workplace experience may be the most valuable component of a pathways program.
Contact staff writer Jill Barshay at 212-678-3595, jillbarshay.35 on Signal, or barshay@hechingerreport.org.
This story about high school pathways was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers education. Sign up for Proof Points and other Hechinger newsletters.
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