Intermediaries that design and build work-based learning delivery systems believe that postsecondary credentials--certifications and degrees (both associate's and bachelor's)--are a requirement for most good jobs. Indeed, such credentials increase access to economic mobility and, ultimately, greater equity. When coupled with work-based learning…

This resource clarifies the roles intermediaries play in college and career pathways systems. It can be useful for envisioning a brand-new organization or strengthening the intermediary functions of an existing organization. Your organization can use this guide during a strategic planning process or at any time to reflect on its practices, shift…

In 2002, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) launched a bold set of education reforms designed to transform the educational experiences of all high school students: They instituted a district-wide high school choice process that assigned all rising ninth-graders to specific high schools; they closed large, low-performing high…

This report summarizes the results to date of the ongoing Colorado Study of Students in Foster Care. The Colorado Study is a longitudinal study of educational outcomes of students in foster care and factors that affect these outcomes, which is intended to inform systems-level reform. The research is conducted in partnership with the Colorado…

The past year highlighted and heightened California's key challenges. Millions of Californians lost jobs and income during the COVID-19 crisis; low-income families, communities of color, and women were hit hardest. As schools and universities shifted rapidly to remote learning, educators and parents scrambled to provide all students with…

It is known from previous research that the likelihood of dropping out is affected by a number of individual traits, including, among others, socioeconomic status (SES), race/ethnicity, gender, and employment status. It is also known that dropping out is contingent on a variety of school characteristics. What is less known about is how dropping…

"Research Messages 2014" is a collection of summaries of research published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) in 2014 in the context of changing economic, industrial, social and education conditions, organised under the following broad categories: (1) Productivity: to sustain and build Australia's human…

In the past 50 years, high school completion has grown in importance as the labor market has been transformed in the knowledge economy. Yet alarmingly, nearly one in every three students who start high school in the ninth grade fails to complete the 12th grade within four years. Literally millions of young people are out of school and grossly ill…

America's community colleges are the brokers of opportunity for a stronger middle class and more prosperous nation. The value of community colleges has repeatedly been detailed in broad brushstrokes. While these broad-brush pictures of the community college contribution are important, the community college is an intricate institution offering…

This executive summary provides background information on unemployment rates, the need for new jobs, and the role community colleges have in securing opportunities for a stronger middle class and more prosperous nation. The summary is the introduction to the "Community College Contributions. Policy Brief 2013-01PB." [For the full report,…

Remedial education, although widely used and disguised with other names, was rarely talked about for it could tarnish a school's reputation if widely discussed. Today, more and more colleges and universities are ditching the old stigma associated with remedial education, reinventing their remedial education and retention programs and, in the…

Despite the proliferation of data about student performance, secondary school educators have had difficulty accessing data on their former students' post-high school employment and earnings in the formal economy. This article describes how one community used state unemployment insurance data, merged with student record data, to investigate the…

The prospect of completing high school and continuing one's education at a vocational, two-year, or four-year institution continues to elude a large number of African American high school graduates (Minorities in Higher Education Twenty-first Annual Status Report [2003-2005], ACE). The expectation of pursuing gainful employment through the private…