Exploring Summer Youth Employment Programs: Increasing Access Through Career Pathways builds the case and provides actionable recommendations for state-led support in the intentional alignment of summer youth employment programs (SYEP) with career pathways and the work-based learning continuum, including through Career Technical Education (CTE).…

Out-of-school time (OST) programs that work with historically marginalized youth, employ staff that match the demographics of participants, and are well connected to mental health resources are uniquely positioned to support participants to recognize the risks and assets linked to their mental health and well-being. Such programs can…

Native Americans are highly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers; however, little research exists concerning how to promote Native Americans' participation in STEM. In this study, we address this gap by examining variables hypothesized to promote participation using the career self-management (CSM) model…

The California Community College System is an entry point for the majority of first-generation college students. This case study of a community college in Southern California examined the experiences and motivations of both Latinx students in their major/career decision-making process and the community college counseling faculty who serve, educate…

Research generally finds that college students are more likely to complete a program of study if they choose a major that aligns with their interests and goals. Yet many new community college students do not have clear goals. Nearly 40% of community college students report being undecided about their major at the end of their first year (authors'…

This Special Report outlines state-level policy components that help ensure work-based learning opportunities for high school students are well-coordinated, broadly accessible, aligned to state or regional workforce demands, and of high quality.

We have discovered a new and formerly unstudied long-term impact of a system-wide research university program that provides opportunities for students to explore secondary school teaching as a potential career. Looking beyond teacher recruitment as the only assessment of success, we have investigated the impact of the program on those who explored…

The Graduate Student Internships for Career Exploration (GSICE) program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), offers structured training and hands-on experience through internships for a broad range of PhD-level careers. The GSICE program model was successfully replicated at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). Here, we…

This paper considers the functions of supportive individuals in the lives of community college and 4-year college students and how such support can promote hope, defined as agency and pathways thinking. We surveyed 181 college students regarding their supportive relationships and found that parents were most likely to be nominated as a primary…

In order to stem the decline of female majors and encourage the persistence of all students in the Computer Information Systems (CIS) Department at Cal Poly Pomona (CPP), the department faculty is instituting a new course to introduce incoming freshmen and transfer students into the major. This course will incorporate the career exploration that…

In the spirit of historic astronomical endeavors, we invited school groups across the globe to collaborate in a solar distance measurement using the rare June 5/6th transit of Venus. In total, we recruited 19 school groups spread over 6 continents and 10 countries to participate in our Hetu'u Global Network. Applying the methods of French…

The phrase "preparing students for college and career" has become so ubiquitous that it has become almost a mantra in educators' discourse in recent years. Whether mentioned in the Common Core State Standards, in the mission statements of high schools, or in political campaigns, improving the college and career readiness of young people…

For the last several years, concern has been brewing about America's underinvestment and underperformance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics--the fields collectively known as STEM. STEM can be described as an initiative for securing America's leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and identifying…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Cheering in the Classroom, a four day program designed purposefully to increase female awareness and perceptions of technology fields. The camp included discipline-based activities from the 13 different programs of study based in technology. The camp targeted high school cheerleaders and…

The Careers Project is a study of the preparation all students in public middle and high schools receive to explore career options and the relationship between that preparation and California's state and regional economies. The California Research Bureau (CRB) undertook this research at the request of a bipartisan group of members of the…